Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann was one of the most prolific and enduring free jazz musicians to emerge from Europe during the 1960s. His fat, rough tone and emotively ferocious method of attack on saxophones, clarinet, and taragato, appeared on literally hundreds of recordings, from solo concerts to large ensemble studio dates and virtually every configuration in between. 1967’s historic For Adolphe Sax, his iconic Machine Gun octet in 1968, and his membership in the Globe Unity Orchestra established his international reputation. His massive catalog reads like a who’s-who of free jazz and experimental rock. He played in the vanguard supergroup Last Exit during the ’80s. His later records, including 2012’s Solo + Trio Roma, contained more space and lyricism, though his intensity was ever present — check by 2016′s Song Sentimentale, and 2018′s Crowmoon with Heather Leigh. In 2022, Historic Music Past Tense Future, a 2002 recording by Brötzmann, bassist William Parker, and drummer Milford Graves was issued by the Black Editions. Brötzmann was first a visual artist, attending the Art Academy of Wuppertal. A self-taught saxophonist, he began playing with Dixieland bands in 1959. In the early ’60s, he became involved with the avant-garde Fluxus movement. He began playing free jazz around 1964; in 1965, he played in a group with the virtuoso bassist Peter Kowald and the Swedish drummer Sven-Åke Johansson. The next year he played with Michael Mantler and Carla Bley’s band and became associated with Alexander Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity Orchestra. In 1969 Brötzmann helped form FMP, a long-lived free jazz label and presenter that issues recordings and sponsors live performances. In the ’70s, Brötzmann would play and record with pianist Fred van Hove, drummer Han Bennink, trumpeter Don Cherry, and trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, among others. His circle of associates would continue to widen; in 1986 he would play (with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, guitarist Sonny Sharrock, and electric bassist/producer Bill Laswell) in Last Exit, a metal/free jazz group that enjoyed brief success. By the late ’90s, one would be hard-pressed to name a prominent free jazz musician with whom Brötzmann had not played. The strength of his personality was matched by his adaptability; as evidence, hear Eight by Three, his 1997 recording with pianist Borah Bergman and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton. While one might expect Brötzmann’s incendiary nature to overwhelm the blither Braxton, he instead manages to parry and complement effectively. With Bergman’s percussive intensity, the record becomes one of the more unusual and compelling free jazz artifacts of the era. In 2007, The Complete Machine Gun Sessions was released, reissuing the seminal free jazz outing Machine Gun recorded by the Peter Brötzmann Octet in 1968, and featuring two previously unreleased alternate takes and a live track. Brötzmann put out three new sets in 2008, The Fat Is Gone, Born Broke, and The Brain of the Dog in Section, all on Atavistic Records. Brötzmann’s touring regimen and release schedule (of new and reissued material) were tireless and prolific. Multiple albums were released by a wide range of labels including Trost, Not Two, Nero's Neptune, Clean Feed, Omlott, Smalltown Superjazz, and his own BRO label. Between 2009 and mid-2016, more than three dozen Brötzmann-associated recordings were released. The diversity of his collaborations — as displayed by 2009′s The Damage Is Done, with Joe McPhee, Michael Zerang, Kent Kessler, and Dolunay with Turkish ensemble KonstruKt — is remarkable. That said, his solo recordings also showcase astonishing growth for a musician who claims “limited abilities.” Solo + Trio Roma from 2012 (the trio featured electric bassist Massimo Pupillo and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love) and Solo at Dobialab were excellent examples. The same year, Jazzhus Disk put out an audio-video disc package entitled Peter Brötzmann & Improvising Ensemble of Qian Xing Zhe. Solid and Spirit, a duo performance with Hamid Drake, was released in 2013, as was Eklisia Sunday, another collaboration with KonstruKt. Mental Shake, a quartet date with Steve Noble, John Edwards, and Jason Adasiewicz, was the highlight among Brötzmann’s five albums in 2014. The multi-volume trio offerings Two City Blues, with Keiji Haino and Jim O'Rourke, appeared from Trost in 2015, as did the Cubus-issued solo date Münster Bern. Six albums were released during the first half of 2016 alone. In March, Not Two released Left, an archival 1996 recording with pianist Borah Bergman and saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, and Ears Are Filled with Wonder, a duet recording with pedal steel guitarist Heather Leigh (Scorces, Charalambides). In April, A Crack to Beauty, with drummer Peeter Uuskyla, was issued by Omlott. In July, Brötzmann, along with bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, issued Song Sentimentale, a two-volume set comprising live recordings in different formats. Each carried a unique track listing. The music was compiled from three concerts at Cafe Oto. In 2017, he issued the trio date Live in Tel Aviv with trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. The solo saxophone album I Surrender Dear arrived in 2019. Of the six albums Brötzmann released in 2020 — virtually all of them had been prepared the previous year — five were duo offerings with musicians such as Fred Van Hove and Fred Lonberg-Holm. Brötzmann also released the trio outing The Catch of a Ghost with Hamid Drake and Gnawa guembri master Maâlem Mokhtar Gania. In 2022, Black Editions issued Historic Music Past Tense Future, the result of a 2002 recording date by the saxophonist with bassist William Parker and drummer Milford Graves. One of the most active men in free jazz, Peter Brötzmann died in his sleep at his home in Wuppertal, Germany on June 22, 2023; he was 82. ~ Chris Kelsey & Thom Jurek