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- Oscar Brown Jr: The Man, the Music, The Legend by Bikbaye Inejnema, published April 9, 2003
- After eleven albums and over 500 written songs, Chicagoıs own Oscar Brown Jr. is still the coolest, hippest, most debonaire cat in entertainment. A world-renowned composer, singer, actor, playwright, and director with more than 50 years of entertaining under his belt, it doesnıt look like he is quite ready to ride off into the sunset just yet. Forever the consummate artist, Oscar Brown Jr. continues to dazzle audiences here and abroad with his wide array of classic material in the forms of jazz, blues and spoken word. Since making his professional debut at the ripe age of fifteen, in which he was an actor in a national network radio services called ³Secret City², Oscarıs career took off.
- The Sunnyside was given the honor of speaking with the legend himself. When asked to give his opinion of the progressive aspect of music, he stated, ³Well, like all things, there is yin and yang; some parts of it are good, some parts of it are a drag. To the extent that music has been taken out of the schools and is gone out of the lives of young people, that is a detriment. There used to be doo-wop singers that would sing on the corners. Music was taught in the schools and carried out in the streets. Now, youngsters who might have inspiration donıt get taught, so they have to sample what someone else did from an earlier era. I think thatıs a drag.²
After Oscarıs musical ³Kicks & Co² closed in Chicago in 1961, two years later Oscar took his one-man show, ³Oscar Brown Entertains² to London. It was this series of performances that led to Oscar being labeled as a ³genius²; ³the high priest of hip²; and ³all the great ones rolled up into one² by critics and fans alike. During this same timeframe, in 1961, Oscar and his wife, whom he met in Los Angeles while hosting a television series called ³Jazz Scene USA², came back to Chicago to perform his musical ³Joy 66². Amazingly, within that same year the two of them developed three more musicals, ³Summer in the City,² ³Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow², and ³Opportunity Please Knock², with the latter done in conjunction with the street gang called the Blackstone Rangers of Chicagoıs south side. Oscar gave the gang members the opportunity to audition, and as a result, they were asked to appear on the Smothers Brothers nationally sydicated television program because of the buzz this unprecedented collaboration had created.
Later that same year, Oscar and his wife were invited by the newly elected Mayor of Gary Indiana, Richard Hatcher, to find and work with talent in the city. The winners of one of their talent shows in 1968 were none other than a young kid named Michael with four of his brothers. Soon after winning, the Jackson Five were signed to Motown and the rest is history. But it is Oscar Brown Jr. that gave them the platform they needed.
he Sunnyside asked Oscar about the business aspect of entertainment. ³It has become so corporate now, which seems to have put it in some kind of structures and binds that may not be the best thing for creativity. Iıve found that sometimes money inhibits creativity. When you get a lot of money it attracts people that are only after the money, and as soon as itıs spent, theyıre gone. With necessity being the mother of invention, when you need to invent something because you donıt have the money to buy what exists, then perhaps you can come up with something creative and new.²
A very visible and outspoken activist before and during the civil rights movement, Oscar Brown Jr. plainly told the Sunnyside what Black communities lack in their efforts to reach the highest potential: ³Trust and a will to cooperate with each other; to see who we are and what we do, and believe in it; faith in ourselves. We have all the rest. We have the talent, we have the skills, we have people that know how to do various things all over. We have people that can run corporations, businesses and all sorts of things in the communities, but we donıt trust each other. We say ni***rs ainıt s**t, let me hire a white manager. We think that the white man has got it. But in fact, we are winning all kinds of things all the time, but apparently donıt see whatıs the advantage.²
Oscar also had an interesting perspective on the Iraq situation. ³Things have fallen in the hands of some people who are mad! George Bush scares me. Itıs bullshit! He will pretend to have compassion for the Iraqi people, he wants to liberate them - bullshit! He doesnıt care about the people of Iraq any more than he cares about the people in Watts. And he donıt give a damn about them. The situation we find ourselves in is the government trying to impose a domination on civil liberties and freedoms in the name of fighting terror. When in fact, you canıt terrorize terror, you have to address the things that are prompting people to be terrorists. Our government doesnıt seem to be interested in that, and as a result, there is a huge swell in the world against Bush and his policies. Now the internet and other things are making it possible for the world to come together on these things, which creates a movement of resistance that is unprecedented,² he stated.
Near the end of our conversation, I expressed to Oscar that I wished the interview could have been conducted in person instead of over the telephone. It would have given me the chance to personally meet him, which would have been an honor for me. Oscar asked if I had ever seen him perform. My answer was no. His next question was ³Are you free tomorrow night?² My response: a resounding ³Yes!² This was my chance to see why Oscar Brown Jr is so famous.
Oscarıs performance took place at The Green Mill on Chicagoıs North side. The club was completely full that night. I was totally amazed by the energy that this seventy-something year old was able to exert. With lungs as strong as a lifeguard, Oscar belted out one note after the other with no difficulty. His spoken word pieces blew everybody out of the water; even the best young rapper could not come close to Oscarıs rhyme skills that maintain meaningful content throughout the piece. I have seen many great artists perform various styles of music around the world, but for now, Oscar is my champion. His music takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride. Whatever Oscar felt when he wrote these songs, the audience could feel the same thing when he performed them.
When the evening was over and the music stopped, it was like waking up after a dream knowing that you had to go back to reality. Oscarıs music actually takes you far away from the chaos of life, even if itıs just for one hour. Thanks, Oscar, for imbedding such a memorable performance in my consciousness. Now I not only know your name, but I also know why you are a legend. Peace.
