I had the pleasure of meeting her and sharing a stage with her in Calgary in 1994. She just blew everyone away! Highly entertaining and a consummate musician!
Reminds me of the days when Rick Wakeman used to bring a pipe organ on tour - nothing like the real thing, baby! And Barbara swings so nicely. She's one of the reasons why I just bought a Hammond C3 for the house - it has so much soul. Thanks for the inspiration!
Fats Waller recorded a number of songs on an organ in a church (perhaps a deserted one) in the 30's or 40's. There was a record called something like Fats at the Organ which was rereleased on a CD (which I seem to recall having somewhere; I'll have to try to dig it out) but he played more standards than blues.
I've heard Dick Hyman play a church organ but this truly amazing! The sounds are awesome! The dynamics and impact are massive! Barbara you are wonderful!
Brilliant... as usual. Those pipe organs are sort of affable, loud but crazy beasts. My very finest to the techs who work on them. But we love you too Barbara.
I did this on our Walcker with "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" and it worked very well. The inspiration came from the late Paul Beaver of "Beaver and Krause" and their album "Ghandarva" and a piece called "By Your Grace", a Warner album released in 1968. that album featured Gerry Mulligan, Howard Roberts, Joni Anderson and others, all at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and that monster Aeolian-Skinner. Barbara is just the greatest, isn't she? Lay it on us, Lady!
Such smooth and at the same time wild composition.Perfect. I love how her hair color so matches the woodwork as though she is an organic component of the instrument which she certainly sounds like. Solche glatt und zugleich wilde composition.Perfect. Ich liebe, wie ihre Haarfarbe, so entspricht der Holzarbeiten, als ob sie eine organische Komponente des Instruments, das sie klingt sicherlich wie.
I KNOW GOD IS SMILING DOWN ON YOU, MY DEAR FELLOW MUSICIAN! You and that pipe organ are ONE and the sounds I am hearing moving right through my soul! BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO and Lay it Down Low and Play it Slow KID! AMEN!!!!!!!
@TheBaritoneCrooner - add into those the Girard College organ in Philadelphia, and, when it's eventually fixed, the Atlantic City Convention Hall monster...
Barbara, la déesse du clavier, virtuose et jolie en prime... à voir et écouter en concert : un régal ! Et de plus très accessible pour son public passionné ! Ecouter Barbara et puis mourir en paix !
That organ totally has a back-rest! I'd love to have a backrest for some of the organs I play.. This is a great example of the many different types of music a "regular church organ" can cover. It doesn't have to be something out of a 1900 hymnal. Beautiful.
The whole thing is fun but from about 02:15 on she really finds her groove with those superb Skinner Strings backing up several of the halmark solo voices and ensemble combinations. I wish I would've known about this concert. Judging from this track alone, I bet it was hot night! Enjoy great blues on a true symphonic organ.
@LieblichGedeckt8 If you hate jazz on a church pipe organ, hearing an amazing arrangement of Mr. Crowley on one would make your head explode. Heh heh heh heh...
@ EccentricRichard. The ballroom Kimbal is well on it's way to having it's well deserved re-premier. I didn't mean that the console was the only thing that got restored. Funds were made available to restore the whole organ as designed by Kimball and Senator Richards. It will be a wonderful thing since it hasn't been playable in years.
Barbara is fantastic and so is her jazz group. I knew she might be grab an A-S like the one at Riverside Church. She really puts some hot sauce on those famous A-S Diapasons, Strings and whatever she's got in there. but I never heard her do any really uptempo songs on those monsters. Isn't her playing just the best?
@ EccentricRichard : Even though no recording does any room or instrument justice, the 2 CD set from JAV Records of Professor Thomas Murray on the Woolsey Skinner is something else. The first disk is a stop by stop tour showcasing the best voices from the original Hutchings organ as well as the subsequent rebuilds by Steere and E.M.Skinner. Disk 2 is a special concert of Tom Murry for Yale faculty. Well worth every penny! Also try "The Transcribers Art" CD of Prof. Murray on Gothic. THE BEST!
steelersfanhawaii, Yes and no! Only one builder could really go toe to toe with Skinner and that was Chicago organ builder, W.W. Kimball. Funny that this particular instrument is in Kimball's back yard so to speak. This instruments commissioning could only be an example of an clients preference of builder rather than the church's proximity to the location of Kimball's very large factory. Skinner may've even come in under Kimball's bid as well! Remember, it was Kimball, not Skinner that was commissioned to build all of the outstandingly realistic, orchestral pipe voices as well as the gargantuan 120 rank string division for the great Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia! That must've really steamed ol E.M. Skinner!
Ooh, that's a red rag to this English bull! Where d'you think you Yanks learned to voice like that?! 'Father' Henry Willis, Robert Hope-Jones (without whom you'd have had no Wurlitzer), Arthur Harrison, Dr Arthur George Hill, Norman & Beard (the latter two firms later merged), Rushworth & Dreaper of Liverpool (whose premises are now occupied by the Willis firm), John Compton (whose pipe organ business was later taken over by R&D), J.W. Walker (especially from the 1890s through to the 1950s)... John Austin was an Englishman from the Northamptonshire/Bedfordshire borders too (his home village of Podington later became home to a USAAF base, now a drag-racing venue called Santa Pod)... some of the best organs Casavant (OK, they're Canadian) ever produced were voiced by Colonel W. C. "Billy" Jones, who also worked for Harrisons, Norman & Beard and Compton, among others... the best M. P. Møller organs date from the tragically short tenure of Richard Oliver Whitelegg, an ex-Willis man of diverse talents, and both through E. M. Skinner and the English-born G. Donald Harrison, Henry Willis III exerted a considerable influence. His twin masterpieces at Westminster RC and Liverpool Anglican Cathedrals are well worth visiting (not forgetting the big beast in Sheffield City Hall, but it's in a very poor state and the acoustic is dreadful).
Well, it's unfortunate we couldn't see the pedal work, but as someone who's discovered the difficult logistics of filming organ concerts, I'd be hard-pressed to call them an idiot. Your comment is a perfect example of an old Washington idiom: "No good deed goes unpunished."
Your comment is reasonable, I wonder how many people even noticed the date of this recording. Multiple cameras at multiple angles may not have been available then.
@LieblichGedeckt8 - and what's wrong with it? The pipe organ is dying because most young people aren't interested. This is extremely well done, with a level of polish and musicianship which many fine organists would envy. If this inspires people to learn the organ and to enjoy the 'classical' repertoire as well, who are we to say that it is wrong? No doubt you'd hate the theatre organ, as well as the likes of Richard Hills who are equally adept at classical and light music, church or theatre...
Based on this performance, I think it's time Barbara attacked the Woolsey Hall Skinner at Yale University or even the Wanamaker Grand Court organ! ;-) What's the name of this piece?
@TheBaritoneCrooner - what state is the Kimball in? No use having a restored console if the rest is bust! Incidentally, I've listened recently to some recordings of the Woolsey Hall Skinner and I have to say I don't like it - it's got nice orchestral solo stops, but it's pretty bland overall. The chorus reeds lack the fire of Skinner's mentor Willis, the Pedal reeds really lack bite and the diapason choruses seem dull. It's just too refined to excite. I much prefer what I've heard of Girard.
@lrover03 The Organ at TWS is virtual and was programmed by Cameron Carpenter. In my opinion, he is a great player but has a very odd desire of tones...
Näher an die B3 kommt Andreas Silbermann, 1734. Das Pedal kann klingen wie Kontrabass. Irgendwas mit Gambe, 16'. Schwer zu spielen, alles ist Staccato. Leslie geht mit Tremulant. Das Prellen der Tasten hat aber nur die B3.
Here comes the New Wave of pipe organists like Cameron Carpenter, Qi Zhang and Rhoda Scott. Virgil Fox was pioneer of this as were the Wurlitzer artists. the best yet is a compilation by Fats Waller worked by two musician/engineers. These organists can play it all- the way you want. those ASs, Walkers, Cavaille-Colls weren't just for the old guys. Go, Barbara, Go.
The pipe organ was actually invented for providing entertainment at Greek plays, gladiator fights and so on. For centuries it was used to replace instrumental ensembles and orchestrals. In the twentieth century, they were developed into the fabulous theatre organ, used to accompany films, variety shows and dancing. Those are especially wonderful for jazz. Jazz is also used in the Afro-Caribbean community for worship - look at Duke Ellington's sacred works! You're talking rubbish!
Soooo where in the bible has it been written down that when humans invent the pipe organ we have to play boring Christian music on it only ? God have mercy on your boring fantasy less soul, and god bless Barbara Dennerlein for bring a lot joy to people with her music :D
Speaking of Atlantic City. I think Barbara's artistry would be a better match for the Ballroom's 4/55 concert/theater Kimball. The console has just been restored and the organ features Kimball's unbelievable solo stops and a lush string compliment.
This is proof for all those organ haters out there that think that an organ can only play churchey music. Sorry for you folks out there than think that only a Hammond can play jazz and that a guitar is the instrument of the day. The Organ is the King of Instruements---and the Queen of Instruments---the Carillon which this Chapel has one of the largest and heaviest Carillons in the world. . ThisM,usic sounds better on a REAL organ than one of those toaster sound-- foolery-a- bobs;just because it might sound similar to an organ does not mean that it is.. I thought this Organ had four manuals last time I saw it. However, security guards would not let me see it up close even though I had no intention of sitting down and playing a tune-- I just wanted to see the stops on it.. So you folks who have only a guitar and all those speaker church services---get yourself a REAL ORGAN with which you can also use with your guitar kind of speaker and guitar players. Oh you do not go into a store to buy a pipe organ it has to be built just for you by a reputable organ builder. For a builder---check the internet for not only the glories of the past but current builders today.
@steelersfanhawaii - rubbish! Cavaillé-Coll, Walcker, Sauer, Puget, Stahlhuth, Merklin and the whole Belgian scene, Willis (whom Skinner idolised), Lewis, Thynne, Hope-Jones, the Wanamaker company and its one and only organ, Norman & Beard/Hill, Norman & Beard, Harrison & Harrison, J. W. Walker, Compton, Wurlitzer, Austin, Kilgen, Midmer-Losh, Möller, Kimball, Welte, Casavant... sure, a big Skinner is a masterpiece, but he was only one of scores of voicers who could achieve such great results.
Yes and no AnOrganCornucopia! Only one builder could really go toe to toe with Skinner and that was Chicago organ builder, W.W. Kimball. Funny that this particular instrument is in Kimball's back yard so to speak. This instruments commissioning could only be an example of an clients preference of builder rather than the church's proximity to the location of Kimball's very large factory. Skinner may've even come in under Kimball's bid as well! Remember, it was Kimball, not Skinner that was commissioned to build all of the outstandingly realistic, orchestral pipe voices as well as the gargantuan 120 rank string division for the great Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia! That must've really steamed ol E.M. Skinner!
TheAkelei, as someone who has seen her play this piece live, you're not really missing much! On this particular piece it's just a simple base line supporting all that you see she is doing in the manuals.
RUK? jazz is performed in catholic churches all the time. In fact some Catholic churches haves masses that are dedicated to Jazz. So to say that jazz is not of God is religiously off base. Especially when much of today's christian chords are based on jazz theory. And besides if pipe organs are used for churches and baseball games,then why shouldn't they be used for jazz?
