Jay Osmond

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
How cool is this? I go to the Pearl room at NAMM and met the famous Jay Osmond! He's also playing Pearl and he was the nicest man I've ever met. We got to chat for a bit, and of course, his concern was the crowds at Disneyland across the street! I wanted to chat about all the Ludwig drums they used through the 70s. I tried helping his wife operate her new camera, but when we parted, the camera was stuck in video mode. She still couldn't take a picture. Good times!

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For anyone who never knew, or who has perhaps forgotten, the Osmonds song "Crazy Horses"—a 1972 song about pollution—is a legit badass jam.


Jay was usually the drummer but he sang lead on this—and presumably played drums in the studio, or did they use studio musicians? Anyway, according to wikipedia, live his brother Merrill would sometimes apparently play drums on this song as Jay took center stage—Merrill's the one who sings the b-section and absolutely slays it.
 
For anyone who never knew, or who has perhaps forgotten, the Osmonds song "Crazy Horses"—a 1972 song about pollution—is a legit badass jam.


Jay was usually the drummer but he sang lead on this—and presumably played drums in the studio, or did they use studio musicians? Anyway, according to wikipedia, live his brother Merrill would sometimes apparently play drums on this song as Jay took center stage—Merrill's the one who sings the b-section and absolutely slays it.
Very cool! I think like most music product from those days, it was probably all studio musicians. The obligatory Octa-Plus sound was there so I would surmise it was Hal Blaine on drums, Tommy Tedesco on guitars and either Joe Osborne or Carol Kaye on bass - a typical Wrecking Crew session! I could be wrong, but everything that came out of L.A. in the 60s and 70s were a combination of those guys. But I think I may have seen footage of the Osmonds live and they weren't slouches on stage. But I think the record label execs and producers wanted to make sure they could crank out a musical performance in as little time as possible, so they'd use the crew to cut the records.
 
I love it! That's an awesome retro video-love the bell bottoms. Boy was those different times- you buy jeans new and it just takes time for them to wear and get holes (so time for new ones)-now people buy them with holes-my Mom is rolling over in her grave with her sewing kit and patches LOL. So funny he's doing the funky chicken while singing crazy horses. Dang Bo that sounds like a great time-I love talking to folks like that who I admire and they feel comfortable to regale their tales. One of my mentors opened up to me about his experience in the Battle of Normandy and then some happier moments then too (making love to a French girl on beach lol). He had never told anyone (my Dad never did either about pacific)-I felt honored he chose me.
 
I love it! That's an awesome retro video-love the bell bottoms. Boy was those different times- you buy jeans new and it just takes time for them to wear and get holes (so time for new ones)-now people buy them with holes-my Mom is rolling over in her grave with her sewing kit and patches LOL. So funny he's doing the funky chicken while singing crazy horses. Dang Bo that sounds like a great time-I love talking to folks like that who I admire and they feel comfortable to regale their tales. One of my mentors opened up to me about his experience in the Battle of Normandy and then some happier moments then too (making love to a French girl on beach lol). He had never told anyone (my Dad never did either about pacific)-I felt honored he chose me.
He was very cool. He even asked if I'd be at Disneyland the next day after meeting, and was bummed I couldn't get him on our new Star Wars attraction (that opened on the 17th). He was being current and was amazed at the Pearl room and how it felt like he was looking at Rolls Royces. I suppose seeing NAMM today compared to how it would've been back in his day must be totally different. I've seen pictures of the show in the 60s and it was literally just people in suits meeting other businesses. Definitely not the circus it is today.

One cool anecdote he told me was that they did alot of work with Walt Disney. They would rehearse their barbershop quartet stuff with him, and alot of those arrangements Walt came up with, they still use today for our Dapper Dans barbershop quartet on Main St. Now I'm gonna see Osmonds when I'm listening to the Dapper Dans ;)
 
I love it! That's an awesome retro video-love the bell bottoms.

Here's an astonishing live version of the same song:


You can see they've got a backing band on stage, so who knows how much of what we hear is actually them, outside the vocals (although on other videos, you can see that the guitar solo, at least, really does seem to be played by whichever brother that is that looks like Jimmy Page). But the best part is that these notoriously clean-cut boys are all dressed like Huggy Bear.
 
Jay solo from Youtube and Firstvision. And at the end of this the boys are all playing brass and a clarinet. Lots of talent.

 
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I was an Osmond brother but I didn't look like any of them(who all look alike) and unlike all the rest I had absolutely no talent so rather than just kill the bad seed they put me up for adoption. I was adopted by the Agrippa family and given my present name-Geta so people call me Art-which follows logically. Yes I was bitter but realized why embarrass myself as a dud Osmond and fate had other plans for me. Yeah that's the ticket. I was an Osmond. Nah no one is going to believe that story I should have gone with I was a Cowsills. You know there have been a bunch of talented musical families since Vaudeville so makes you ponder genetics and musicality.
 
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