Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his many collaborators were key figures in free jazz, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, as well as experimental musicians such as Keiji Haino and Charles Hayward. His 1968 Machine Gun became "one of the landmark albums of 20th-century free jazz".

Biography

Life

Brötzmann was born in Remscheid on 6 March 1941. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement but grew dissatisfied with art galleries and exhibitions. He experienced his first jazz concert when he saw American jazz musician Sidney Bechet while still in school at Wuppertal, and it made a lasting impression. He was also inspired by Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Brötzmann had not abandoned his art training, designing most of his album covers. He taught himself to play clarinet and saxophone, and is also known for playing the tárogató. Among his first musical partnerships was with double bassist Peter Kowald. For Adolphe Sax, Brötzmann's first recording, was released in 1967 and featured Kowald and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson. In 1968, Machine Gun, an octet recording, was released. The album was self-produced under his BRO record label imprint and sold at concerts, and later marketed by FMP. In 2007, Atavistic reissued Machine Gun. "Machine Gun" was a nickname Don Cherry gave him "to describe his violent style". Brötzmann died on 22 June 2023, at the age of 82, at home in Wuppertal, Germany.

Career

The album Nipples was recorded in 1969 with many of the Machine Gun musicians, including drummer Han Bennink, pianist Fred Van Hove, tenor saxophonist Evan Parker, and British guitarist Derek Bailey. The second set of takes from these sessions, called More Nipples, is more raucous. Fuck de Boere (dedicated to Johnny Dyani) is a live album of free sessions from these early years, containing two long improvisations, a 1968 recording of "Machine Gun" live (earlier than the studio version) and a longer jam from 1970. Brötzmann was a member of Bennink's Instant Composers Pool, a collective of musicians who released their own records and that grew into a 10-piece orchestra. The logistics of touring with the ICP tentet or his octet resulted in Brötzmann reducing the group to a trio with Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove. Bennink was a partner in Schwarzwaldfahrt, an album of duets recorded outside in the Black Forest in 1977, with Bennink drumming on trees and other objects in the woods. In 1981, Brötzmann made a radio broadcast with Frank Wright and Willem Breuker (saxophones), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet), Hannes Bauer and Alan Tomlinson (trombones), Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano), Louis Moholo (drums), and Harry Miller (bass). This was released as the album Alarm. In the 1980s, Brötzmann's music was influenced by heavy metal and noise rock. He was a member of Last Exit and recorded music with the band's bass guitarist and producer Bill Laswell. Brötzmann released over fifty albums as a bandleader and appeared on dozens more. His "Die Like a Dog Quartet" (with Toshinori Kondo, William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake) was loosely inspired by saxophonist Albert Ayler, a prime influence on Brötzmann's music. Beginning in 1997, he toured and recorded regularly with the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet (initially an octet), which he disbanded after an ensemble performance in November 2012 in Strasbourg, France. Brötzmann also recorded or performed with Cecil Taylor, Keiji Haino, Willem van Manen, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Conny Bauer, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, with Oxbow, and with Caspar Brötzmann, his son.

Recordings

Recordings with Brötzmann as leader include: With Han Bennink With Die Like a Dog Quartet With Hamid Drake With Mahmoud Guinia and Hamid Drake With Moukhtar Gania and Hamid Drake With Milford Graves and William Parker With Keiji Haino With Fred Lonberg-Holm With Last Exit With Harry Miller With Oxbow With William Parker With Steve Swell and Paal Nilssen-Love With Fred Van Hove With Sakari Luoma and Nikolai Yudanov With Wild Man's Band

As sideman

With Frode Gjerstad With Globe Unity Orchestra With others

Films

Two documentaries of Brötzmann's music were produced to honour Brötzmann's 70th birthday in 2011:

Awards

Brötzmann received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 Vision Festival in New York City. The same year, he was bestowed the German Jazz Award for his life's achievements. In 2021, Brötzmann and Nils Petter Molvær were awarded the European Film Awards for their music for the history drama Große Freiheit. In 2022 he received the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, described by the jury as a personality "going on an individual path, change listening and set new standards in avantgarde jazz" ("die ihren individuellen Weg ging, Hörgewohnheiten veränderte und Maßstäbe setzte im Avantgarde-Jazz").

Books