WASHINGTON (Billboard) - Oscar Brown Jr. -- singer,composer, lyricist, playwright and black-culture activist --died May 29 in Chicago from complications from a bloodinfection. He was 78.
Brown burst out of Chicago and onto the national musicscene in 1960 as a vocalist with a jazz-tinged, theatricalapproach, presented in a supple, finger-popping style. Hequickly became one of the first artists of the civil rights erato open an unflinching window to the joy and pain of the blackexperience in America.
To younger music fans, he is best remembered as the hip,urbane narrator of the well-received PBS program "From JumpStreet: The Story of Black Music" in the early ‘80s. Twentyyears before, he also hosted Steve Allen‘s short-lived TVseries "Jazz Scene U.S.A."
Brown made a series of well-received albums for ColumbiaRecords in the early ‘60s, highlighted by his vocal versions ofcontemporary soul jazz and modal jazz favorites, includingBobby Timmons‘ "Dat Dere," Nat Adderley‘s "Work Song," MongoSantamaria‘s "Afro-Blue" and Miles Davis‘ "All Blues." In eachcase, he provided memorable lyrics for the previouslyinstrumental classics.
"He had a prodigious talent," says Joel Dorn, who produced"Sin and Soul -- And Then Some" (Sony/Legacy), an expandedreissue of Brown‘s 1960 landmark album. "He wasn‘t just a guywho put hip lyrics to jazz tunes. He also wrote his own songs,like the beautiful lullaby ‘Brown Baby.‘ Or he‘d take aGwendolyn Brooks poem, ‘Elegy to a Plain Black Boy,‘ and puthis music to it. So he could do it all."
Brown‘s charming, non-threatening style onstage, whichhelped him attract racially mixed audiences, fell out of favorwhen a new generation of music reflecting militant black prideemerged by the mid-‘60s.
Brown wrote and produced a number of plays for the stage,including "Joy," "Summer in the City," "Opportunity PleaseKnock" and a musical version of the comedy "Big Time BuckWhite," featuring Muhammad Ali in the lead role. None clicked.
Brown also worked with young performers. In 1968, he hosteda Gary, Ind., talent show that led to his discovery of theJackson 5. In the ‘70s, Brown was an artist in residence atseveral colleges and starred in a Chicago-area production forCBS-affiliated WBBM-TV, "Oscar Brown Is Back in Town," whichgained him two local Emmy Awards.
At the time of his death, he was also VP emeritus, poet inresidence and director of spoken word and rap music forNETunes.
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