Layer 247 . . . Deeper Shades of Blue, Musical Genius, the Hammond and Barbara Dennerlein

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It's interesting how one thing leads to another.

Having accidentally found myself sitting in a bar recently next to a keyboard player doing great things with a Hammond XK3, I decided to find out more about the XK3 - and pretty soon ended up on YouTube listening to various people playing blues and jazz on both the XK3 and the Hammond B3 - the Big Daddy of keyboards.

It was a short jump from there to finding a female player of The Beast called Barbara Dennerlein -

http://www.barbaradennerlein.com/en/reviews/index.php

As these reviews make clear she's a phenomemon - able to play a bassline on pedals with her left foot (and sometimes both feet) better than most people can play bass with two hands and full concentration, whilst simultaneously playing rhythm and melody on the Hammond's main keyboards.

See examples of this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqyDSoWSKF4&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqSBKZzCrM0&NR=1


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvIv8oTy47o&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPqYZNqg15g&NR=1

If you look her up on Spotify I recommend starting with Farewell To Old Friends (from her album Spiritual Movement No. 2), Top Secret (from Hot Stuff), and Jimmy's Walk and A Summer Day (both from Love Letters).

Those blue notes on a Leslie-amplified Hammond just do the most amazing things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Dennerlein

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