GENE LUDWIG BIO
by Pete Fallico - January 1997 and February 2005
Some say he stole the show that night... the fella from Pittsburgh
who showed up late that afternoon, missing the sound check and sort
of looking like anyone's junior high math teacher as he strolled
around backstage at the 1994 Newark Jazz Organ Jam waiting for his
turn to play. As I introduced myself to him, I remember his hands
being huge, reminding me of what a bricklayer's hands might be like:
long, thick fingers and wide palms. I had looked forward to meeting
Gene Ludwig in person. I was trying so hard to be impartial as I
listened to each organist who played that night but deep down I,
too, felt that
Gene grooved harder than the others... I really do love everybody
that sits at that bench... no matter who they are or what kind of
music they play... but somehow, those who reach the audience quicker
and with the most passion, leave me with the more lasting impression.
It didn't take me long to figure out what Gene did to that crowd
that night to get the response that he got and win over so many
new fans: HE PLAYED THE BLUES... That's what those folks came to
hear. They wanted to be taken back in time to the old days of the
'Organ Rooms' where every club had a B-3 on the stage and smokey,
inner city soul jazz was the gravy of life. When Gene kicked off
with Jimmy Smith's 'The Sermon', he was telling that crowd that
there's still truth in this music... it hasn't left us and never
will... and more importantly, he wasn't afraid to play Jimmy's sound.
As an admitted disciple, he was reminding us just how important
this is to us all. Gene Ludwig has always been that kind of a player.
He knows where he came from and how he got where he is... no frills,
nothing pretentious... just SOLID ORGAN GROOVE... That's Gene Ludwig.
For the next few days in Newark, jazz fans were poking around record
stores asking who this Gene Ludwig was and did he have any records
out.... All they needed to do was ask any one from Pittsburgh. As
Gene, himself would tell you; 'I'm the only one cartin' the Hammond
around still, here in Pittsburgh".
Gene was born in Twin Rocks, Pennsylvania on September 4, 1937.
Four years later his family moved to Swissvale where Gene spent
most of his youth and graduated from Swissvale High in 1955. His
mother provided young Gene with piano lessons as early as the first
grade and witnessed his musical growth from then on. She would have
preferred that he became a concert pianist but soon realized that
his musical preference lay in Rhythm and Blues. After two years
at Edinboro State Teachers College and a series of jobs, he was
ready to make a life long commitment. He had spent many a night
watching and listening to musicians like Ramsey Lewis, Horace Silver,
Ahmad Jamal and Ray Bryant at The Crawford Grill and the Hi-Hat but
when he experienced Jimmy Smith for the first time his mind was
made up. "From '43 to about '55, I took formal training on
piano", recounts Gene, "Around '57 I met Jimmy Smith and
heard the Hammond...and I knew that's what I wanted to be: a Hammond
organ player". Gene saw Jimmy at Pittsburgh's famous Hurricane
owned by Birdie Dunlap- truly a mecca for the Jazz Organ Sound.
Gene was bit by the bug before he had a chance to know what it was
all about. "Around 1949, 1950, I used to hear swing organ on
the air and it happened to be Bill Davis and Bill Doggett...but
all I had heard was the big, full, block chords and I was into piano
and (then) when I heard Jimmy playing on the air, he was playing
single lines like a piano player or like a horn and I said, 'Oh
wow! ... This is amazing' and then when I first saw him play and
I heard him live, my God, it was awesome, it was really awesome".
Gene's first Jazz Organ Combo was led by tenor saxophonist, Sonny
Stanton. They gigged around town in places like, the Hi-Hat on the
Northside, Mason's in the Hill, Tropics in Braddock and Dave's Walnut
Inn in McKeesport. They traveled to Cleveland before Gene switched
to another quartet led by Gene Barr. This group ventured out even
further going to St. Louis, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Buffalo.
By this time, Gene's musical career was firmly rooted in the organ
genre. "Once I started playing organ, that was about 1958,
I sort of shied away from the piano because I wanted to put all
my efforts into the organ and for all of, I'd say, twenty or twenty-five
years, my main forte was the organ up until about ten years ago".
Making the switch from piano to organ was easy for Gene. "Originally,
I started out on an M-100 which is like a spinet Hammond and the
left hand bass left a lot to be desired...so I had to play the little
cluster of pedals there, thirteen pedals, just an octave. That's
where I weaned myself until I got to a bigger organ; then I got
to a much bigger, broader, fuller sound...and it didn't take too
much coordination, I just sort of naturally fell into it".
Gene, like so many others was forced to take piano gigs and play
synthesizers during the eighties just to survive. It's almost as
if many of the great jazz organists from that era have come around
full circle in their playing. "I've become very comfortable
with piano now", says Gene. He, like Shirley Scott and others,
can now be commercially successful with both instruments. Back in
1962, however, the most important thing for a player like Gene Ludwig
was being able to play rooms like the Hurricane and stay within
the pack of Jazz Organists. "That's where I met Jimmy and after
that I went up and I saw Milt Buckner... I saw Johnny Hammond Smith,
Oh gee...I saw Groove Holmes up there and Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff..."
No wonder why Gene was thrilled to play this same room eight weeks
out of the year with his own trio from '62 until it closed because
of the '68 riots. Drummer Randy Gillespie was with him throughout
this period and sometimes Jerry Byrd. This trio was first recorded
on the local label, LaVere. It was also at this time when Billy
Driscoll became Gene's manager. Billy was able to connect Gene with
the same booking agency that handled Dinah Washington, which translated
into even better gigs. In fact, one night while playing in Newark,
Nesuhi Ertegun from Atlantic Records stopped by to hear Gene's trio
and wound up offering them a record date. The resulting tune, 'Sticks
and Stones' got favorable air play in Pittsburgh. An album followed
this on the Mainstream label called Organ Out Loud (#6032) and in
1966, 'Mother Blues' was released on the Jo-Da label. (An additional
recording from this period can be found on Travis, #707) Gene, himself,
was doing a little record producing with his own label which he
called, Ge-Lu Records ('This is Gene Ludwig', GL-1415).
It was in 1969 that Gene got a chance to record with Sonny Stitt.
This would become the start of a valuable musical relationship for
Gene. "Oh, those were very good times", recalls Gene,
"Sonny sort of took me under his wing and he taught me a lot.
I had about fifteen years of experience before I joined him in the
jazz thing but I thought I...you know...I didn't know as much as
I thought I did until I worked with him". This musical education
for Gene came as organist, Don Patterson was leaving Sonny's band.
"I was working with a drummer, Randy Gillespie who lives up
in Lansing now. We had a trio together for years and when the guitar
player that I was working with from Pittsburgh went with Jack McDuff's
group, I locked up with Wilbert Longmire from Cincinatti...then
Wilbert left the band and Pat Martino joined us". Gene co-led
this group with Pat and worked up and down the East Coast. "Pat
decided to leave when me and Randy worked with Sonny Stitt".
Pat did, however, appear with this group on Sonny Stitt's 'Night
Letter' record of 1970 for Prestige (#7759). Although his work with
Sonny Stitt would cover only a year's time, he gladly comments;
"It was one of the fondest memories of my career". Once
back in Pittsburgh, Gene hooked up with multi-reed talent, Bill
Easley and later Walt Maddox before more limelight was cast upon
him in the form of Arthur Prysock. Gene would go on the road with
Prysock in 1974 and once again in 1979, all the time supporting
local groups and vocalists in his home town when he could. It was
also a time when Gene would record again, this time for Joe Fields
at Muse Records. Gene's Now's The Time (MR-5164) offered a great
mix of Jazz Organ grooves in a time when Jazz Organ was harder than
ever to sell to the public.
When Joey DeFrancesco came on the scene with the backing of Columbia
Records, Jazz Organists all over the country started dusting off
their organs and pulling out their drawbars. Gene was right there
with the best of them welcoming the return of his favorite instrument
to the modern music scene. He appeared at the Montreaux Jazz Festival
in Switzerland and made numerous stops in and around the Eastern
cities. In fact, soon after Don Patterson passed away in 1988, Gene
performed in Don's birthplace, Columbus Ohio where Don was honored
posthumously. Gene even accepted the award on his behalf and handed
it over to Don's mother. He played the next year with Hank Marr
in Columbus and, more recently, has been organizing his own Jazz
Organ Jams in Shadyside (Pittsburgh area) at a club called The Balcony.
Gene has brought two of his three organs to the gig so that he and
Jack McDuff, Joey DeFrancesco and Papa John DeFrancesco can play
together in his 'ExtravOrganza'. Locally, Gene has played at Esta-Esta
in Monroeville, Baby O's in Greensburg and the Keystone Elks in
Washington, Pennsylvania. He has recorded new material with guitarist,
Randy Caldwell ('The American Underground', Jazz Highway 5002) and
also with his own group comprised of Tony Janflone on guitar, Dan
Muchony on drums and George Jones on percussion. For Gene Ludwig,
the Hammond organ never really left the scene... He has been and
will continue to be one of this country's most passionate exponents
of Jazz Organ and as he once told me; "I have an A-100 Hammond
in my game room and I keep two B-3's in my garage... I'm ready to
go when I get my calls".
(UPDATE - 2005) With the release of Gene's 1998 CD titled
"Back on the Track", came a resurgence of fresh energy. His career has
once again moved forward in both recording and touring on a national basis.
CD sales reflect this renewed interest in Gene's work as well as his status
in the ranks of Jazz Organ. Three other CD's have since been released,
"Soul Serenade" in 2000;"The Groove Organization" in 2002; and his current
"Hands On" in 2003. A live recording from the Blue Note in Las Vegas is
awaiting release in 2005. All of Gene's recent work has been praised for its
energy and hard driving groove. Also of note are the great articles that have
been appearing in publications like Downbeat and Jazziz. It's always good to
get some ink and see Gene's mug out there.
Live performances have also kept Gene busy. He has appeared at the 2001
San Francisco Jazz Festival; Birdland in NYC; and the 2003 Stanford Jazz Festival
for the Stanford Jazz Workshop. Other recent appearances include several gigs at
The Blue Note in NYC and a special appearance at the Blue Note in Las Vegas in 2002.
Gene isn't kidding when he says he's 'ready to go'. He has dropped everything and
driven his van out to New Jersey to play Trumpet's and later the Newark Museum of Art
Summer Jazz Series (2004). He has also traveled to Yonkers for a recent organ jam
with McGriff and others from the Harlem organ scene. Of particular note, however,
was his re-union concert with his original trio of guitarist, Jerry Byrd and
drummer, Randy Gelispie that took place in Cleveland in the fall of 2004.
Keep your eyes and ears on Geno...he's likely to show up in your neck'o the woods soon.
Pete Fallico - January 1997 and February 2005
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