For you B3 Lovers

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 17 Oct 2008 7:25 pm

I give you... Barbara Dennerlein! Yowza!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ut7yIuCEY

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 17 Oct 2008 7:47 pm

Yowza is right. Incredible use of the bass pedals. I guess there's some controversy about her use of midi-modified bass pedal sounds, but it sounds amazing to me.

There are a bunch of other equally impressive youtube clips out there.

Richard Sevigny · Post by **Richard Sevigny** » 17 Oct 2008 9:32 pm

Yowza!!

Virtuoso. Period.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 17 Oct 2008 9:47 pm

She's great! Gotta love the B3. Alot of players "fold back" the bass pedals and the left hand, mixing the two for the bass part, but her feet were dancin'! Here's another less-than-household name that I've seen a few time when I've visited Denver the last few years. Another serious heavy weight-Pat Bianchi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJRLPArhYLM

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 23 Oct 2008 10:44 am

I've owned Barbara Dennerlein's CD Take Off! for a number of years, now. It's in frequent rotation on my playlist. What a great album with an allstar line-up of backing musicians: Mitch Watkins-guitar, Joe Locke-vibes, Lonnie Plaxico-bass, Dennis Chambers-drums, and Don Alias- percussion. Guest musicians include Roy Hargrove-trumpet, Ray Anderson-trombone, and Mike Sim alto and baritone saxes. All songs were written by Barbara, too.

Barbara Dennerlein was born in Munich in 1964 and started playing organ at the age of eleven. Just a few years later, aged fifteen, she performed regularly at local jazz clubs. She's paid her dues.

Keep on pickin!
Glenn

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 23 Oct 2008 12:36 pm

WOW ! She is Awesome, but, it brings back horrible memories of me and my other lightweight band mates CARRYING a B3 in and out of clubs to very low paying gigs when we were very young. Now I'm OLD playing low paying gigs but at least I am not carrying a B3 !

I did see the drummer in this clip, Dennis Chambers, with John Scofield in New Haven Ct, man this guy is serious.

I believe I will be getting a copy of Barbara's Take Off CD, this stuff is just too great!

Thanks for the link Jimbeaux!

tp

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 23 Oct 2008 1:43 pm

Very fine player.

Now let's be nit picky. Too bad there is not an even sound in the bass pedals. The lower pedals have a heavier resonance than the upper pedals which cause her bass line to be very uneven sounding. Since it is a midi trigger to another bass sound rather than the B3 bass, she should equalize the volumes between the lowers and uppers.

I used to play guitar in a B3 trio...nothing better for a guitar player.

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 23 Oct 2008 6:07 pm

Whoa!!

frank rogers · Post by **frank rogers** » 23 Oct 2008 6:50 pm

Ck. out this young fella from Sweden, very funky. It's nice to see some of the younger folks diggin' B3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RS2LTKq ... re=related and http://www.youtube.com/user/Tonewheeldude

Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 23 Oct 2008 6:52 pm

Wow! More study material...

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 23 Oct 2008 6:57 pm

Bill Hatcher wrote:Very fine player.

Now let's be nit picky. Too bad there is not an even sound in the bass pedals. The lower pedals have a heavier resonance than the upper pedals which cause her bass line to be very uneven sounding. Since it is a midi trigger to another bass sound rather than the B3 bass, she should equalize the volumes between the lowers and uppers.

I used to play guitar in a B3 trio...nothing better for a guitar player.

I read about the guys who played with Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith---Tough bosses, who made you think of every line before you played it. Didn't George Benson do some time in a B3 trio? Great music.
And Barbara's playing is very good, but a little bit of a gimmick, to me. Those lightning fast bass lines don't let the music breathe. That's my opinion.

frank rogers · Post by **frank rogers** » 23 Oct 2008 7:11 pm

As long as we're talkin' B3, here's some guys from my neighborhood. Cool little trio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT8dAeHe7Ow

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 23 Oct 2008 8:30 pm

Hey Jimbeaux,
Good stuff, and thanks for posting that. Barbara is a great player. I've played with alot of great B-3 players like Wild Bill Davis, "Captain" Jack McDuff, and Larry Goldings and have always loved the Hammond B-3. Below is a clip of one of the greats, Joey DeFrancesco who hails from the same state as yours-Pennsylvania. I believe the guitarist in this clip is Frank Vignola.

CLICK HERE

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 23 Oct 2008 8:57 pm

Holy cow...I can't even begin to figure out the chord progression to what she's playing....Jim, can you give us some idea of the first several bars?
My god..what a talent.
And I love the bass sound....it gives her music a real contemporary feel.

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 23 Oct 2008 10:09 pm

Rick Schmidt wrote:Here's another less-than-household name that I've seen a few time when I've visited Denver the last few years. Another serious heavy weight-Pat Bianchi:

Hey Rick, Pat is a monster. I played with him once up in Harlem at the American legion when he was in town.

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 24 Oct 2008 4:38 am

To Tony Prior regarding Barbara Dennerlein's CD Take Off!: I believe it's out of print, but you may be able to find it on Amazon.com. I mentioned all songs were written by Ms. Dennerlein. Not true. I forgot that a fine interpretation of Tadd Dameron's "Hot House" is included. Of Barbara's compositions, one of my favorites is "Bo-Peep", an uptempo tune which switches back and forth between 8-bars in 3/4 time and 8-bars in 4/4 time. This song SERIOUSLY SWINGS! All in all, the CD is techically impressive and very listenable. It's just not as soulfully funky as, say, Jimmy McGriff, Richard "Groove" Holmes, or my personal fave, Joey DeFrancesco.

Mike Shefrin: On the Joey D. YouTube clip you linked, that is Frank Vignola playing guitar. It looks to be from sometime in the mid-late 90's with Joe Ascione on drums. Here's one my all-time favorite YouTube clips with Frank V. and Joe A. "warming up"... who needs a stinkin' trap-set?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQnn7FWKO-A

Oh yeah, here's another one of my favorite organ "pickers", Dr. Lonnie Smith (aka Lonnie Liston Smith for all you jazz-o-files):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO8Ln1WX ... re=related

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 24 Oct 2008 6:45 am

Glenn, you're right, that's Joe Ascione on drums. I've sat in with him a couple of times at various gigs here in NYC. He's one of the best drummers in the business, and a great guy too. Lonnie Smith is another one of my favorites. He plays a couple of times a year at a club uptown called Smoke, and I always try to catch him when he's in town. When Lonnie plays in NYC, he uses my buddy Pete Bernstein on guitar, who is one of the most tasteful and swinging jazz guitarists around today.

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 24 Oct 2008 6:59 am

Dang, Mike! You've played with some cool dudes. I'm jealous. 'Course, if I ever picked with 'em, they'd eat my lunch. $:\$

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Mike Shefrin · Post by **Mike Shefrin** » 24 Oct 2008 7:11 am

Thanks Glenn. I've been playing less and less guitar since I took up the steel two years ago. A lot of my jazz buddies think I'm out of my mind for taking up the steel, and listening to country western, but I don't care. I just love pedal steel, and even if I never play it as well as the guitar, I always have an enormous amount of fun fooling around with it. I go down to Texas twice a year to study with my friend Rick Price, who has really helped me improve my steel playing. He is an amazing player and a wonderful person to know. Sorry for the topic drift here

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 24 Oct 2008 7:26 am

Mike, when the day arrives that you pick steel in a jazz setting, your "jazz buddies" will probably have the crap scared out of 'em, as they realize the extended capabilities of a PSG in the hands of someone with jazz experience, like yourself. If I may say, ... GO GET 'EM MIKE!!

Keep on pickin'!
Glenn

Gary Walker · Post by **Gary Walker** » 26 Oct 2008 8:20 pm

I believe she has one up on us steelers. Okay, maybe more than one. A walking bass line,(with shoes, no less) left foot, left hand chord progression and right hand, hot jive. Amazing, thanks Jim.

Arty Passes · Post by **Arty Passes** » 5 Nov 2008 7:10 am

Nit Picky? I'll say.....
While we're at it, I think one of her earrings was 1/4" lower than the other.....
And gimmicky? Hello! We play pedal steel guitar!
Isn't that what B3 player do - use both hands and feet?
Where's the gimmick part, except being real good at it
and not being a man?

sorry, but I was just surprised to see negativity after being quite impressed.

thanks for the link, Jim, and the info Glenn - a wealth of knowledge as always!

Arty

Glenn Suchan · Post by **Glenn Suchan** » 5 Nov 2008 1:22 pm

Hey Arty, just call me Cliff Claven

Keep on pickin', mi amigo!
Glenn

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 7 Nov 2008 9:24 pm

Jimbeaux,
If you're big on Dennerleins bass-foot, ya
might like Chester Smiths feet, too . . .
--> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uiR6Ei-Rcm8
~Russbeaux

Russ Wever · Post by **Russ Wever** » 13 Apr 2009 10:49 pm

Russ-beaux back with a
'semiannual thread revival'
Do I smell somebodys
feet again ? - - > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOEG_47B ... re=related