Baldwin Organ And Bongos Bongos Bongos

Sid's Blues

Baldwin Organ And Bongos Bongos Bongos
Doctored For Super Sound

Musical Arrangements: Eddie Osborn

Production, Artist & Repertoire: Sidney Frey

Recording and Re-recording Engineer: Ernest Oelrich

Editing: William Hamilton

Mastering: Clair Krepps

Cover Art: Irving Sloane

Liner Notes: Eddie Osborn and Richard Strunsky

Audio Fidelity DFM 3004

1960

Eddie Osborn - Baldwin Organ

Bob Rosengarden - Bongos, Drums

George Devens - Percussion

Frank Carroll - Bass

From the inside cover: Eddie Osborn pursues two separate careers with equal success. As an organist, he is much in demand for his happy-go-fun-loving music. No one can listen to the rollicking rhythm and happy lilt of his tunes without getting caught up in his musical magic. He is also a business executive.

From the time he was four years old and pecked out "Oh, Katherina" on an upright piano, keyboards have fascinated him. His parents wanted him to be a violinist. They enrolled him in a violin class and later sent him to composer-arranger, Victor Young for private lessons. Once, in a school band concert, they got a mild shock when they found him beating out wild rhythms on the drums instead of playing the staid violin part they expected to hear.

The lure of the keyboard led him to study piano and organ even while giving most of his time to violin practice and recitals. One of his big moments came when he was ten years old and was given permission to try the pipe organ at the Uptown Conservatory in Chicago. He still remembers his disappointment when he discovered he couldn't reach the pedals! From that time on, his head was filled with organ. Any day he might be found rapping on church doors, asking if he could practice on the organ. He saved scrupulously to practice at Kimball Hall, even repaired organs for the opportunity to play them. By the time he was 17, he was playing the organ in churches and had organized his own small orchestra.

Eddie's inimitable style made him a popular figure on the campus of Michigan State University where he was better known as an organist than a business administration major. While in college, he was featured on the Pontiac "Varsity Show" over the old NBC-Blue Network, with a nationwide hookup. He was selected later by 32 radio editors as one of the outstanding acts of the Pontiac radio series, returned to play for the special "Varsity Show" broadcast on Christmas Eve, 1938.

From college, Eddie went into the Navy as an aviation cadet. He received his wings at Pensacola in 1941, where he also regularly played a specially purchased organ for station personnel.

After a stint as aviation instructor at Glenview Air Station,  he was selected to join the celebrated "Fighting 8" in the Pacific. Some of his most memorable moments at the organ were spent aboard aircraft carriers – moments interspaced with the deadly business of flying his quota of combat missions. In quieter moments between battles, the sound of Eddie's rhythmic music filled the carriers from stern to stern over the inter-communication systems. The morale value of his "music with a life" was so salutary that when Eddie was transferred from the USS Intrepid, upon being dry-docked, the organ donated to that ship was transferred to the USS Bunker Hill.

After his release to Naval Reserve status as a Lieutenant Commander, Eddie was featured on the Chicago Theater stage as the "Flying, Fighting Minstrel". He also appeared professionally in Chicago clubs, at special events and on television programs. For several years he was a familiar figure to many thousands of persons in Chicago's huge Union Station, where he played the organ during Christmas Week.

Eddie traveled extensively in his capacity as Manager of the Home Organ Division of the Organ Department of the Baldwin Piano Company.

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