JazzWax

Videos: Barbara Dennerlein in the 1980s

Barbara Dennerlein is an exceptional jazz organist. Few in the U.S. are familiar with her, largely because Dennerlein has toured here only sporadically. Born in Munich in 1964, Dennerlein began playing the organ at age 11 in a household where her parents loved jazz. She quickly became a master of the bass-note foot pedals and was soon playing concerts in Germany, appearing on TV there in the mid-1980s. Dennerlein remains a monster player. This live clip with Rhoda Scott from the Bern Jazz Festival in 2002 still rocks and speaks volumes about her playing...

Dennerlein has been recording since the early 1980s. I discovered her in 1995, when she released Take Off! on Verve with Joe Locke on vibes and Roy Hargrove on trumpet on various tracks. Here are clips of Dennerlein when she was just starting out:

Here's Dennerlein with German's WDR Big Band in 1984...

Here's Dennerlein a few years later with the Thilo Wolf Big Band...

Here's Dennerlein with guitarist Emily Remler and saxophonist Sonny Fortune in Switzerland in 1986...

And here's Dennerlein with drummer Andreas Witte playing Night and Day at the Jazzbühne Berlin '88" jazz festival in East Germany in 1988, a year before the Berlin Wall came down...

Bonus: Here's Dennerlein in the 2000s improvising on a J.S. Bach toccata and fugue at a Munich church...

Backgrounder: Brother Jack's 'Heatin' System'

Between 1968 and 1974, organist Brother Jack McDuff recorded seven albums for Chicago's Cadet label. One of the most interesting of the bunch was The Heatin' System. What made the 1972 double album special was its hip Chicago soul-jazz flavor and the band behind him: Bobby Alston (tp), Don Myrick and David Young (ts,fl), Brother Jack McDuff (org,p,melodica), Marty Roberts (g), Greg Williams (d) and Frederick "Derf" Walker (cga), with Phil Upchurch and Sam Jones (b) on different tracks.

Rather than feature McDuff in a classic organ-combo groove, the album leans heavily on the funky horn arrangements and solos, with McDuff playing off the orchestral bed. It's a sophisticated scene and, unlike most of McDuff's recordings, this one sounds almost like the soundtrack to an early 1970s Blaxploitation detective film that never materialized.

Here's The Heatin' System without ad interruptions...

Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:

• Zoot Sims Plays Bossa Nova, go here.
• Lee Morgan: Lee-Way, go here.
• Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers, go here.
• Leon Spencer: Louisiana Slim, go here.
• Bossa Nova Modern Quartet: Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, go here.
• Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands, go here.
• Ray Brown Trio: Don't Get Sassy, go here.
• Os Tatuis: Os Tatuis, go here.
• Waltel Branco: Mancini Tambem É Samba, go here.
• Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini, go here.
• Conjunto Copacabana Bossa: Bossa, go here.
• Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Swings Lightly, go here.
• Charles Earland: Charles Earland, go here.
• Kenny Burrell: Crash! w/ Jack McDuff, go here.

Backgrounder: Burrell With Brother Jack

Guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded four albums with organist Brother Jack McDuff in late 1962 and '63. The one I'm sharing with you today is Crash!, the last of the bunch that was recorded by Burrell for Prestige in February 1963. It featured Burrell with Harold Vick (ts), Brother Jack McDuff (org), Joe Dukes (d) and Ray Barretto (cga). The album has a great soul groove, and Burrell and McDuff played off each other well. Vick's tough tenor rolls through on songs like an express train, with Dukes's inventive drumming and Barretto's Latin zest. Plus Eric Dixon on flute on Love Walked In.

Here's Crash! as an ad-free Backgrounder, which should come in particularly handy if you're grilling today...

Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:

• Zoot Sims Plays Bossa Nova, go here.
• Lee Morgan: Lee-Way, go here.
• Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers, go here.
• Leon Spencer: Louisiana Slim, go here.
• Bossa Nova Modern Quartet: Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, go here.
• Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands, go here.
• Ray Brown Trio: Don't Get Sassy, go here.
• Os Tatuis: Os Tatuis, go here.
• Waltel Branco: Mancini Tambem É Samba, go here.
• Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini, go here.
• Conjunto Copacabana Bossa: Bossa, go here.
• Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Swings Lightly, go here.
• Charles Earland: Charles Earland, go here.