(L-R) Jerry Byrd (gtr), Gene Ludwig (org), Randy Gillespie (dr)

In a career that has lasted 45 years (and is still going strong), Gene Ludwig has cemented a place for himself in the first rank of Hammond organ masters. He has proven himself as comfortable in jazz settings as in hard driving R&B, combining technical mastery with impeccable good taste.

Through the 1960’s and 1970’s, Ludwig recorded LPs for Mainstream, Travis, Ge-Lu and Muse and 45s for Atlantic, Steel City and Jocida, all sought out by Hammond connoisseurs. He also recorded as a sideman, notably on Sonny Stitt’s excellent 1969 ‘Night Letter’ LP for Prestige.

In the last few years Gene has added a number of excellent LP’s to his catalog on the Loose Leaf and Blues Leaf labels (all highly recommended). His new LP, ‘Hands On’ is another great example of how he uses the Hammond to mine the common ground shared by classic jazz, R&B, soul and standards. This time out he augments his trio with a tenor sax.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Gene about his career and the state of Hammond organ in 2003. Special thanks go out to Gene’s wife Pattye who was a huge help and provided some great photos.
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