On Garth Hudson

While Hudson played a vital role in all the Band albums, perhaps the most overlooked example of his brilliance is on “Moondog Matinee.”

Of all the musicians in The Band, the most interesting and intriguing is Garth Hudson.   The Band was a special group of extraordinary musicians to begin with, but Hudson’s keyboard work took them even higher.

Hudson’s unique gospel-oriented sound partially came from his use of the Lowery organ.  But it was his amazing technique as well.  Indeed, the first time I heard Hudson, it was on blues singer John Hammond Jr.’s “So Many Roads” on Vanguard (he is listed as Eric Hudson) where he played a Hammond--and his organ work on such songs as “Gambler’s Blues” is no less startling.  I heard Hudson later that year behind Bob Dylan in October of ’65.   The Hawks and Hudson (who without his beard looked remarkably like Jonathan Winters) blew my mind.  The sound available on several Dylan bootlegs as well as few legitimately released track…