ABOUT THE TRACKS + MUSICIAN PERSONNEL
MISTER KICKS
An album of Oscars cannot be done without this song! It’s Oscar’s theme song and the theme song to his musical “Kicks & Co.” When he would perform live, this was one tune, I’d always look forward to hearing. It’s really about the devil and the mischief people can get themselves into. This cut was released previously on my album “Pure Imagination.” It has been remixed, remastered and reorchestrated for this album.
- MISTER KICKS (Featuring Keith Fiddmont) – 2:36 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. (Produced by Trevor Ware and Mark Cargill) (Horn Arrangement by Brian Swartz Strings conducted and arranged by Mark Cargill) Piano – Peter Smith, Bass – Trevor Ware, Drums – Charles Ruggerio, Trumpet – Curtis Taylor, Saxophone – Keith Fiddmont, Key Vibes and Rhodes – Gregory Cook
AFRO BLUE
I love this song, because it’s very sensual and leans into the roots of Africa that all of us from the African Diaspora have.
- *AFRO BLUE – 4:08 (Mongo Santamaria and Oscar Brown Jr.) BMG Bumblebee o/b/o Mongo Music Inc. and Edward B Marks Music Co. Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Edwin Livingston, Drums – Fritz Wise, Flute – Scott Mayo Saxophone – Phillip Whack, Percussion – Kevin Ricard
STRONG MAN
I always love to record songs that aren’t heard very often, and this is, in my opinion one of those. I also love that Oscar wrote it for the wonderful Abbey Lincoln. In the documentary “Music My Life, Politics My Mistress” she talks about asking Oscar to write a song about the men she knew as opposed to images of men who were unkind that are sung about in other songs. I also love that this song shows Oscar’s ability to write from another’s perspective and deepens my appreciation for his ability to write about the human condition and all of its dimensions.
- *STRONG MAN – (Featuring Paul Jackson, Jr. & Mark Cargill) – 5:22 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Harvey Estrada, Drums – Keith Swan, Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr., Trumpet – James Ford, Violin – Mark Cargill
BUT I WAS COOl Yet another example of Oscar’s ability to make us all laugh at ourselves when things aren’t going so well, and we try to pretend that we have it all together. It shows his incredible wit.
- *BUT I WAS COOL (Featuring Glen Berger) – 3:07 (Oscar Brown Jr) Edward B Marks Music Co. and Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Edwin Livingston, Drums – Fritz Wise, Guitar – Gregory Cook, Tenor Saxophone – Glen Berger
BROWN BABY
I love all that this song represents. I am a little younger than most of Oscar’s children, but, I, too was born during the Civil Rights Era. This song expresses all of Oscar’s hopes and dreams for his children. It is timely and timeless, and in fact, “Brown Baby” at this time could evoke thoughts of the current situation regarding immigration. This song was initially released on “Pure Imagination.” It has been remixed, remastered, and reorchestrated for this album.
- BROWN BABY – 5:26 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. Bass – Trevor Ware, Strings – Conducted and Arranged by Mark Cargill
HAZEL HIPS
This song is very special to me. This was the first of Oscar’s tunes that I ever recorded. This is a re-release. It was on my “’Round Midnight – Re-Imagined” cd. I love this song, because my grandparents had a diner in Harlem. A young Sidney Poitier was a patron, and he fell in love with one of my aunts who worked in the diner. They were engaged. My grandmother broke up the relationship, because she was afraid that my aunt would wind up supporting a starving actor! Poitier recounts the story in his book “This Life.” I sing this song to celebrate that relationship.
- HAZEL’S HIPS – 2:34 (Produced by Mark Cargill and Trevor Ware) (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. – Piano – Danny Grissett, Bass – Trevor Ware, Drums – Sherman Ferguson, Saxophone – Louis Van Taylor, Guitar – Gregory Cook, Hand claps: Peter C. Ross, Amber Weekes, Sherman Ferguson, Danny Grissett, Trevor Ware, Louis Van Taylor, Atmospheric Sound: Mark Cargill
RAGS AND OLD IRON
This song breaks my heart, and Oscar had such an amazing monologue at the top of it that explains who the rag man was. I appreciate how vividly it describes the devastation of heart break.
- *RAGS AND OLD IRON – 6:33 (OSCAR BROWN JR.) Edward B Marks Music Co. and Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Harvey Estrada Drums – David Jackson, Guitar/Harmonica/Vocal Effects – Chris Pierce, Voice of Rag Man – Adam “Aejaye” Jackson, Voice of the Ice Man (intro only) – David Jackson
HUM DRUM BLUES
I wanted to do something light, fun, and as a duet with Adam “Aejaye” Jackson. It’s a great way to kick off the doldrums
- *HUM DRUM BLUES (Featuring Adam “Ayejaye” Jackson, Paul Jackson, Jr., Philip Whack) – 3:22 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Edward B Marks Music Co. & Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co Piano – Andy Langham, Bass – Carlos Puerto, Drums – Donald Barrett, Guitar – Paul Jackson, Jr., Saxophone – Philip Whack
THE SNAKE
This re-release is the first of Oscar’s tunes that I ever heard and the reason that as an adult I began to dive into his music. The song was old already when I heard it. My sisters and I were in the car with my mother, and she stopped all activity to make us listen to the song and its story. It stuck!
- THE SNAKE – (Featuring Scotty Barnhart) – 4:42 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. (Produced and arranged by Amber Weekes and Trevor Ware) Piano – Peter Smith, Bass – Trevor Ware, Drums – Charles Ruggerio, Trumpet – Scotty Barnhart
WORK SONG
This song hits me hard, because it again is another dimension of the human experience and makes me think about the history of Black incarceration. Somehow, when we were putting this together, it made more sense for me to be the woman observing her man in those circumstances, so I sang it in third person.
- *WORK SONG (Featuring Tony Campodonico and Mark Cargill) – 2:53 (Nat Adderly, Oscar Brown, Jr.) Upam Music Co Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Edwin Livingston, Violin – Mark Cargill, Drums – Fritz Wise, Guitar – Gregory Cook, Tuba – Joseph Jackson, Percussion – Kevin Ricard
A LADIES MAN
I have always loved this (more) spoken word of Oscar’s. It’s alluring and cautionary all at the same time. It had been out for a few years when I hit my teens, but I had a lot of fun listening to it and being attracted to the story and also learning about ladies men. I couldn’t do the album without including it, but it wasn’t going to work for me to tell the story from a woman’s perspective, so, I start it, and interject at points and sing backup, but it was best to have Adam “Aejaye” perform most of this spoken word. Too much fun! As I listen to it, I can imagine Oscar in his younger years.
- *A LADIES MAN (Featuring Adam “Ayejaye” Jackson, Tony Campodonico, and Tom Luer) – 5:16 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. – Piano – Tony Campodonico Bass – Harvey Estrada, Saxophone – Tom Luer, Drums – Donald Barrett, Guitar – Cliff Brown
A TREE AND ME
Again, Oscar was a master at writing about all facets of life, including death. This song is profound and beautiful. Since he’s no longer with us, it seemed like the best way to end the album. A “fun fact” is that I had intended to record this solely as piano and vocal. The day we recorded this tune, Mark let me do it that way and then asked that I record it as a bossa. I was reluctant, but I did it. The initial plan was for me to choose one of the two arrangements. I couldn’t, so they are merged together.
- *A TREE AND ME (Featuring Tony Campodonico, Paul Jackson, Jr.) – 6:23 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Edward B Marks Music Co. – Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Harvey Estrada, Drums – David Jackson, Flute – Scott Mayo, Guitar – Paul Jackson, Jr., Percussion – Keith Swan and Kevin Ricard
*Strings and Horns arranged and conducted by Mark Cargill
