Jazz dance shoes rather than flip-flops ....

Barbara and Hans Dennerlein

Barbara has already returned from her concert in San Diego. The Spreckel's Organ in Balboa Park required certain preperation and rehersals, as each pipe organ has its own specific characteristic. Barbara played another concert in July, on 5th in Kleve/Germany. Also a pipe organ concert, but not open air - it was a duo pipe organ & drum concert. 

Before the concert Barbara talked about playing jazz on a pipe organ in a press conference. The newspaper wrote:

"Women and shoes - the persistent prejudice about females also affects the Hammond and pipe organist Barbara Dennerlein, but in terms of practicability rather than style. 

"The choice of the right shoes," Barbara explains in the press conference on occasion of her concert in the collegiate church, "has an essential impact on the quality of the result. Everyone who plays a church organ has to play the pedals of the instrument. Thus suited shoes are essential for playing." Flip-flops or high heels are out of question. The shoes have to impart the feel for the needed pressure and the tempo to change between the pedals. "No jazz organist can cope with a church organ without a good pedal technique." So, Barbara prefers jazz dance shoes for her performances. 

The Jazz Club "Klangfabrik Kleve" had invited Germany's most celebrated jazz organist several times before. "With a jazz concert in a church instead of our club," the organizer said, "we want to trace new grounds."

Barbara Dennerlein won't be alone in front of the huge Rieger organ during the concert. She will be accompanied by the American drummer Drori Mondlak who is an approved duo partner for her since many years. "I very much advocate musical open-mindedness," Dennerlein says, "and I want to reach many people with my music. Church organ fans may experience a new approach and jazz fans can listen to an instrument that is rarely used for their preferred music."

The programme consists "mainly of own compositions with influences of sacred and classical music" Barbara Dennerlein says. "The pieces are written especially for the church organ. But as pipe organs can be quite different they need individually selected programmes. Sometimes I decide quite shortly before the concert which compositions I will play because each organ has its own personality."

The preparation for a jazz concert on a church organ is evident and time-consuming. But computers are a big help. "During my play it's almost impossible to change the sound by pulling and pushing all the stops. In the past this was the registrants' task. Today most of the church organs have a computer to support the musician."

A computer may be helpful but it cannot give the jazz feeling to the music. But this is guaranteed by Barbara Dennerlein anyway, whatever she may play: swinging numbers, improvisations, blues or ballads." - From: Barbara Dennerlein