Barbara Dennerlein: Outhipped

What makes Dennerlein's work so accomplished is a great degree of variation in moods and tempos. This is not your typical organ grinder affair filled with a string of blues-drenched tunes that all tend to sound the same after awhile. Any hint of this myth is immediately dispelled by the exploratory "Mabuse," which opens with a fervent barrage of collective improvisation. The yarn then unfolds with alternating sections of funk and straight ahead swing, marked by Dennerlein's cascading runs and guitarist Mitch Watkins' Hendrix-influenced lines.

Even when Dennerlein steps on familiar terrain, like a version of Mick Jagger's "Satisfaction," which was first covered by Jimmy Smith back in the '60s, the results are anything but customary. Sporting a New Orleans "second line" groove punctuated by Ray Anderson's tuba, "Satisfaction" gets funked-up in a way that surely the Stones never originally intended or imagined. Far from the usual retro revival fare, Outhipped hits on a sagacious mix, as substantial as it is accessible.