And so began Barbara's own journey of discovery into the world of music. In addition to studying the classical repertoire of standards, she began to compose her own numbers very early on. Following first performances as a thirteen-year-old, she began to play in clubs at the age of fifteen. In the early eighties she was already celebrated as the "organ tornado from Munich". Later on, "Harper's Bazar" wondered:"How did this Fräulein get so funky?" and the Los Angeles Times headlined with: "German Organist Pumps You Up".

For years, Barbara has topped critics' polls in American jazz magazines and can call a worldwide community of devoted jazz friends her own. Yet through all this she has remained modest and uncomplicated, like the proverbial "girl next door", never failing to mention the support of her parents in interviews, and seeking emotional closeness to her audience as she takes them on a musical journey of discovery beyond the usual boundaries of fixed stylistic definitions. "To me", says Barbara,"jazz is a synonym for freedom. Freedom from prejudice and discrimination, freedom from constraints and convention. This is my own definition of jazz that I want to convey to the listener. Whether young or old, traditionalist or modernist, jazz fan or non-jazz fan."