The Voice - The Official Linda Eder Newsletter

Jeff has to wear many hats. As Tour Manager, he has to baby-sit all of us and believe me that is not always easy or fun. He always keeps a great attitude even when everyone around him is complaining. As our Sound Man, he gets to create and be an important part of the music. He always makes me feel comfortable and confident because he is so good at what he does

It is half past noon on Saturday, November 15, 2003. On the outside, the State Theatre in New Brunswick , NJ is seemingly dark, save for the sparse box office staff, busily fielding calls from patrons hoping to snag last-minute tickets for the evening's near sold-out concert. In just under eight short hours, Linda Eder and her band will take the stage for another magical performance at The State. These final hours before the show will drag by ever so slowly for the fans who've been eagerly anticipating the evening for months. For Jeffery Osborne, the man essentially tasked with pulling everything together, these final hours will fly by in a heartbeat.

Inside the theater, the house lights are down and a lighting technician is testing and focusing spotlights. There are figures in the shadows, pointing and moving on stage. It's Jeff-- working with sound engineers and stage hands to arrange everything on stage exactly the way it needs to be for the performance. Jeff has already been here for hours, but preparation for tonight's show began weeks ago.

“I should own stock in Rolaids,” says Jeff, in his signature half-joking/half-serious tone.

He makes a very good point. As Linda's Front-of-House (FOH) Sound Mixer, Tour Manager and Production Manager, Jeff wears three hats, yet carries with him the responsibility of dozens of jobs. It's no wonder that some stress should come with the territory.

So what is Jeff's typical “day” of working with Linda? “I arrange everything for a show weeks ahead of time. My typical day usually involves me on the phone or near my computer trying to coordinate travel plans, renting equipment and instruments or arranging specific details with venues... everything from what kind of sound system they have at the theater, to catering and setting up the dressing rooms... it's called advancing the show,” explains Jeff. “The day of a performance I'm always the first person from Linda's team to arrive at the theater. Most of the time the theaters have their own crews, but sometimes we hire local workers-- equipment guys, lighting, sound engineers, monitor engineers, technicians, stage crew, security... everything!

“We start with an empty stage and we build it up with risers so that everything is exactly the way Linda and Jeremy need it. We put the piano in place first and then we make sure the sight lines are good from there. Jeremy needs to see everyone so he dictates the way the stage should be set up. After the stage is set up and everything has the proper microphones, we run wires and start testing the sound and lighting, hours before the official sound check takes place. Next, we tune the piano, have sound check, eat dinner, everyone goes off to their dressing rooms, I pop a few more Rolaids and the show is ready to begin.”

Of course, for the purpose of our article, Jeff is simplifying things. Weeks of work are finally ready to bloom, and (most times) Jeff has a few moments to relax and enjoy dinner with Linda and the band, because he's planned for these moments. “It's all about scheduling and expecting the unexpected,” says Jeff. “I have to make sure nothing goes wrong and that everyone is safe and happy. I'm completely on edge the entire time, but it's a dream job.”

Jeff recalls one time when “expecting the unexpected” helped save the show. “A few years ago, Linda sang with the Boston Pops for the Annual 4 th of July televised ‘Pop Goes The Forth ' concert. There were hundreds of thousands of people all lined up on the banks of the Charles River and we were about to go live in front of four million people on TV. A stagehand had forgotten to unlock one of the piano legs and when we went to move it the leg snapped off. Clear off! So everyone was flipping out, naturally, we had a two-legged piano. Luckily, with a little quick thinking and a speaker case that happened to be the same height as the piano leg, the show was able to go on. We jammed the case under the piano and Linda sang, quite beautifully, with the Boston Pops. No one ever knew... well, at least not until now.”

Such high-stress moments are seemingly what keeps Jeff going. “I can't see myself doing anything else. This is what I was meant to do... I just stayed on the road and stumbled into it.”

Jeff grew up in Manchester , CT and is “the baby” of the family with five siblings from all walks of life. He's always loved mixing sound and is self-taught. For Jeff, it all began in Atlanta . The year was 1978.

“I was ‘just a kid,' and I somehow ended up sleeping on a park bench in Atlanta . A buddy of mine turned me on to a job as a stagehand for the first Police show in Atlanta . I remember thinking how cool it was and I couldn't believe they were paying me for it! I went on and worked for Emmilou Harris, Paul Young, B-52s, Talking Heads, REM, and many more acts. I'm self-taught in that I learned how to ‘turn knobs' on my own by just watching and instinctively knowing what sounded good. Eventually, I just started picking up the phone and planning everything. It was more of a ‘CYA' move that I didn't get paid for at the time, but I gained the valuable experience I needed to get me to the point where I would get paid. Now, you could say I'm a sound guy and a grand project manager. I can do whatever it takes to get the job done”

Jeff met Linda through Dave Hart about six years ago, and he says it was one of the best things to ever happen to him professionally. “I spent some 25 odd years on the road and it can be a rough life. I enjoyed life on the road ‘as a kid,' but it was time to grow up. Dave Hart and I go way back and I have him to thank for introducing me to Linda. The first time I heard Linda sing it was at a show in Houston and the rest is history. Now the shows are a pleasure... I get paid for the travel. It's been great watching Linda evolve as a performer. She amazes me each time she opens her mouth and her mic technique is the finest I've ever seen.”

After hundreds of shows with Linda, you'd guess that there are some musical selections that Jeff enjoys more than others, but, you'd guess wrong. The fact is, Jeff doesn't have a favorite song because for him... it's work. “I actually don't go to concerts or listen to much music because for me it's a job... I pick it apart. If I had to choose my favorite song from Linda's concert set list, I'd say it's whatever the last song is, because that means that the show is over and no one got hurt. As it happens, the song that Linda ends all of her shows with now (“If I Had My Way”) gives me chills. Her presentation of the song leaves me speechless. I feel it with her and I just want to give her a big hug, and many times I do. I'm the ‘behind-the-scenes' guy whose job is to hold everything together and make Linda happy. Sometimes I can't believe I get paid to do it. I'm fortunate to work with someone I love as a friend and as a human being. That said, in the end, if people walk away from a concert and say ‘that was amazing!'... then, I've done my job.”

Jeff makes his Carnegie Hall debut!

While Jeff takes his work “as serious as a heart attack,” there is still time for fun on the road with Linda and the band. And with each new show, Jeff says he gets to practice and polish his craft-- the mixing and mastering of sound-- which is one of the biggest thrills of all. “It's a ‘family thing' and we try to give each other a hard time as much as possible!” Jeff says with a grin. “Also, it's refreshing to work with Linda's band. They are all such outstanding professionals-- they are seriously trained and they don't miss a beat. It's amazing what they can do and it makes it that much more of a challenge to mix the sound... it's a thrill to balance all of them. It's like constructing a building with sound... first there are the drums as foundation, then bass, horns, percussion, strings, piano, voice. I absolutely love mixing sound; it's different each time and even if it's just Linda and JR, I have the power to make them sound as big as an entire band.”

And what's an even bigger thrill than doing something you love and getting paid for it? “After some twenty or so years, I can finally say that my mom is proud of what I do. And she actually understands what I do! She proudly tells her friends ‘that's my boy!'... and then she hits me up for Linda tickets for her entire bridge club! It's a riot.”