She is a bundle of energy, full of creative restlessness, brimming with ideas and activity, on a permanent quest to enhance artistic outcomes, never content with her attainments, continuously advancing and adapting, a work in progress.  In this respect CHANGE OF PACE is not only the title of one of Barbara Dennerlein’s most interesting compositions, but in actual fact her philosophy of life.  An exceptional musician of international standing, she is, in a literal sense, a star on the legendary Hammond B3 Organ (a grand original from the fifties.)  Today, on a global stage, the technical brilliance of her playing remains unrivaled.

Even with blisteringly fast tempi and thorny rhythmic figurations, it is her incredible footwork with the bass pedals – the Dennerlein “trademark” – that provides a sensational crowning touch to her playing. It is not just the bravura of her interpretation – be it swing, bebop, blues, funk, soul, Latin, ballads, or tricky rhythms (she loves uneven time signatures) that causes Barbara Dennerlein to stand out in such a fascinating way.  It is also the manifold enhancements to the Hammond B3, based on her own ideas, she has achieved.  Using a Midi controlled synthesizer and sampler she conjures up tonal layers and sound constellations which she integrates into her playing with astonishing mastery, creating a sound unique among Hammond players. It is hard to believe that all of this, along with the most complex parallel and compressed passages (incorporating a breathtaking mix of keys, pedals, stops, buttons and switches) is accomplished by the artist with such graceful ease and elegance. Barbara Dennerlein has become a leading international exponent of the Hammond B3 with her own thoroughly personal style: she is Germany’s “First Lady of Jazz.”

At this point a short review, beginning with that fateful Christmas Eve in the year 1975 when an eleven year old in Munich received a simple electronic organ as a gift.  From that moment on it shaped her daily routine, and became a substitute for nearly everything else which typically interests young girls. With an inexhaustible thirst for knowledge she plumbed the depths of what is even today an unconventional instrument.  The tolerance and generous support of her parents on the one hand, and her strong affinity for modern jazz and the bebop style of Charlie Parker on the other, laid the foundation for her strikingly early and exceedingly ambitious artistic development.  Early on the young organist aspired to create a unique style of playing that reflected her own aesthetic sensibilities, i.e. breaking away from such iconic figures as Wild Bill Davis or the “Big Daddy” himself, Jimmy Smith.

In this regard she also began composing, which has since become an integral part of her work.  At thirteen the newcomer had her first public appearance, and just two years later she created a sensation when (during a school vacation) she played four extended sets nightly on the Hammond B3 to jubilant audiences at one of Munich’s hottest jazz spots, a piano bar known then as “Schwabinger Spritz’n”.  During school breaks she continued to perform in clubs and by the time she was eighteen Barbara Dennerlein had a complete home recording studio in which she practiced daily.  At nineteen, after completing her final examinations, she produced her first Live-LP, recorded at a jazz club in Munich called “Domicile”, and founded, with impressive self confidence and an eye toward artistic independence, her own record label, BEBAB (BebopBarbara).  In 1985 she formed a quintet with experienced musicians from the Munich bebop scene who readily accepted their young colleague as their artistic leader.  That same year they recorded a LP entitled, “BEBAB”, for which they received an award from the association of German music critics (Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik).  This first and exceedingly important official recognition for the twenty-one year old has been followed by numerous other national and international honors, such as the Bavarian Culture Prize, various jazz awards, leading critics polls in the U.S.A. and Japan, first place in the German annual jazz charts, being named as the first “German Jazz Ambassador” by the German Jazz Federation in 2003, and Cultural Ambassador for the city of Regensburg in 2004.  She has 26 CD/LP productions to her credit: solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, a twelve member formation with top international soloists, a Big Band (1985, Peter Herbolzheimer, “Tribute To Charlie”), as well as the Munich Philharmonic (1991, Project with Friedrich Gulda, “Mozart No End”).  In 2002 the Hammond artist took a chance on the great Pipe Organ, with success, opening up another variation to her playing and expanding her already extensive program to include Pipe Organs tours.

Barbara Dennerlein places the highest priority on the LIVE EXPERIENCE, the active exchange with the audience (including her role as a charming and witty commentator.)  Annually she performs nearly 200 concerts (sometimes with a Big Band), guest engagements in clubs, appearances on television and radio throughout Germany, and performances around Europe (from England to the Urals and beyond), Japan, Canada and the U.S.A.  What creative energy, hard work, and self discipline!

Now we come to CHANGE OF PACE which documents her advance into an entirely new area of music.  This is a live CD that traces its origins to the year 2003 and the much acclaimed collaboration between the Barbara Dennerlein Jazz Trio – with Peter Lehel (ss, ts) and Daniel Messina (dr, perc) ­– and the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Rhineland-Palatinate.  The orchestra was under the direction of Bernd Ruf, an internationally renowned conductor with a delightfully receptive attitude towards unorthodox challenges in classical and modern music, as well as world music and jazz.

HAMMOND MEETS ORCHESTRA was the motto for the program carried out on June 1, 2005 in the Philharmonic of Essen, with Barbara Dennerlein assuming the role of organist, composer, musical consultant, and independent producer.  This remarkable project, bringing together an organ-jazz trio with a philharmonic orchestra, represents a musical first, and the development, in terms of aesthetics, of a fundamentally new musical dimension.

Dating back to the 1920’s there have been attempts to fuse jazz and symphonic music, from the pseudo symphonic of Paul Whiteman’s various chamber and orchestra ensembles, to the academic/intellectual “Third Stream” a.m.m.  The electromagnetic Hammond organ, invented in 1934 by Laurens Hammond, was never included in any of those integration projects, presumably because of its special tonal characteristics, which in certain respects mimic an orchestra.  In the Swing era it was Fats Waller who achieved a degree of popularity by combining the Hammond with a Big Band (interestingly he was also the first jazz musician to play both classical pipe organ and modern Hammond), and now Barbara Dennerlein is building a bridge to the symphony.

She herself has said: “The convergence of classical music and jazz that I became acquainted with during my long years of collaboration with Friedrich Gulda has always fascinated me.  The project “Change Of Pace” is very dear to me and represents the fulfillment of a long cherished dream.  Even as I composed the titles ‘Change of Pace’ and ‘Pendel der Zeit’ (Pendulum of Time), I imagined how terrific it would be to perform these pieces with a philharmonic orchestra.  The freedom in a jazz formation to improvise combined with the unbelievably rich sound of an orchestra playing from a score is extremely exciting to me.  It was indeed a great experience and a challenge for me, though I must admit that first and foremost it was fun.  That is also my appeal to the listener:  Don’t over-think things, but have fun with challenging music!”

 “Longing” and “A Summer Day”, along with the previously mentioned Dennerlein compositions, were originally written for jazz organ and or jazz organ ensembles.  With regard to the orchestration of her own original arrangements, the composer developed rather concrete ideas which were solidified during a close collaborative effort with the arranger Peter Lehel.  In addition to being a highly competent arranger for classical and jazz projects, he is also the leader of his own successful jazz ensemble, and has frequently performed with Barbara Dennerlein over the past seven years.  His lengthy musical association with Barbara Dennerlein enabled Peter Lehel to create a wonderfully insightful and intelligent orchestration of her compositions as they were envisioned - endowing them with an exceptionally expressive and nearly “poetic” richness.  He succeeded in creating musical gems that make the cliché notion of classical music being separate and apart from other forms of music seem absurd.

The result was not the indifferent, fuzzy contours of fusion music (which would have been entirely possible), but rather a coequal coming together of the poles of CLASSIC and JAZZ on the difficultly balanced level of corresponding, dialoging, and contrasting.  The musical identity of both “partners” is preserved, while the space for jazz improvisation is expanded.  At the center of things, operating with near limitless variability is Barbara Dennerlein on her Hammond B3, her own quasi-orchestra, no doubt stirred by the truly excellent musicianship of the symphony orchestra (in turn inspired by the artist) led with great personal engagement by Bernd Ruf.

It would hardly serve the listening pleasure (the primary concern) if one were to dissect the four arrangements of this concert in meticulous detail.  The decisive factor is that the basic compositional idea and the typical Dennerlein dramaturgy (the gradual ascending curve from a quiet contemplative demeanor to an explosive crescendo) are adequately executed within the context of an Organ Jazz Trio / Philharmonic Orchestra.  The arrangements endow the original material, played exclusively by small jazz ensembles in the past, with an as yet unknown transparency, richness of tone, suspense, dynamic, intensity, and emotional depth.  As the titles of the individual pieces convey the composer’s intention, the listener’s fantasy derives a degree of orientation, when he, hopefully with a sense of openness, embarks on this wide-ranging musical adventure.

Longing - Yearning, hope, jubilant triumph and realization.  Masterful orchestra passages full of suspense and dynamic.  A scintillating organ solo played as a jazz waltz, in Duo with the first class argentine drummer, Daniel Messina.

A Summer Day - An array of feelings, impressions of a pleasant and colorful summer day, from the sound of silence to an approaching storm with lightening and thunder.  Orchestral prelude with a stunning contrabass solo introduction on the bass pedals!  A slowly intensifying organ solo, followed by a soprano saxophone solo with an almost seamless continuation of the mood, crescendo.

Pendel der Zeit (Pendulum of Time) – A reflection on something that is often lost to the hectic pace of everyday life - “living in the moment”.  This is an invitation to appreciate the here and now and sink into the music – Consonance, Heightening, Contrast – variations from the organ and the orchestra, increasing emotional intensity with a powerfully moving tenor sax solo in an intimate exchange with the Hammond organ, leading to an optimistic and harmonious closing.  Overall an almost contemplative mood.

Change Of Pace – The title alludes to the evolving structure of perhaps the most original Dennerlein composition, a piece that demands consummate skill from the artist, as well as the arranger, Peter Lehel, and represents an immense challenge for the philharmonic orchestra.  Constant thematic variations and abrupt changes of tempi, meter, key, and tone, as well as the intensity, dynamic, and instrumental combinations provide the connecting thread with which Barbara Dennerlein weaves a magical and dazzling groove.  She demonstrates the entire spectrum of her superb and unbelievably inventive talents, including her bass pedal technique, and raises the level of intensity in a truly breathtaking fashion, building the level of suspense up to the release of the final crescendo.  This is the masterpiece of the entire production HAMMOND MEETS ORCHESTRA

The Long Way Blues – The encore performance is taken on by Barbara Dennerlein’s longest and most popular formation, the organ and drums duo.  With a depth of feeling and a fascinating intensity the artist convincingly plays slow and earthy “down home” blues.  For years this has drawn jazz lovers everywhere to her in a special way, both in terms of emotion and technique.  With her approach to the blues she proves that the “long way” can indeed appear short.

Finally, what is Barbara Dennerlein’s message to her audience?  “Enjoy it, relax, dream, and tap your feet, get goose bumps (hopefully) and don’t over-think things, but have fun with challenging music!”  Long may she preserve her creative restlessness and carry her music forward.

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