Gene Ludwig
Encyclopedia
Gene Ludwig was an American jazz
and rhythm and blues
organist, who recorded as a leader as well as a sideman for Sonny Stitt
, Arthur Prysock
, Scott Hamilton
, Bob DeVos
, and Leslie West
, and others. Ludwig received international acclaim as a Hammond organ
player and was a prominent figure in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
jazz scene.
, Ludwig was raised in the boroughs of Wilkinsburg
and Swissvale
, near Pittsburgh. He began studying the piano at age 6. Ludwig became interested in rhythm and blues after hearing Ruth Brown
, Big Joe Turner
and organists Bill Doggett
and Wild Bill Davis
played by disc jockey Porky Chedwick
on WHOD in Homestead
.
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, 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, which inspired him to take up the Hammond organ
. Ludwig bought an M100 organ, then a C model, and then a B-3 after sharing a bill with Jimmy Smith in 1964 in Atlantic City, New Jersey
.
Ludwig travelled along the East Coast
and to Ohio
, 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
song "Sticks and Stones" in 1963, and replaced Don Patterson
in saxophonist Sonny Stitt
's band in 1969, appearing on Stitt's album, Night Letter. Ludwig toured with bass-baritone vocalist Arthur Prysock
and guitarist Pat Martino
. He released the album, Now's the Time, in 1979 on Muse Records
, and continued to travel and work through the '80s and '90s, regularly performing at Pittsburgh's Crawford Grill
and James Street Tavern. He signed with Blues Leaf Records in 1997 and released the albums Back on Track, Soul Serenade, The Groove Organization, and Hands On, for the label.
Ludwig died in Monroeville, Pennsylvania
, a suburb of Pittsburgh, on July 14, 2010. The postumous album, Love Notes of Cole Porter, was released in 2011 by Big O Records, where Ludwig covered standards by Cole Porter
, including "What Is This Thing Called Love?
", "I Love You
", "Begin the Beguine
", and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
".
Cassettes
Albums
Compact discs
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
organist, who recorded as a leader as well as a sideman for Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
, Arthur Prysock
Arthur Prysock
Arthur Prysock was an American jazz singer best known for his live shows and his baritone influenced by Billy Eckstine....
, Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton (musician)
Scott Hamilton is a jazz tenor saxophonist, born in 1954 and associated with swing and mainstream jazz.-Biography:He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of...
, Bob DeVos
Bob deVos
Bob deVos is an American jazz guitarist whose playing style is similar to that of Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. He is most noted for his work with organist Richard Holmes.-Biography:...
, and Leslie West
Leslie West
Leslie West is an American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter.-Biography:Originally named Leslie Weinstein, West was born in New York City, grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, and in East Meadow, Forest Hills and Lawrence. After his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West...
, and others. Ludwig received international acclaim as a Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
player and was a prominent figure in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
jazz scene.
Life and career
Born in Twin Rocks, Cambria CountyCambria County, Pennsylvania
Cambria County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It comprises the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 143,679....
, Ludwig was raised in the boroughs of Wilkinsburg
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
Wilkinsburg is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States adjacent to the city of Pittsburgh. The population was 15,930 at the 2010 census, having lost more than 13,000 in the 70 years since 1940, when 29,853 people were enumerated...
and Swissvale
Swissvale, Pennsylvania
Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by abolitionist and early feminist Jane Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George Westinghouse. The population was 8,983 at...
, near Pittsburgh. He began studying the piano at age 6. Ludwig became interested in rhythm and blues after hearing Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown was an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, composer and actress, noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and " He Treats Your Daughter Mean".For these...
, Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
and organists Bill Doggett
Bill Doggett
Bill Doggett was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist. He is best known for his tracks, "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy Dippy", and variously working with The Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan.-Biography:William Ballard Doggett was born in...
and Wild Bill Davis
Wild Bill Davis
Wild Bill Davis was the stage name of American jazz pianist, organist, and arranger William Strethen Davis.Davis was born in Glasgow, Missouri...
played by disc jockey Porky Chedwick
Porky Chedwick
Craig "Porky" Chedwick known to generations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, as "The Daddio of the Raddio, " "The Platter Pushin' Papa, " "The Bossman," "Pork the Tork", and a host of other colorful nicknames, is a veteran radio presenter.-Background:Chedwick was the first white DJ to...
on WHOD in Homestead
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
.
Ludwig graduated from Swissvale High School in 1955, and studied physics and mathematics at Edinboro State Teachers College
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Edinboro University is a public liberal arts university located in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA and one of 14 schools associated with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The town is named after Edinburgh, Scotland. It is also not to be confused with the University of Edinburgh...
. He left due to his father going on strike at Westinghouse Electric, and returned to Pittsburgh to work in construction. Ludwig also began performing in local vocal groups. He heard organist Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
perform at the Hurricane nightclub in the Hill District, which inspired him to take up the Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
. Ludwig bought an M100 organ, then a C model, and then a B-3 after sharing a bill with Jimmy Smith in 1964 in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
.
Ludwig travelled along the East Coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
and to Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, 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
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
song "Sticks and Stones" in 1963, and replaced Don Patterson
Don Patterson (organist)
Don Patterson was an American jazz organist.Patterson played piano from childhood and was heavily influenced by Erroll Garner in his youth. In 1956, he switched to organ after hearing Jimmy Smith play the instrument...
in saxophonist Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
's band in 1969, appearing on Stitt's album, Night Letter. Ludwig toured with bass-baritone vocalist Arthur Prysock
Arthur Prysock
Arthur Prysock was an American jazz singer best known for his live shows and his baritone influenced by Billy Eckstine....
and guitarist Pat Martino
Pat Martino
Pat Martino is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, fusion, mainstream jazz, soul jazz and hard bop idioms.-Biography:...
. He released the album, Now's the Time, in 1979 on Muse Records
Muse Records
Muse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...
, and continued to travel and work through the '80s and '90s, regularly performing at Pittsburgh's Crawford Grill
Crawford Grill
Crawford Grill was a renowned jazz club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA's Hill District. Its heyday was the 1930s to 1950s.The club was founded by Gus Greenlee, who first made his reputation as a numbers runner and racketeer, then later as the owner of the Negro League baseball team the Pittsburgh...
and James Street Tavern. He signed with Blues Leaf Records in 1997 and released the albums Back on Track, Soul Serenade, The Groove Organization, and Hands On, for the label.
Ludwig died in Monroeville, Pennsylvania
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
Monroeville is a home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located about east of the city of Pittsburgh, Monroeville is a bustling suburb with mixed residential and commercial developments...
, a suburb of Pittsburgh, on July 14, 2010. The postumous album, Love Notes of Cole Porter, was released in 2011 by Big O Records, where Ludwig covered standards by Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, including "What Is This Thing Called Love?
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 often played compositions.Wake Up and Dream ran for 263...
", "I Love You
I Love You (Cole Porter song)
"I Love You" is a song written by Cole Porter in 1944 for his stage musical Mexican Hayride. It was popularized by Bing Crosby in the same year...
", "Begin the Beguine
Begin the Beguine
"Begin the Beguine" is a song written by Cole Porter . Porter composed the song at the piano in the bar of the Ritz Hotel in Paris. In October 1935, it was introduced by June Knight in the Broadway musical Jubilee produced at the Imperial Theatre in New York City.-Music:The beguine music and dance...
", and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To
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. Dinah Shore had a major hit with the song at the time of its introduction...
".
As leader
45-rpm singles- "Gospel Goodness" Pt. 1 b/w Pt. 2 (1962), LaVere
- "Mr. Fink" Pt. I b/w Part II (1962), LaVere
- "Sticks and Stones" Part I b/w Part II (1963), AtlanticAtlantic RecordsAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
- "House of the Rising Sun” b/w "Blues For Mister Fink" (1964), Mainstream
- "Walk on the Wild Side" b/w "Birdie’s Blues" (1964), D.D. Productions
- "The Vamp" b/w "Deep Purple" (1965), Travis
- "Chittlin' Juice" Pt. I b/w Pt. II (1965), GeLu
- "Soul Mountain" b/w "My Blue Heaven" (1966), Travis
- "Mother Blues" b/w "Blue Flame” (1967), Jocida
- "My WayMy Way (song)"My Way" is a song popularized by Frank Sinatra. Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka and set to music based on the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibault. Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the...
" Part I b/w Part II (1971), Steel City Records - "The Street Preacher" Part I b/w Part II (1987), GeLu
Cassettes
- Blues and More (1982), GeLu
Albums
- Organ Out Loud (1964), Mainstream
- The Educated Sound of Gene Ludwig (1965), Travis
- This is Gene Ludwig (1965), GeLu
- The Hot Organ (1967), Time - repackage of Organ Out Loud
- Now's the Time (1979), MuseMuse RecordsMuse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...
Compact discs
- Back on the Track (1998)
- Soul Serenade (2000), Blue Leaf
- The Groove ORGANization (2002), Blue Leaf
- Hands On (2003), Blue Leaf
- Gene Ludwig - Live in Las Vegas (2006), Blue Leaf
- Gene Ludwig Trio with The Bill Warfield Big Band (2008), 18th & Vine
- Duffs Blues (2008), 18th & Vine
- Love Notes of Cole Porter (2011), Big O
As sideman
- Night Letter (with Sonny StittSonny StittEdward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
, 1969), PrestigePrestige RecordsPrestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several... - Nassau (with Ron Bartol, 1984), Leeway Sound
- Danger Zone (with The Billy PriceBilly PriceBilly Price is the stage name of soul singer William Pollak. Born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey in 1949, he has lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA since the mid 1970s.-Career:...
Band, 1993) - Front (with Randy Caldwell, 1998)
- Diamonds and Sausages (with Shawnee Lake, 1999)
- Walking the Walk - The Serious Saxaphone of Hosea Taylor (with Hosea Taylor, 2000)
- Keep that Groove Going (with Plas JohnsonPlas JohnsonPlas John Johnson Jr. is an American soul-jazz and hard bop tenor saxophonist, probably most familiar as the lead on Henry Mancini’s "The Pink Panther Theme"....
& Red HollowayRed HollowayJames W. "Red" Holloway is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Holloway started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor sax when he was twelve years old...
, 2001)
- DeVos Groove Guitar (with Bob deVosBob deVosBob deVos is an American jazz guitarist whose playing style is similar to that of Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. He is most noted for his work with organist Richard Holmes.-Biography:...
, 2003) - Indubitably Quintessential (with Hosea Taylor, 2003)
- What's New (with Jimmy PonderJimmy PonderJimmy Ponder is an American jazz guitarist.Ponder started playing guitar at age 14, and was heavily influenced by Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. He began playing with Charles Earland at 17, and in the following years played with Lou Donaldson, Houston Person, Donald Byrd, Stanley Turrentine,...
, 2005) - Tea for Two (with Cecil Brooks IIICecil Brooks IIICecil Brooks III is an American jazz drummer who has worked with, among others, Marvin Peterson, Andrew Hill, Arthur Blythe, Russell Gunn, Etta Jones and Jimmy Ponder....
, 2006) - Double Exposure (with Cecil Brooks IIICecil Brooks IIICecil Brooks III is an American jazz drummer who has worked with, among others, Marvin Peterson, Andrew Hill, Arthur Blythe, Russell Gunn, Etta Jones and Jimmy Ponder....
, 2006) - Synesthesia (with Hosea Taylor, 2006)
- Worry No More (with Jared Wilson), 2007)
- Across the Tracks (with Scott HamiltonScott Hamilton (musician)Scott Hamilton is a jazz tenor saxophonist, born in 1954 and associated with swing and mainstream jazz.-Biography:He emerged in the 1970s and at the time he was considered to be one of the few musicians of real talent who carried the tradition of the classic jazz tenor saxophone in the style of...
, 2008)