Barbara Dennerlein

Dennerlein was born and grew up in Munich, Germany. She began playing the organ aged 11 after receiving a small Hohner instrument for Christmas. She was encouraged by her grandfather to learn a musical instrument, and her parents were both jazz enthusiasts. She took formal lessons for two years under the instruction of Paul Greisl, who had a Hammond B-3. She immediately became interested in the instrument and that it contained a bass pedalboard, unlike her Hohner. After some searching, since the instrument was then out of production, she acquired her own Hammond aged 13 from her parents. She began to play concerts aged 14, and the following year, 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 co-operate with more experienced musicians. Her local reputation as the "Organ Tornado from Munich" spread after her first television appearances in 1982.

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. Her performances include solo performances, as well as quintets (e.g. her "Bebab" band). In both, she uses MIDI technology and triggers built into pedals and manuals to trigger synthesizers and samples. After a variety of projects and after playing with unconventional musicians, such as Friedrich Gulda, Dennerlein started playing the pipe organ in 1994. Since 2003, she has also developed jazz projects with symphonic orchestras, including a collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on the Karl Schuke organ.

When her third LP Bebab was issued, Dennerlein established her own record label in 1985 and assumed her own management duties, because she felt she did not have enough support from her existing label or from Hammond, who wanted to promote later digital models rather than the B-3 she used. 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.

1983: Jazz Live 1984: Orgelspiele 1985: Bebab 1986: Days of Wine and Roses 1987: Tribute to Charlie 1988: Barbara Dennerlein Plays Classics 1989: Straight Ahead! 1989: Live on Tour! 1990: Barbara Dennerlein Duo (Bootleg) 1991: Hot Stuff and (Friedrich Gulda) Mozart No End 1992: That's Me and Solo 1995: Take Off! 1997: Junkanoo 1999: Outhipped 2001: Love Letters 2002: Spiritual Movement No.1 (church organ recording) 2004: In a Silent Mood 2005: It's Magic 2006: The Best of Barbara Dennerlein compilation 2007: Change of Pace (with Philharmonic Orchestra under Bernd Ruf) 2008: Spiritual Movement No. 2 (live at Kaiser William Memorial Church in Berlin) 2010: Bebabaloo 2012: Spiritual Movement No. 3 (live 2008 concert on the Rieger organ at the Stadtpfarrkirche in Fehring, Austria, with guitarist Edi Köhldorfer) 2015: Studio Konzert: Barbara Dennerlein (live concert in recording studio, direct to two-track analogue tape) [LP only release] 2015: Christmas Soul 2016: My Moments (Dennerlein plays Hammond B-E and pipe organ before a live audience, featuring a program of original compositions) 2018: Best of Blues: Through the Years compilation

Enstice, Wayne; Stockhouse, Janis (2004). Jazzwomen: Conversations with Twenty-one Musicians, Volume 1. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253344366.