Barbara Dennerlein has achieved particular critical acclaim for using the bass pedalboard on a Hammond organ and for integrating synthesizer sounds onto the instrument, and was described by critic Ron Wynn as "the most interesting jazz organist to emerge during the 1980s".
12 Facts About Barbara Dennerlein
2.
Barbara Dennerlein began playing the organ aged 11 after receiving a small Hohner instrument for Christmas.
3.
Barbara Dennerlein was encouraged by her grandfather to learn a musical instrument, and her parents were both jazz enthusiasts.
4.
Barbara Dennerlein took formal lessons for two years under the instruction of Paul Greisl, who had a Hammond B-3.
5.
Barbara Dennerlein immediately became interested in the instrument and that it contained a bass pedalboard, unlike her Hohner.
6.
Barbara Dennerlein began to play concerts aged 14, and the following year, she played in a jazz club for the first time.
7.
When leading her own bands, Dennerlein was often the youngest musician in the group, and she learned to co-operate with more experienced musicians.
8.
When her third LP Bebab was issued, Barbara Dennerlein established her own record label in 1985 and assumed her own management duties, because she felt not enough support from either her existing label or from Hammond, who wanted to promote later digital models rather than the B-3 she used.
9.
Barbara Dennerlein received two German Record Critics' awards for self-produced albums.
10.
Barbara Dennerlein modified a Hammond's pedalboard to trigger samples of an acoustic bass and, impressed with results, decided to modify the manuals to play samplers too.
11.
Barbara Dennerlein has never been enthusiastic about formal music theory, preferring to learn things through improvisation.
12.
Barbara Dennerlein's compositions vary from traditional blues schemes, romantic, melancholic ballads to tempo-driven compositions with elements of swing, bebop, funk and Latin rhythms.