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I’m running a Hammond B3 gauntlet, and I can’t stop! It must be Hammond B3 Organ Month here at Home Studio Guru.

Today I want to introduce you to one POWERFUL woman that sits behind the keys. Her name is Barbara Dennerlein, and she will RAWK your SAWKS off! I know players that would love to play as well with their left hand as Barbara does with her left foot. She’s the kind of player that makes you think about quitting in a pool of quivering despair.

Here’s a little bio info from Wikipedia:

Early Years

Barbara Dennerlein - B3 Master

At age 11, Dennerlein began playing electronic organ. After starting organ lessons, she learned to play the two manual organ with a bass pedalboard. After one and a half years of lessons she continued to study without formal instruction. At age 15, 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 cooperate with more experienced musicians. Her local reputation as the “Organ tornado from Munich” spread after her first TV appearances in 1982.

Recordings

When her third LP “Bebab” was issued, Dennerlein established her own record label in 1985. She received the German jazz critics award. Next, she did three recordings on Enja Records and three on the international jazz label Verve Records. On these recordings she worked with Ray Anderson, Randy Brecker, Dennis Chambers, Roy Hargrove, Mitch Watkins, and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts.

Performance Set-up

Dennerlein’s performances on the Hammond organ include solo performances as well as quintets (e.g. her “Bebab” band). She has MIDI interfaces and triggers built into the pedals and manuals of her Hammond B-3 organ, which allows her to add synthesizers and samplers to her sound.

I want to share two videos of Barbara with you. One is just a cool live performance on a TV talk show with the house band, the other a hard core jazz performance with some stunning pedalboard work.

First, here’s Barbara on what looks to be a German version of a David Letterman type talk show. She’s playing Swing The Blondes, one of her own compositions. (Check out the gear, especially MIDI’ed up Porta B!)

In this second video, Barbara tears up the hard core Jazz, BIG TIME. Check out her footwork right from the get go. You’ll notice that she has the pedalboard MIDI’ed up to a sample of an upright bass for a more authentic jazz combo sound.