Gene Ludwig, Reggie Watkins

So Gene Ludwig, an organist who never became very famous outside of the midwest, will be playing the Underground, the student venue I book on campus at CMU. He is gettin' pretty old now no longer tours or plays with huge names and tends to stay in the Pittsburgh area with the occasional trip to New York or Cleveland. I happened upon this bootleg of a performance he did somewhere in Kentucky with guitarist Pat Martino in 1969. He was really smokin' and its something else to think that there must have been a hundred of other guys like Gene - regional talents on their instrument who received even less acclaim than he has. It's not like Gene has gone without recognition, but being a white player in the shadow of souldaddies like Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Captain Jack McDuff, and others has to be hard.

The Underground date will occur January 28, 2006 at 8 PM and will feature former Eric Kloss sideman guitarist Ken Karsh, saxophonist Eric Defade, and drummer Tom Wright. For more info, visit the Activities Board site.

And on the topic of local musicians, if you are part of my captive DC readership, check out Reggie Watkins, easily Pittsburgh's #1 trombonist for two separate pairs of dates at Twins Jazz in DC:

- December 23-24 (as a member of The Reunion Sextet w/ Scott Brookmeyer)
- January 13-14 with his band, the A-List

And he will be at the Underground back here in Pittsburgh on January 21 with a cast yet to be determined.

Stay tuned.

Now listening to: Marty Ehrlich - News on the Rail