Search - Jr. Oscar Brown :: Live Every Minute

Pretty good really

tom appleton | 03/20/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"all those big bands of once upon a time are gone, a question of economics, really. these days, if you want to get a properly fed, music reading, ably trained, lively big band you need to look for europe -- public radio, government funded, a decent big band that can play ANYTHING, with all the microphones in the world stuck into every corner of the studio, digital recording to the max, none of that cotton-wool sound-box feel of the 1960s, every note is in exactly the right place, the bass has the right funky quality, and oscar brown jr, in his seventies at the time the recording (1998) was made, a bit breathless, a little worse for wear -- but really only a little -- and probably with his hearing aid firmly in place -- actually sounds better -- truly -- than he did on a lot of recordings he did in the mid-1970s. of course, NOTHING compares with those delightful things oscar brown jr did on the original HEAVEN AND HELL from 1962, against a background of truly shvvvvinging band arrangements, but listen to this recording just a couple of times, and even on those classics like HAZEL'S HIPS and MR KICKS -- isn't this a great band? oscar brown is no spring chicken here, but he's holding his own against men several decades younger than himself, meaning oscar brown really knows what that word "junior" means he's carrying around attached to his name -- a youthful life force that the man exudes! and finally, i love the new songs he does, too -- this is the best chance we'll ever get of hearing oscar brown doing a final batch of his own original compositions, wistful, sometimes a bit over the top, not always perfectly in tune, but who cares? this really is EXACTLY like one of those latter day john lee hooker recordings, except that it was done without the help of santana or bonnie raitt or van morrison, and except for it being in the jazz rather than blues field. this is the sort of record you can buy sight unseen and you'll still find yourself listening to it five years later. not every day, maybe -- but for years and years, coming back to it. the band is so good. and if you never heard any of the originals you might actually believe that these are perfect songs, unbetterable. of course, then you'll still be in for a surprise."