[4] McCann attended Los Angeles City College, which was highly influential to his musical career.

[7] During his service in the Navy, McCann won a singing contest, which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

[4] The main part of McCann's career began in the early 1960s, when he recorded as a pianist with his trio for Pacific Jazz.

[8] In 1969, Atlantic released Swiss Movement, an album recorded with saxophonist Eddie Harris and trumpeter Benny Bailey earlier at that year's Montreux Jazz Festival.

[12] In 1971, McCann and Harris were part of a group of soul, R&B and rock performers–including Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, Santana and Ike & Tina Turner–who flew to Accra, Ghana, to perform a 14-hour concert for more than 100,000 Ghanaians.

[12][15] These include A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, De La Soul, the Notorious B.I.G., Sean Combs, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Mary J. Blige, the Pharcyde, Eric B.