Letter from Barbara Dennerlein

Jazz festival in Basel

The annual Jazz festival in Basel's historic district has grown to a crowd puller since 1984. This year about 70,000 visitors listened to 80 bands in the streets, the squares and courtyards. For the first time Barbara Dennerlein attended the festival together with her duo partner Pius Baschnagel on drums. The "Rosshof" venue was overcrowded by more than 2,000 fans, so that it was hard for the musicians to find their way through the audience on stage.

The duo mostly played a bluesy, swinging and funky repertoire, perfectly chosen for this evening in late Summer. Benny Golson's "Killer Joe" and Barbara's own compositions "Black and White", "Organ Boogie", "Farewell To Old Friends" or "Bebabaloo" were were just some titles the duo played during this one and a half hour concert under cloudless sky after sunset. 

The newspaper of Basel reported: "... this year's star of the festival, Barbara Dennerlein. Because the German Hammond organist was on stage of the Rosshof instead of legendary jazz clubs like "Sweet Basil" in New York, "Ronnie Scott’s Club" in London or "Blue Note" in Tokyo. And she measured up to her reputation as most important and most successful German jazz musician. In this cosy courtyard she elated the audience with jazz, blues and swing and also with funky tunes."

The audience's enthusiasm transferred to the musicians. Pius, who firstly took some photos of the scene from the stage was as inspired from the atmosphere as Barbara. Both performed with a visible joy of play. The listeners spent much intermediate applause after the solos - when Barbara featured her "bass player" left leg on the bass pedals or when Pius explored the facets of his drum kit - and rewarded the musicians at the end of the concert, after the encore, with standing ovations.

Jazz highlight in Düren

"Top Latin jazz in the church" the Aachen Newspaper entitled and promised a couple of days before the Düren Jazz Days - and was right: the final concert in the Christ Church with the Barbara Dennerlein Trio, with Hernan Romero on flamenco guitar and electric guitar and Rodrigo Rodriguez on drums became the highlight of the Düren Jazz Days. 

"It was the perfect final chord of the 24th Jazz Days", Sandra Kinkel wrote in her review. "Organist Barbara Dennerlein, who was invited for the third time to this festival, introduced her new Latin-Jazz project in the Christ Church. The atmosphere in this Lord's hose was as unique as the music. "It will be exciting ", Barbara Dennerlein had promised the approximately 550 people in the church. "Because we all put our emotions into our play." She elicited swinging sounds from her small Hammond organ with unbelievable virtuousness and temperament. Romero's guitar sounds gave the evening a South-American touch..."

Barbara Dennerlein was also enthused. The trio was perfectly concerted in the third performance with Romero after shows in Vicenza and Jerusalem and celebrated the "fusion of different playing styles", as it had been announced. And both the trio and the audience answered the provocative question: "Flamenco guitar and Hammond organ? Will they fit together?" with a distinct "yes!". 

There are several concert video clips on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iz-vBGA2S4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt6uTA84WYA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtgjGsC3Xl8