Gene
Ludwig
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GENE
LUDWIG BIO
by Pete
Fallico - January 1997
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 Crawford's
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 says, '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 Outloud (#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 Jauflone 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".
Pete Fallico - January 1997
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