{"id":1337,"date":"2011-03-03T10:15:21","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T15:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2013-05-29T16:10:19","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T21:10:19","slug":"gene-ludwig-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=1337","title":{"rendered":"Gene Ludwig – Then and Now…"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Gene Ludwig Trio<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – The Gene Ludwig Trio – Mr Fink Pt1 <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – The Gene Ludwig Trio – Mr Fink Pt2 <\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greetings all.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope all is well on your end, and that my ramblings this week haven\u2019t put you off your soul.<\/p>\n

In programming notes, I will remind you now that the Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong> returns to the airwaves of the intertubes this Friday night at 9PM at Viva Radio<\/strong><\/a>, where the elite meet to beat the heat. I have lots of classics lined up for you this week, as well as something new and groovy, so make sure to tune in, or fall by this very blog over the weekend to pick yourself up an MP3 copy of the show to dig on your computer or the iPod like device of your choice.<\/p>\n

It was last summer that we got the sad news that the mighty Gene Ludwig<\/strong> had passed on suddenly at the age of 72.<\/p>\n

You all know that I practically bathe in Hammond organ sounds on a daily basis, and Mr Ludwig created some fine examples of that genre during his five decade career.<\/p>\n

He was first and foremost a jazz player \u2013 with the chops to back up that designation \u2013 but he also soaked his fingers in groove grease as well, laying down some particularly groovy soul jazz.<\/p>\n

Gene was also, and this is the most important thing, artistically vital until the day he left us, playing live and recording at the top of his game.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s post is – as is sometimes the case<\/em> \u2013 a celebration of the old, as well as the new.<\/p>\n

The record you see above, is one of my favorite two-siders in Gene\u2019s discography, 1962s \u2018Mr Fink Pts 1&2\u2019 on Pittsburgh\u2019s LaVere label.<\/p>\n

Recorded with the classic Gene Ludwig Trio<\/strong>, with Gene on Hammond, Jerry Byrd<\/strong> on guitar and Randy Gillespie<\/strong> on drums, \u2018Mr. Fink\u2019 amounts to a skoshi<\/em> under six minutes of the finest, smoky tavern Hammond wailing, soulful burning that anyone has ever packed onto two sides of a tiny vinyl record.<\/p>\n

Aside from the epic \u2018The Vamp\u2019, this is by far my favorite of Gene\u2019s 45s for both its elemental fire, and as a showcase for his keyboard skills. If you\u2019re a stone Hammond junkie \u2013 like me \u2013 there\u2019s something exceptional about hearing a master\u2019s fingers fly over the keyboard, really making that huge hunk of wood and wires sing, and it doesn\u2019t get much better than \u2018Mr Fink\u2019.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m really here to rap about though is the fact that Gene Ludwig laid down one of the finest albums of his career just before he passed, and it has just been released.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CD \u2018Love Notes of Cole Porter\u2019,<\/strong> recorded with a very tight quartet (with two different drummers) is without exaggeration, up there with the finest organ jazz of the classic era. A collection of the finest love songs to flow from the pen of the legendary Cole Porter<\/strong>, many classics of what the clich\u00e9 machine has designated the \u2018Great American Songbook\u2019, \u2018Love Notes\u2026\u2019 sees (hears<\/em>) Gene and his band, Mark Strickland<\/strong> on guitar, Lou Stellute<\/strong> on tenor and Thomas Wendt<\/strong> and Billy Kuhn<\/strong> alternating on drums (all very good), working in the classic Prestige\/Blue Note style, and when I say that I\u2019m not just blowing smoke.<\/p>\n

The late 50s and 1960s saw a lot of different varieties of practitioners recording on the Hammond organ, from purely soul\/R&B based cats working it out on now rare 45s (like Louis Chachere, RD Stokes and Leo Valentine), post-bop visionaries like Larry Young, and the cats running in the mainstream like Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holmes, all of whom were widely recorded with widely varied results.<\/p>\n

During the early part of his career, Gene Ludwig didn’t have the opportunity to record as frequently as many of those that I would consider his peers. Whether or not the consistently high quality of what he did record was merely a matter of conservation, i.e. never having been pressured to create more accessible\/less inspiring records, or because all he had in him to create was pure class (I lean toward the latter) his legacy is smaller, and dare I say better.<\/p>\n

That his final album reinforces that assessment is worth noting.<\/p>\n

\u2018Love Notes of Cole Porter\u2019 is every bit the equal of the best, swinging bop and soul organ sessions of the instrument\u2019s (and Gene’s) golden era.<\/p>\n

\u2018Love Notes of Cole Porter\u2019 is also a gift to remind us that age need not be an impediment to a musicians growth. People do a lot of lip service to concepts like \u2018maturity\u2019 and \u2018experience\u2019, but listening to Gene wail and swing on this session one is treated to the sound of 70 years of technical prowess, seasoned by good taste and above all soul.<\/p>\n

Another great thing about \u2018Love Notes\u2026\u2019 is that alongside of well known material like \u2018Night and Day\u2019, \u2018You\u2019d Be So Nice to Come Home To\u2019 and \u2018What Is This Thing Called Love\u2019, bona fide standards, covered hundreds of times by all manner of instrumentalists and singers, Gene works out on less familiar, but also exceptional numbers from Porter\u2019s catalog like \u2018I Love You\u2019 and \u2018Dream Dancing\u2019.<\/p>\n

This is serious, wonderfully played jazz and a fitting final statement from one of the great practitioners of the art.<\/p>\n

You can pick up \u2018Love Notes of Cole Porter\u2019 directly from Big O Records<\/a><\/strong>, or over at CD Baby<\/strong><\/a>, where you can get it as a CD or as an MP3 download. You can hear samples of the album at both sites. It\u2019s also available at iTunes, but make sure you search by the title, as a search of ‘Gene Ludwig’ only returns his older albums.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the sounds, and I\u2019ll see you all on Monday.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg for some fuzzed out, crunching garage punk.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gene Ludwig Trio   Listen\/Download – The Gene Ludwig Trio – Mr Fink Pt1 Listen\/Download – The Gene Ludwig Trio – Mr Fink Pt2   Greetings all. I hope all is well on your end, and that my ramblings this week haven\u2019t put you off your soul. In programming notes, I will remind you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[58,14,55,68,66,19,30,52,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-funky16corners","category-funky16cornersviva-internet-radio","category-hammond-grooves","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-lp-tracks","category-radio-show","category-soul","category-soul-jazz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-lz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3917,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/3917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}