(Paul Allan Oscher alias Brooklyn Slim)
DISCOGRAPHY 1993-2022 (10CD)
Oscher was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He was married to
the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Suzan-Lori Parks, from 2001 to
2011.
He first began playing harmonica at the age of 12. His career as a
musician began at the age of 15 when he played for the musician Little
Jimmy Mae. He named John Lee Williamson as a major influence.
Oscher met Muddy Waters in the mid-1960s. After Big Walter Horton failed
to show up for a gig, Oscher played harmonica as a member of the Muddy
Waters Blues Band from 1967 until 1972. He was the first white musician
in Muddy's band, and lived in Muddy's house on Chicago's South Side,
where Oscher shared the basement with the blues pianist Otis Spann.
Oscher recorded with Muddy for Chess Records.
After performing solo for a time in New York as "Brooklyn Slim", he
toured Europe in 1976 with Louisiana Red. They both appeared at the
WDR-TV music show, Rockpalast. During the 1990s, Oscher worked as a
multi-instrumentalist, playing piano, guitar and harmonica, sometimes as
a one-man band. He recorded an album in 1995, The Deep Blues of Paul
Oscher. In 1999, he played with Big Bill Morganfield on his debut album,
Rising Son.
In 2003, Oscher was featured on harmonica, guitar and vocals on Hubert
Sumlin's album, About Them Shoes, along with Keith Richards, Eric
Clapton and Levon Helm. In 2006, Oscher collaborated with Mos Def and
recorded the song, "Bed Stuy Parade and Funeral March", on Mos Def's
album, The New Danger. In 2008, he recorded with Keb' Mo' on the
soundtrack of a film about the blues, Who Do You Love?.
Oscher died on April 18, 2021, at the age of 74 in Austin, his home city
for the last years of his life, after several weeks hospitalized with
COVID-19 during the pandemic.