Barbara Dennerlein

"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.