Oscar Brown, Jr.

  Artist: Oscar Brown, Jr.

LP: Between Heaven and Hell

Song: "Hazel's Hips"

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Song: "Forbidden Fruit"

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Song: "World Full of Grey"

[ listen ]

Ugh! I've been trying to post this thing for the past three days, but always in the evening at the end of a long day at work and I literally keep falling asleep! It's not Oscar's fault though...he's fantastic! 

 

I first heard of Oscar Brown, Jr. after I moved to Seattle back in 1997 and listened to "daytime jazz" on the local NPR station, including, occasionally, one of Brown's hits called "Signifying Monkey." Since then, I've snapped up any record of his that I happen upon, and I recommend that you do too! ...Unless you're with me, and then I recommend you get out of the way or you're going to get hurt. 

 

It wasn't easy to choose just three songs from this 1962 LP to post: "Hazel's Hips" is an ode (with an arrangement by Quincy Jones) to the "concert of contours and curves" featured on a popular waitress named Hazel who works at the local diner (fortuitously, "hips" rhymes with "tips!" This was back in the old days, when a man could openly admire a sexy woman's body and offer up flirtatious banter about it in public, even in broad daylight (no pun intended), without having his life subsequently destroyed); Nina Simone later recorded and had a hit with Brown's "Forbidden Fruit," a playful retelling of what really happened between Adam and Eve in that very first garden on Earth; "World Full of Gray" seems just as strong now as it did when it was put on wax nearly 60 years ago. The "World Full of Grey" lyrics are included in the excellent liner notes by publicist Billy James, included below. The talented, versatile, and sadly under-appreciated nowadays Oscar Brown, Jr. passed away back in 2005; you can read his New York Times obituary here.

 

[ Oscar Brown, Jr.: October 10, 1926 — May 29, 2005 ]