Organ music has its roots in ancient Greece, played at games and events. Ed Alstrom plays
modern organ music that has its own roots, deep in the blues. He is something of a newcomer to the ‘blues scene’, but he made a significant impact in 2025 with his self-produced debut album, Flee Though None Pursue, placing #15 in the 2025 Roots Music Report Top 200 and #1 in the Jazzy Blues category.

Alstrom started his journey in music when he began playing his family’s Hammond M-3 at the age of five. Later, armed with a degree in Classical Organ Performance from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., and experience surviving disco lounges while playing in churches, Alstrom worked the stage with performers like Bette Midler, Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein, Herbie Hancock, Odetta, Dion — and many others. But Alstrom hasn’t ignored that ancient history of games with organ music – one of his weekend gigs is playing the organ at baseball’s Yankee Stadium, which he has done since 2004.

With all that Hammond mastery, it was only natural, Alstrom says, that he would eventually
become – a bluesman. His latest album, This Idea Of Humanity, finds him at the top of this
blues game, crafting eloquent tales of love and life in fourteen original songs. Alstrom’s
majestic organ work simmers throughout, but his instrumental contributions also include
piano, melodica, clavinet, synthesizer, Suzuki Andes, bass, guitar, percussion, and drums. Ed is
in fact the sole musician and vocalist on a good portion of the album! His songs are intricately
crafted visions of humanity that fascinate him; his gritty vocals enhance lyrical morality tales
that spin from the whimsical to the sublime.