"To me, jazz is a synonym for
freedom. For the absence of prejudice and discrimination, the absence
of obligation and convention. This is my definition of jazz, which I
want to convey to the listener. Whether young or old, traditionalist
or modernist, jazz fan or non-jazz fan."
In 1980 the Munich jazz scene was captivated
by 15-year-old Barbara Dennerlein. Clubs filled with audiences eager
to witness a musical phenomenon. Blessed with extraordinary talent,
good looks, and an enchanting mix of modesty and self assurance, she
thrilled audiences with her wit and skill. Local jazz celebrities
vied to appear on stage with this Hammond B3 prodigy as she played
jazz at its best, shifting intuitively from swing or bebop, to blues
and funk.
In the 1990's she became Germany's most
important and successful jazz export, acclaimed and respected by
critics and jazz lovers on both sides of the Atlantic. In a medium
dominated by American males, Barbara has won the annual Downbeat
Critics Award a remarkable five times. In 1995, for the third time,
she won the "German Record Critics Award" for her Verve
debut album “Take Off”. Additionally, this CD was honored
twice with the "Jazz Award", after holding the Number One
position in the German Jazz Charts for several months. It proved to
be the best-selling jazz album of 1995. Her follow-up Verve albums,
“Junkanoo” and “Outhipped” went on to surpass
“Take Off” as international successes.
Born in Munich in 1964, Barbara Dennerlein
started playing organ at the age of eleven. She created an innovative
and distinctive style that opened up totally new musical dimensions
for the Hammond organ. Above all, she is one of the very few
organists who play a pedal bass, and is surely unequaled for her
breathtaking technique. Barbara explains:"The pedals are absolutely crucial for
my way of playing the Hammond organ. They enable me to create a very
special rhythmic structure which cannot be easily imitated by the
double-bass, since together with the two manuals I have a kind of
"rhythmic triptych" at my disposal."
It has always been a special experience to
see Barbara Dennerlein live on stage. She tours primarily in Europe,
but has also toured the USA and Japan, and performed at such famous
jazz clubs as New York's Blue Note and Sweet Basils, London's Jazz
Cafe and Ronnie Scott's, and at the Meridien in Paris. For years she
has been invited regularly to play at many international festivals
like Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Victoria, San Francisco,
Den Haag, Pori, Molde, Arhus, Kortrijk, Vitoria, Berlin, Frankfurt,
and many more.
In concerts and on her CDs Barbara
Dennerlein presents herself as competent representative of a new
generation of jazz musicians. With her open-mindedness and her
receptiveness to new musical developments - not only in jazz - she
forges links between the past and the present; reflecting yesterday,
interpreting today. And she converts this broad stylistic spectrum
into a musical conception which is characterized by an enormous
coherence. In compositions and arrangements which in an inimitable
manner reveal her tremendous musical potential and open up new,
promising perspectives for contemporary jazz.
Over the years she has recorded and
performed with exceptional musicians such as Don Alias, Ray Anderson,
Bob Berg, Randy Brecker, Dennis Chambers, Thomas Chapin, Roy
Hargrove, Howard Johnson, Frank Lacy, Joe Locke, David Murray, Tony
Reedus, David Sanchez, Andy Sheppard, Mitch Watkins, Friedrich Gulda
and Joe Zawinul among many others. Barbara Dennerlein's wide musical
spectrum also includes recordings with the Munich Philharmonic
Orchestra, Vienna Symphonic, the SFB String Orchestra (Berlin), and
various big bands. Numerous radio and television appearances
throughout Europe have expanded her circle of fans beyond traditional
jazz connoisseurs.
