Barbara Dennerlein

German Jazz Organist and Composer

Barbara Dennerlein (born 25 September 1964 in Munich, Germany) is a hard bop, post-bop, and jazz Hammond B3 player, synthesist, and organist. At age 15, she played in a jazz club for the first time. When leading her own bands, Dennerlein was often the youngest musician in the group, and she learned to cooperate with more experienced musicians. Her local reputation as the "Organ tornado from Munich" spread after her first TV appearances in 1982. When her third LP Bebab was issued, Dennerlein established her own record label in 1985. She received two German Record Critics' awards for self-produced albums. Later, she made three recordings for Enja Records and three for Verve Records. On these recordings she worked with Ray Anderson, Randy Brecker, Dennis Chambers, Roy Hargrove, Mitch Watkins, and Jeff 'Tain' Watts. Her compositions vary from traditional blues schemes, romantic, melancholic ballads to tempo driven compositions with elements of swing, bebop, funk and Latin rhythms. (wikipedia edit)