Top Male Jazz Vocalists- #20

OSCAR BROWN JR. CD

20. OSCAR BROWN, JUNIOR

Oscar Brown, Jr. was born in Chicago in 1926. He started as a teenage actor in Chicago's famous radio soap operas, and tried several careers before becoming a singer and songwriter. He has written lyrics to such jazz classics as "Dat Dere," "Work Song" and "Watermelon Man," and worked with Max Roach on the famous "Freedom Now Suite." Brown, also recorded many albums, and had been the host of jazz programs on TV and on public radio. He ran for office in the Illinois state legislature and U.S. Congress, both unsuccessfully. He died in 2005.

Here is the late Oscar Brown Jr. singing "I Was Cool."