Jersey Jazz Stories

Fradley Garner, International Editor of Jersey Jazz, writes in his current column "Noteworthy": In 1979, a 15-year-old German girl entered a jazz organ competition in Munich. On the panel of judges was the American master organist Jimmy Smith.


Three finalists returned to the bench, including Barbara Dennerlein, who gave a passionate rendering of “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” Barbara was startled when Jimmy sat down beside her and began noodling on the ivories, but she kept her cool and finished. And won, to loud applause. The two organists struck up a friendship that lasted through Barbara’s teenage years - until, according to a close musician observer, the master began to see her as a serious competitor and stopped communicating.


Dennerlein today is Europe’s top jazz organist, recording and touring the world. She won the DownBeat critics poll four times between 1990 and 1996. Latest of her 25 CDs is Bebabaloo. On April 15 she’s booked in a double-bill concert with another Hammond B3 organ master, Dr. Lonnie Smith, at the San Francisco Jazz Festival.


From: Barbara Dennerlein