| Jazz |
Summary: Amber Weekes honors jazz legend Oscar Brown Jr. with To Oscar with Love, a powerful album blending timeless songwriting, contemporary arrangements, and deeply emotional vocal performances. A tribute to a cultural icon and one of 2026’s standout jazz recordings.
A Voice Across Generations: Amber Weekes Brings Oscar Brown Jr.’s Legacy Back to Life
Some artists revisit history. Others bring it back to life. With To Oscar with Love, Amber Weekes does both. The Los Angeles based jazz vocalist and recording artist transforms the extraordinary legacy of Oscar Brown Jr. into a vibrant musical conversation between generations, offering an album that is both a tribute and a deeply personal artistic statement. Oscar Brown Jr. was never simply a songwriter. He was a storyteller, poet, performer, and social commentator who understood the power of music as a reflection of life itself. Through his compositions, he explored the complexities of the African American experience, combining humor, political awareness, and emotional honesty with an unmistakable sense of rhythm and theatricality.
For Weekes, this project represents the fulfillment of a long held artistic mission. To Oscar with Love honors an artist whose influence extended far beyond jazz, celebrating a man who used his many talents to preserve stories, challenge perspectives, and share a unique vision of American culture. “Oscar Brown Jr. is one of my musical heroes, perhaps the greatest of them all,” Weekes says. “It was a privilege to discover both the man and his music. I hope that To Oscar with Love allows new generations to discover him and that he becomes as unforgettable to them as he has been to me.”
The timing of this album carries particular meaning. In a period of renewed conversations about history, identity, and social progress, Brown’s music feels remarkably relevant. Yet this recording is not simply a reflection of the present moment. Its power comes from the artistic choices Weekes makes in bringing these compositions into a new era.Rather than recreating Oscar Brown Jr.’s recordings, Weekes approaches them as living works. She understands that honoring a great artist does not mean remaining in the past. It means finding new ways to reveal what made the music timeless in the first place.Each song receives a thoughtful transformation through contemporary arrangements that introduce fresh colors while preserving Brown’s original intentions. The production gives the material a modern sense of space and movement, but never sacrifices the intelligence, humor, and emotional depth that defined his writing.
Amber Weekes is the perfect guide for this journey because she does far more than interpret lyrics. She inhabits them. Her vocal technique is impressive, but what truly distinguishes her performance is her ability to understand the emotional world behind every composition.
Weekes approaches each song like an actor approaching a complex role. She searches for the personality, the hidden emotions, and the story beneath the melody. The result is a series of performances that feel deeply authentic, never like simple recreations of the past. One of the qualities she has always admired about Brown was his ability to discover moments of joy even when addressing difficult realities. That gift is beautifully reflected in her interpretation of “Hum Drum Blues,” a song filled with weariness but still carrying Brown’s characteristic wit and humanity. With Adam “Aejaye” Jackson portraying the character of the “Rag Man,” Weekes captures the social portrait behind “Rags and Old Iron,” transforming the song into a powerful reminder of a disappearing world and the voices of ordinary people who shaped American history. Jackson also proves to be a natural choice for “Ladies Man,” while his collaboration with Weekes on “Hum Drum Blues” creates one of the album’s most charming moments.
Musically, To Oscar with Love is an ambitious and carefully crafted production. From the opening tracks, and especially with “Afro Blue,” Amber Weekes delivers a performance of extraordinary depth. Her interpretation stands among the most impressive versions of this composition, balancing technical precision with emotional freedom. The arrangements throughout the album reveal a careful understanding of Brown’s musical language. They do not attempt to modernize the material simply for the sake of sounding contemporary. Instead, they uncover details that were always present: the rhythmic sophistication, the theatrical elements, and the emotional complexity hidden within the songs.
Weekes was fortunate enough to know Oscar Brown Jr. personally. Their paths crossed while both were living in Los Angeles, and their relationship developed into a meaningful friendship. When she told him she had recorded “Hazel’s Hips,” Brown immediately recognized the significance of her interpretation, telling her that she was the only woman he knew who had taken on the challenge. Later, he invited her to perform the song with him at a fundraising event supporting Donnie L. Betts’ 2007 documentary, Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown Jr. In the days leading up to the event, Brown stayed at Weekes’ home, becoming the most famous guest she had ever welcomed. Their friendship deepened shortly before Brown’s passing, reinforcing Weekes’ desire to one day create an album dedicated entirely to his work.“I always knew that day would come,” she explains. “The centennial of his birth seemed like the perfect moment.”
The result is much more than a tribute album. To Oscar with Love is a passionate meeting between two artists separated by generations but connected by a shared belief in the power of music to tell the truth. For listeners familiar with Oscar Brown Jr.’s catalog, the album offers a remarkable rediscovery. For those encountering his work for the first time, it provides an invitation to explore one of America’s most distinctive musical voices. Among the most remarkable vocal jazz recordings of 2026, To Oscar with Love stands as a reminder that great music does not simply survive the passage of time. It evolves, finds new interpreters, and continues speaking to new audiences. In an era when cultural memory is often fragmented, Amber Weekes has created something increasingly rare: an album that looks backward without nostalgia and forward without forgetting. This is not only a celebration of Oscar Brown Jr.’s legacy. It is proof that songs built on truth, imagination, and humanity never truly disappear.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, August 8th, 2026
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ABOUT THE TRACKS + MUSICIAN PERSONNEL:
MISTER KICKS: An album of Oscars cannot be done without this song! It’s Oscar’s theme song and the theme song to his musical “Kicks & Co.” When he would perform live, this was one tune, I’d always look forward to hearing. It’s really about the devil and the mischief people can get themselves into. This cut was released previously on my album “Pure Imagination.” It has been remixed, remastered and reorchestrated for this album.
MISTER KICKS (Featuring Keith Fiddmont) – 2:36 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. (Produced by Trevor Ware and Mark Cargill) (Horn Arrangement by Brian Swartz Strings conducted and arranged by Mark Cargill) Piano – Peter Smith, Bass – Trevor Ware, Drums – Charles Ruggerio, Trumpet – Curtis Taylor, Saxophone – Keith Fiddmont, Key Vibes and Rhodes – Gregory Cook
AFRO BLUE: I love this song, because it’s very sensual and leans into the roots of Africa that all of us from the African Diaspora have.
*AFRO BLUE – 4:08 (Mongo Santamaria and Oscar Brown Jr.) BMG Bumblebee o/b/o Mongo Music Inc. and Edward B Marks Music Co. Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Edwin Livingston, Drums – Fritz Wise, Flute – Scott Mayo Saxophone – Phillip Whack, Percussion – Kevin Ricard
STRONG MAN: I always love to record songs that aren’t heard very often, and this is, in my opinion one of those. I also love that Oscar wrote it for the wonderful Abbey Lincoln. In the documentary “Music My Life, Politics My Mistress” she talks about asking Oscar to write a song about the men she knew as opposed to images of men who were unkind that are sung about in other songs. I also love that this song shows Oscar’s ability to write from another’s perspective and deepens my appreciation for his ability to write about the human condition and all of its dimensions.
*STRONG MAN – (Featuring Paul Jackson, Jr. & Mark Cargill) – 5:22 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Harvey Estrada, Drums – Keith Swan, Guitar – Paul Jackson Jr., Trumpet – James Ford, Violin – Mark Cargill
BUT I WAS COOl: Yet another example of Oscar’s ability to make us all laugh at ourselves when things aren’t going so well, and we try to pretend that we have it all together. It shows his incredible wit.
*BUT I WAS COOL (Featuring Glen Berger) – 3:07 (Oscar Brown Jr) Edward B Marks Music Co. and Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Edwin Livingston, Drums – Fritz Wise, Guitar – Gregory Cook, Tenor Saxophone – Glen Berger
BROWN BABY: I love all that this song represents. I am a little younger than most of Oscar’s children, but, I, too was born during the Civil Rights Era. This song expresses all of Oscar’s hopes and dreams for his children. It is timely and timeless, and in fact, “Brown Baby” at this time could evoke thoughts of the current situation regarding immigration. This song was initially released on “Pure Imagination.” It has been remixed, remastered, and reorchestrated for this album.
BROWN BABY – 5:26 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. Bass – Trevor Ware, Strings – Conducted and Arranged by Mark Cargill
HAZEL HIPS: This song is very special to me. This was the first of Oscar’s tunes that I ever recorded. This is a re-release. It was on my “’Round Midnight – Re-Imagined” cd. I love this song, because my grandparents had a diner in Harlem. A young Sidney Poitier was a patron, and he fell in love with one of my aunts who worked in the diner. They were engaged. My grandmother broke up the relationship, because she was afraid that my aunt would wind up supporting a starving actor! Poitier recounts the story in his book “This Life.” I sing this song to celebrate that relationship.
HAZEL’S HIPS – 2:34 (Produced by Mark Cargill and Trevor Ware) (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. – Piano – Danny Grissett, Bass – Trevor Ware, Drums – Sherman Ferguson, Saxophone – Louis Van Taylor, Guitar – Gregory Cook, Hand claps: Peter C. Ross, Amber Weekes, Sherman Ferguson, Danny Grissett, Trevor Ware, Louis Van Taylor, Atmospheric Sound: Mark Cargill
RAGS AND OLD IRON: This song breaks my heart, and Oscar had such an amazing monologue at the top of it that explains who the rag man was. I appreciate how vividly it describes the devastation of heart break.
*RAGS AND OLD IRON – 6:33 (OSCAR BROWN JR.) Edward B Marks Music Co. and Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Harvey Estrada Drums – David Jackson, Guitar/Harmonica/Vocal Effects – Chris Pierce, Voice of Rag Man – Adam “Aejaye” Jackson, Voice of the Ice Man (intro only) – David Jackson
HUM DRUM BLUES: I wanted to do something light, fun, and as a duet with Adam “Aejaye” Jackson. It’s a great way to kick off the doldrums
*HUM DRUM BLUES (Featuring Adam “Ayejaye” Jackson, Paul Jackson, Jr., Philip Whack) – 3:22 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Edward B Marks Music Co. & Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co Piano – Andy Langham, Bass – Carlos Puerto, Drums – Donald Barrett, Guitar – Paul Jackson, Jr., Saxophone – Philip Whack
THE SNAKE: This re-release is the first of Oscar’s tunes that I ever heard and the reason that as an adult I began to dive into his music. The song was old already when I heard it. My sisters and I were in the car with my mother, and she stopped all activity to make us listen to the song and its story. It stuck!
THE SNAKE – (Featuring Scotty Barnhart) – 4:42 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. (Produced and arranged by Amber Weekes and Trevor Ware) Piano – Peter Smith, Bass – Trevor Ware, Drums – Charles Ruggerio, Trumpet – Scotty Barnhart
WORK SONG: This song hits me hard, because it again is another dimension of the human experience and makes me think about the history of Black incarceration. Somehow, when we were putting this together, it made more sense for me to be the woman observing her man in those circumstances, so I sang it in third person.
*WORK SONG (Featuring Tony Campodonico and Mark Cargill) – 2:53 (Nat Adderly, Oscar Brown, Jr.) Upam Music Co Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Edwin Livingston, Violin – Mark Cargill, Drums – Fritz Wise, Guitar – Gregory Cook, Tuba – Joseph Jackson, Percussion – Kevin Ricard
A LADIES MAN: I have always loved this (more) spoken word of Oscar’s. It’s alluring and cautionary all at the same time. It had been out for a few years when I hit my teens, but I had a lot of fun listening to it and being attracted to the story and also learning about ladies men. I couldn’t do the album without including it, but it wasn’t going to work for me to tell the story from a woman’s perspective, so, I start it, and interject at points and sing backup, but it was best to have Adam “Aejaye” perform most of this spoken word. Too much fun! As I listen to it, I can imagine Oscar in his younger years.
*A LADIES MAN (Featuring Adam “Ayejaye” Jackson, Tony Campodonico, and Tom Luer) – 5:16 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Cmg Worldwide Inc. o/b/o Bootblack Publishing Co. – Piano – Tony Campodonico Bass – Harvey Estrada, Saxophone – Tom Luer, Drums – Donald Barrett, Guitar – Cliff Brown
A TREE AND ME: Again, Oscar was a master at writing about all facets of life, including death. This song is profound and beautiful. Since he’s no longer with us, it seemed like the best way to end the album. A “fun fact” is that I had intended to record this solely as piano and vocal. The day we recorded this tune, Mark let me do it that way and then asked that I record it as a bossa. I was reluctant, but I did it. The initial plan was for me to choose one of the two arrangements. I couldn’t, so they are merged together.
*A TREE AND ME (Featuring Tony Campodonico, Paul Jackson, Jr.) – 6:23 (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Edward B Marks Music Co. – Piano – Tony Campodonico, Bass – Harvey Estrada, Drums – David Jackson, Flute – Scott Mayo, Guitar – Paul Jackson, Jr., Percussion – Keith Swan and Kevin Ricard
*Strings and Horns arranged and conducted by Mark Cargill