Leave it to my friend Linda Kosut to give me a history lesson.

Last night, at Jazz at Pearl’s in San Francisco, I heard Linda’s new show “As Long As You’re Living: A Tribute to the music, life, legacy & spirit of jazz legend, Oscar Brown Jr.” I was mesmerized by the drama and dark power of this material. Songs like “Bid ‘Em Up” were almost too brutal to bear. But then there were the playful and delightful tunes like the one he wrote mimicking his son’s wonderment at the obvious and imaginary.

Oscar Brown, Jr. put a lot of his politics in his songs, but he also put a lot of poetry in them as well. Some of the lyrics were exquisite, like “Column of Birds,” Others were pretty preachy, but Oscar believed in entertainment that had meaning and message.

A special treat last night was Linda’s guest artist, Maggie Brown, Oscar’s daughter. She sang a few tunes in the middle of the show, and you could sense the talent and dramatic flare her father must have had as well. We in the audience felt as if we were being treated to something rare, rich and wonderful by getting to hear Maggie sing within a tribute show to her father.

So, who IS Oscar Brown, Jr.? Well, even after this tribute show, I’m not sure I really can fully answer that question. Let me use the copy posted on All About Jazz:

Oscar Brown, Jr. was a “singer, songwriter, poet, activist, actor, director, playwright, Afro-centrist, politician and social critic who left a prolific catalogue of music and poetry. He was a jazzer; cabaret, nightclub and stage performer; some have called him “the Father of Rap” – a renaissance man.

In the early 60s, he performed on the Ed Sullivan show, hosted the Steve Allen Jazz Scene USA series; and Dave Garroway of The Today Show, presented a 2-hour special with OBJ.

For more information, check out my favorite encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

I hope Linda will perform this show again soon so all of you can go see it and get your own hit of who this man was.

Before I sign off, I must say that a lot of the power and beauty of the music last night came from Linda’s band, the Max Perkoff quartet, which included Randy Vincent on guitar, Dave Rokeach on drums, my buddy Tom Shader on bass, and Max Perkoff on piano and trombone. Max also arranged most of the tunes performed in the show.