Sunday Listenings #02 : Oscar Brown Jr.

Last night my son, with pictures of snakes in his hands, asked me what my favorite snake is. Al Wilson’s I answered!! Then I remembered that the song is an Oscar Brown Jr’s, original and I searched for his records for another listening.

“Tells It Like It Is!” [1963]

The brilliant Oscar Brown, Jr. was still riding high in the early civil rights era -- endorsed by Eleanor Roosevelt, no less -- when he cut his fourth Columbia album. Although this one is not as flashy and sassy as the earlier Sin and Soul and Between Heaven and Hell, it would still make an impact, contributing some memorable numbers to the jazz vocal canon. Duke Pearson's "Jeannine" is retrofitted with an OBJ lyric about a golddigger that made it a standard. We also hear the first appearance of the sly fable "The Snake" (later an Al Wilson hit) in a bossa nova treatment, and Brown has the cheek to graft some impressionistic words onto Miles Davis' "All Blues." From the musical Kicks and Co. comes "Man, Ernest Boy," a wry, even encouraging look at the black nouveau riche as done in a hip recitation; the only non-Brown number is folkie Mike Settle's then-popular, gospel-like "Sing Hallelujah." This is a must-find from Oscar Brown's most fertile period, and not too hard to locate secondhand. [www.allmusic.com Review by Richard S. Ginell]

 

I couldn’t resist, so I listenened to “Mr. Oscar Brown Jr. Goes to Washington” [1965] [1998 reissue]

 

Although this date sounds political due to its title, most of the lyrics by the talented Oscar Brown Jr. deal with more universal and timeless topics. Recorded live at the Cellar Door in Washington D.C., Brown is accompanied by pianist Floyd Morris, guitarist Phil Upchurch, bassist Herbert Brown and drummer Curtis Boyd on a set of a dozen originals. Most memorable are "Maggie" (a tribute to his young daughter), "Living Double In a World of Trouble" (about having two girlfriends at once), "Forty Acres and a Mule" and "Brother Where Are You." For this 1998 limited-edition CD reissue (the recording was originally cut for Fontana), an unedited second version of the latter tune is added to the original program. Although not quite up to the level of his classic Sin & Soul, this CD is a worthy acquisition. [www.allmusic.com Review by Scott Yanow]