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JAZZ ARTIST OSCAR
BROWN. JR. DIES
AT AGE 78
Legendary jazz singer, songwriter, and playwright
Oscar Brown Jr. died on Sunday at the age of 78. His death
followed a two-month period of illness.
Brown had been hospitalized in April and again
in mid-May for pain and paralysis in his legs. On May 16
he had surgery for an abcess on his spine. His death was
caused by a blood infection, according to his family. Brown
lived in Chicago and was a fixture on the city's jazz and
African American arts scene.
Brown's first album, Sin and Soul, appeared
in 1960 and earned him critical and popular acclaim. Though
his career did not take off as some had predicted, Brown
remained a popular recording artist and a Chicago cultural
icon until his death. He was well known for putting evocative
lyrics to such standard jazz compositions as Miles Davis'
"All Blues" and Mongo Santamaria's "Afro-Blue."
His lyrics and music drew not only from jazz, but from blues
and gospel as well. Brown also wrote lyrics for drummer
Max Roach's landmark civil rights recording We Insist! Freedom
Now Suite.
Brown continued to write and direct socially
significant theater in Chicago and believed strongly that
art could produce social change. He is survived by his wife,
Jean Pace Brown, son Napoleon; four daughters, Maggie Brown,
Donna Brown Kane, Iantha Casen and Africa Pace Brown; 16
grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren. His son Oscar
Brown III, a bass player, died in an automobile accident
in 1996.
