I was saddened this evening to learn of the death of vocalist Oscar Brown, Jr.

Brown was never a well-known name even in jazz circles, perhaps because his interests ranging from politics to playwriting kept him from being as active performing and in the studio as a higher-profile career might have demanded. Listeners who did know his work, though, held him in high esteem for his highly inventive lyrics to standards like "Work Song," "Watermelon Man," and "Dat Dere" and the clever wordplay of his original compositions like "But I Was Cool" and "Signifyin' Monkey."

If you're interested in hearing Oscar Brown, Jr. for yourself, my colleague and friend David Brent Johnson featured him last January as part of the excellent program Night Lights. You can stream the audio of that program here.

Now Playing: NPR's All Things Considered

I somehow missed this when it was posted. This is a pretty sad thing to hear for me as I had only recently had a chance to discover Oscar Brown Jr. He was featured on American Routes, another great NPR show, about a month ago and I was immediately taken with the track they played (But I Was Cool). Thanks to LT i heard a couple other tracks and while I have not been able to track any of his albums down yet, I'm on the lookout and I play the few tracks I have often.