Gene Ludwig (September 4, 1937 – July 14, 2010) was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
organist, who recorded as a leader as well as a sideman for
Sonny Stitt
Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his ...
Bob DeVos
Bob DeVos (born 1946) is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, and teacher from New Jersey.
Early life
DeVos failed a "music appreciation" class in his first year of college, which he later dropped out from.
Career
His style combines blues, r ...
, and
Leslie West
Leslie West (born Leslie Abel Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain.
Life and career Early years: 1 ...
, and others. Ludwig received international acclaim as a
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
player and was a prominent figure in the
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
Cambria County
Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Countie ...
, Ludwig was raised in the boroughs of
Wilkinsburg
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The borough has a population of 15,930 as of the 2010 census. Wilkinsburg is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough was named for John Wilkins Jr., a United States Army ...
and Swissvale, near Pittsburgh. He began studying the piano at age 6. Ludwig became interested in rhythm and blues after hearing
Ruth Brown
Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...
,
Big Joe Turner
Joseph Vernon "Big Joe" Turner Jr. (May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American singer from Kansas City, Missouri. According to songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." His greatest fame was due to ...
and organists
Bill Doggett
William Ballard Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American pianist and organist. He began his career playing swing music before transitioning into rhythm and blues. Best known for his instrumental compositions "Honky Tonk" ...
and
Wild Bill Davis
Wild Bill Davis (November 24, 1918 – August 17, 1995) was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis. He is best known for his pioneering jazz electric organ recordings and for his tenure with t ...
played by disc jockey
Porky Chedwick
George Jacob "Porky" Chedwick (February 4, 1918 – March 2, 2014) was an American radio announcer known to generations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as "The Daddio of the Raddio", "The Platter Pushin' Papa", "The Bossman", "Pork the Tork", and a h ...
Homestead
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
* Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
*Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...
.
Ludwig graduated from Swissvale High School in 1955, and studied physics and mathematics at Edinboro State Teachers College. He left due to his father going on strike at
Westinghouse Electric
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
, and returned to Pittsburgh to work in construction. Ludwig also began performing in local vocal groups. He heard organist Jimmy Smith perform at the Hurricane nightclub in the
Hill District
The Hill District is a grouping of historically African American neighborhoods in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, "the Hill" was the cultural center of black life in the city and a major cent ...
, which inspired him to take up the
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
. Ludwig bought a M-100 organ, then a C-3 model, and finally a B-3 after sharing a bill with Jimmy Smith in 1964 in
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
.
Ludwig travelled along the
East Coast
East Coast may refer to:
Entertainment
* East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop
* East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017
* East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004
* East Coast FM, a ra ...
and to
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, performing jazz and rhythm and blues, and released numerous singles and albums as a leader and a sideman. He released a 45-rpm single of the
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
song "Sticks & Stones" in 1963, then in 1967 he released Mother Blues on
Johnny Nash
John Lester Nash Jr. (August 19, 1940October 6, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit " I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists ...
's Jocida record label and replaced Don Patterson in saxophonist
Sonny Stitt
Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his ...
's band in 1969, appearing on Stitt's album, ''
Night Letter
A night letter is an unsigned leaflet distributed clandestinely.
Afghanistan
Night letters have been a tactic employed by the Taliban and other extremist groups in Afghanistan to intimidate supporters of secular government and education.
Iran ...
''. Ludwig toured with bass-baritone vocalist
Arthur Prysock
Arthur Prysock Jr. (January 1, 1924Pat Martino
Pat Martino (born Patrick Carmen Azzara; August 25, 1944 – November 1, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and composer.
Biography
Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, to father Carmen "Mickey" ...
. He released the album, ''Now's the Time'', in 1980 on
Muse Records
Muse Records was a jazz record company and label founded in New York City by Joe Fields in 1972.
Fields worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s. Several of the albums were previously released on Cobblestone Records. Muse also ha ...
, and continued to travel and work through the '80s and '90s, regularly performing at Pittsburgh's
Crawford Grill
The Crawford Grill was a renowned jazz club that operated in two locations in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During its heyday in the 1950s and 60s, the second Crawford Grill venue hosted local and nationally-recognized acts, inclu ...
and James Street Tavern. He signed with Loose Leaf/Blues Leaf Records in 1997 and released the albums ''Back on the Track'', ''Soul Serenade'', ''The Groove ORGANization'', ''Hands On'', and ''Live in Las Vegas'', for the label.
Ludwig married Pattye Zamborsky on September 30, 2001 and they resided in
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
Monroeville is a Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is located about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Monroeville is a suburb with mixed residential and commercial developments. As ...
, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Ludwig died in Monroeville on July 14, 2010. The posthumous album, ''Love Notes of Cole Porter'', was released in 2011 by Jim Alfredson's Big O Records, where Ludwig covered standards by
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
, including "
What Is This Thing Called Love?
"What Is This Thing Called Love?" is a 1929 popular song written by Cole Porter, for the musical '' Wake Up and Dream''. It was first performed by Elsie Carlisle in March 1929. The song has become a popular jazz standard and one of Porter's most o ...
Begin the Beguine
"Begin the Beguine" is a popular song written by Cole Porter. Porter composed the song between Kalabahi, Indonesia, and Fiji during a 1935 Pacific cruise aboard Cunard's ocean liner ''Franconia''. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knig ...
", and "
You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
"You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for the 1943 film '' Something to Shout About'', where it was introduced by Janet Blair and Don Ameche. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Son ...
".
Discography
As leader
* ''The Educated Sounds of Gene Ludwig'' (Travis, 1965)
* ''This Is Gene Ludwig'' (GeLu, 1965)
* ''Organ Out Loud'' (Mainstream, 1965)
* ''The Hot Organ'' (Time, 1966)
* ''Now's the Time'' (Muse, 1980)
* ''Back on the Track'' (Loose Leaf, 1998)
* ''Soul Serenade'' (Loose Leaf, 2001)
* ''The Groove ORGANization'' (Blues Leaf, 2002)
* ''Hands On'' (Blues Leaf, 2004)
* ''Live in Las Vegas'' (Blues Leaf, 2006)
* ''Duff's Blues'' with Bill Warfield Big Band (18th & Vine, 2008)
* ''Love Notes of Cole Porter'' (Big O, 2011)
* '' Young Guns'' with
Pat Martino
Pat Martino (born Patrick Carmen Azzara; August 25, 1944 – November 1, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and composer.
Biography
Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, to father Carmen "Mickey" ...
(HighNote, 2014)
As sideman
*
Cecil Brooks III
Cecil Brooks III (born 1959) is an American jazz drummer and record producer who has worked with Arthur Blythe, Russell Gunn, John Hicks, Andrew Hill, Etta Jones, Roseanna Vitro, Marvin Peterson, and Jimmy Ponder.
A native of the Homewood n ...
, ''Double Exposure'' (Savant, 2006)
*
Bob DeVos
Bob DeVos (born 1946) is an American jazz guitarist, vocalist, and teacher from New Jersey.
Early life
DeVos failed a "music appreciation" class in his first year of college, which he later dropped out from.
Career
His style combines blues, r ...
, ''DeVos' Groove Guitar!'' (Blues Leaf, 2003)
* Scott Hamilton, ''Across the Tracks'' (Concord Jazz, 2008)
*
Plas Johnson
Plas John Johnson Jr. (born July 21, 1931) is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most widely known as the tenor saxophone soloist on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme". He also performs on alto and baritone sax ...
and
Red Holloway
James Wesley "Red" Holloway (May 31, 1927 – February 25, 2012) was an American jazz saxophonist.
Biography
Born in Helena, Arkansas,Daniel E. Slotnik"Red Holloway, Swinger of the Sax, Dies at 84" ''The New York Times'', February 28, 2012 ...
, ''Keep That Groove Going!'' (Milestone, 2001)
* Jimmy Ponder, ''What's New'' (HighNote, 2005)
* Billy Price, ''Danger Zone'' (Corona Music, 2000)
*
Sonny Stitt
Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his ...
, ''
Night Letter
A night letter is an unsigned leaflet distributed clandestinely.
Afghanistan
Night letters have been a tactic employed by the Taliban and other extremist groups in Afghanistan to intimidate supporters of secular government and education.
Iran ...