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". 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.

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 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. and with Caspar Brötzmann, his son.

Recordings

Recordings with Brötzmann as leader include:

  • For Adolphe Sax (Brö, 1967)
  • Machine Gun (Brö, 1968)
  • Nipples (Calig, 1969)
  • Solo (FMP, 1976)
  • 3 Points and a Mountain with Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink (FMP, 1979)
  • Alarm (FMP, 1983)
  • Pica Pica (FMP, 1984)
  • Berlin Djungle (FMP, 1987)
  • Go-No-Go (FMP, 1987)
  • Low Life (Celluloid, 1987)
  • In a State of Undress with Jay Oliver (FMP, 1989)
  • Réservé with Günter Sommer (FMP, 1989)
  • No Nothing (FMP, 1991)
  • The Marz Combo Live in Wuppertal (FMP, 1993)
  • Songlines with Fred Hopkins and Rashied Ali (FMP, 1994)

<!--* Sacred Scrape with Gregg Bendian (Rastascan, 1994)

  • Nothing to Say (FMP, 1996)
  • Exhilaration with Borah Bergman (Soul Note, 1997)
  • Eight by Three with Borah Bergman (Mixtery, 1997)-->
  • The Chicago Octet/Tentet (Okka Disk, 1998)
  • Stone/Water (Okka Disk, 2000)
  • The Atlanta Concert with Fred Hopkins (Okka Disk, 2001)

<!--* Right as Rain (FMP, 2001)-->

  • Fuck de Boere (Atavistic, 2001)

<!--* Organized Chaos with Nicky Skopelitis (Konnex, 2002)-->

  • Short Visit to Nowhere (Okka Disk, 2002)

<!--* Usable Past (Olof Bright, 2002)-->

  • Broken English (Okka Disk, 2002)

<!--* The Ink Is Gone with Walter Perkins (Brö, 2003)

  • The Inexplicable Flyswatter (Atavistic, 2003)-->
  • More Nipples (Atavistic, 2003)

<!--* Petroglyphs (Long Arms, 2004)

  • Live at Spruce Street Forum with Lisle Ellis (Botticelli 2004)-->
  • Tales Out of Time (HatHut, 2004)
  • Signs (Okka Disk, 2004)
  • Images (Okka Disk, 2004)
  • Be Music Night (Okka Disk, 2005)

<!--* Live at the 'Bottle' Fest 2005 (Brö, 2005)-->

  • American Landscapes 1 (Okka Disk, 2007)
  • American Landscapes 2 (Okka Disk, 2007)

<!--* The Fat Is Gone with Paal Nilssen-Love (Smalltown Superjazzz, 2007)

  • SweetSweat with Paal Nilssen-Love (Smalltown Superjazzz, 2008)
  • At Molde 2007 (Okka Disk, 2008)-->
  • Hairy Bones with Toshinori Kondo (Okka Disk, 2009)
  • Lost & Found (FMP, 2009)
  • Goosetalks with Johannes Bauer (Kilogram, 2010)

<!--* Mayday (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2010)-->

  • Woodcuts with Paal Nilssen-Love (Smalltown Superjazzz, 2010)
  • 3 Nights in Oslo (Smalltown Superjazzz, 2010)
  • Live in Wiesbaden with Jörg Fischer (Not Two, 2011)
  • Yatagarasu with Masahiko Satoh (Not Two, 2012)

<!--* Going All Fancy with Jason Adasiewicz (Brö, 2012)-->

  • Walk, Love, Sleep (Smalltown Superjazzz, 2012)

<!--* The Worse the Better (Otoroku, 2012)

  • Solo at Dobialab (Dobialabel 2012)
  • Solo & Trio Roma (Victo, 2012)
  • China Live 2011 (Jazzhus 2012)
  • Solid and Spirit (Nero's Neptune 2013)
  • Peter Brotzmann Alexander Von Schlippenbach Achim Trampenau (Carbon Edition, 2013)
  • Mollie's in the Mood with Jason Adasiewicz (Brö, 2014)-->
  • Whatthefuckdoyouwant with Sonny Sharrock (Trost, 2014)
  • Mental Shake (Otoroku, 2014)

<!--* Munster Bern (Cubus, 2015)-->

  • Beautiful Lies (Neos, 2016)

<!--* Machine Gun Alternate Takes (Cien Fuegos, 2018)-->

  • I Surrender Dear (Trost, 2019)

<!--* Karacho! (Euphorium, 2019)

  • No Nothing Alternate Takes (FMP, 2020)
  • Philosophy of Sound (Toshinori Kondo 2020)-->

With Han Bennink

  • Ein Halber Hund Kann Nicht Pinkeln (FMP, 1977)
  • Schwarzwaldfahrt (FMP, 1977)

<!--* Atsugi Concert (Gua Bungue 1980)-->

  • Still Quite Popular After All Those Years (Brö, 2004)

<!--* Total Music Meeting 1977 Berlin (Brö, 2006)

  • In Amherst 2006 (Brö, 2008)-->

With Die Like a Dog Quartet

  • Die Like a Dog: Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert Ayler (FMP, 1994)
  • Little Birds Have Fast Hearts Nos. 1 and 2 (FMP, 1998/1999)
  • From Valley to Valley (Eremite, 1999)
  • Aoyama Crows (FMP, 2002)
  • The Complete FMP Recordings (Jazzwerkstatt, 2007) compilation
  • Close Up (FMP, 2011)

With Hamid Drake

  • The Dried Rat–Dog (Okka Disk, 1995)
  • Live at the Empty Bottle (Okka Disk, 1999)

<!--* Brotzmann & Drake (Brö, 2010)-->

With Mahmoud Guinia and Hamid Drake

  • The Wels Concert (Okka Disk, 1997)

With Moukhtar Gania and Hamid Drake

  • The Catch of a Ghost (I Dischi Di Angelica, 2020)

With Milford Graves and William Parker

  • Historic Music Past Tense Future (Black Editions Archive, 2022)

With Keiji Haino

  • Evolving Blush or Driving Original Sin (PSF, 1996)
  • The intellect given birth to here (eternity) is too young (Black Editions/Purple Trap, 2022)

With Fred Lonberg-Holm

  • The Brain of the Dog in Section (Atavistic, 2008)
  • Ouroboros (Astral Spirits, 2018)
  • Memories of a Tunicate (Relative Pitch, 2020)

With Last Exit

  • Last Exit (Enemy, 1986)
  • The Noise of Trouble (Enemy, 1986)
  • Cassette Recordings '87 (Enemy, 1987)
  • Opened, But Hardly Touched (FMP, 1981)

<!--* Brotzmann & Miller (Corbett Vs. Dempsey 2007)-->

With Oxbow

  • An Eternal Reminder Of Not Today – Live at Moers (Trost Records, 2022)

With William Parker

<!--* Nothung In (Tone Music 2002)-->

  • Never Too Late But Always Too Early (Eremite, 2003)

<!--* Song Sentimentale (Otoroku, 2016)-->

With Steve Swell and Paal Nilssen-Love

  • Krakow Nights (Not Two, 2015)
  • Live in Copenhagen (Not Two, 2016)
  • Live in Tel Aviv (Not Two, 2017)

With Fred Van Hove

  • Balls (FMP, 1970)
  • The End (FMP, 1971)
  • Elements (FMP, 1971)
  • Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink (FMP, 1973)

<!--* Free Jazz Und Kinder (FMP, 1973)

  • Tschus (FMP, 1975)
  • Outspan No 1 (FMP, 1975)
  • Outspan No 2 (FMP, 1975)
  • 1971 (Corbett vs. Dempsey, 2015)
  • Couscouss De La Mauresque (FMP, 2017)-->

With Sakari Luoma and Nikolai Yudanov

  • Fryed Fruit (Red Toucan Records 2001)

With Wild Man's Band

<!--* The Wild Mans Band (Ninth World Music, 1998)-->

  • Three Rocks and a Pine (Ninth World Music, 1999)
  • The Darkest River (Ninth World Music, 2001)

<!--* Flower Head (Ninth World Music, 2007)

  • Fredensborg (Ninth World Music, 2015)
  • Live Kobenhavn 2009 (Ninth World Music, 2015)

With Sakari Luoma & Nikolai Yudanov

  • Fryed Fruit (Red Toucan Records, 2001)

With Oliver Schwerdt and Christian Lillinger

  • Biturbo!, Capt'n (Euphorium Records, 2017)
  • Karacho! (Euphorium Records, 2017)
  • Hot Ass/Beauty Legs (Euphorium Records, 2019)
  • Bambule! (Euphorium Records, 2019)-->

As sideman

With Frode Gjerstad

  • Invisible Touch (Cadence, 1999)
  • Sharp Knives Cut Deeper (Splasc(H), 2003)
  • Soria Moria (FMR, 2003)
  • Live at the Empty Bottle (Circulasione Totale, 2019)

With Globe Unity Orchestra

  • Globe Unity 73: Live in Wuppertal (FMP, 1973)
  • Pearls (FMP, 1977)
  • Jahrmarkt/Local Fair (Po Torch, 1977)
  • Improvisations (Japo, 1978)
  • Hamburg '74 (FMP, 1979)
  • For Example: Workshop Freie Musik 1969–1978 (FMP, 1979)
  • Globe Unity 67 & 70 (Atavistic, 2001)
  • Globe Unity 2002 (Intakt, 2003)
  • Baden-Baden '75 (FMP, 2011)
  • FMP: Im Rückblick / In Retrospect (FMP, 2011)
  • ...Und Jetzt Die Sportschau (Trost, 2013)

With others

<!--* Derek Bailey, Live in Okayama 1987 (Improvised, 2000)-->

  • Ginger Baker, No Material (ITM, 1989)
  • Ginger Baker, Live in Munich Germany 1987 (Voiceprint, 2010)<!--
  • Johannes Bauer, Blue City (Trost, 2017)
  • Thomas Borgmann, Stalker Songs (CIMP, 1998)-->
  • Caspar Brötzmann, Last Home (Pathological, 1990)
  • Don Cherry, Actions (Philips, 1971)
  • Marilyn Crispell, Hyperion (Music & Art, 1995)
  • Andrew Cyrille, Andrew Cyrille Meets Brötzmann in Berlin (FMP, 1983)<!--
  • Hanns Eisler, Einheitsfrontlied (FMP, 1973)
  • Heiner Goebbels, Horstucke (ECM, 1994)
  • Charles Hayward, Double Agent(s) Live in Japan Vol. Two (Locus Solus, 1998)
  • Haino Keiji, Two City Blues (Trost, 2015)
  • Peter Kowald, Duos Europa (FMP, 1991)
  • London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Stringer (FMP, 1983)
  • London Jazz Composers Orchestra, That Time (Not Two, 2020)-->
  • Laboratorio Musicale Suono plus Peter Brötzmann, deComposition (Setola di Maiale, 2016)
  • Joe McPhee, Guts (Okka Disk, 2006)<!--
  • Joe McPhee, The Damage Is Done (Not Two, 2009)
  • Misha Mengelberg, Groupcomposing (Instant Composers Pool, 1978)
  • Misha Mengelberg, Japan Japon (Instant Composers Pool, 1982)
  • Phil Minton, The Berlin Station (FMP, 1988)-->
  • Evan Parker, The Bishop's Move (Victo, 2004)
  • Manfred Schoof, European Echoes (FMP, 1969)
  • Cecil Taylor, Alms/Tiergarten (Spree) (FMP, 1989)
  • Cecil Taylor, Olu Iwa (Soul Note, 1994)<!--
  • Fred Van Hove, Front to Front (Dropa Disc 2020)
  • Alexander von Schlippenbach, Globe Unity (SABA, 1967)
  • Alexander von Schlippenbach, The Living Music (Quasar, 1969)-->
  • Black Bombaim, Black Bombaim & Peter Brötzmann (Shhpuma Records, 2016)

Films

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

  • Rage! (also Soldier of the Road),
  • Brötzmann, Filmproduktion Siegersbusch, documentary film by René Jeuckens, Thomas Mau and Grischa Windus (DVD, 2011). The film received awards including the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

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

References

  • Official website
  • Interviews, discographies and photographs
  • Projects, releases and photographs
  • "Peter Brötzmann review – free-jazz saxophonist on fiercely good form" by John Lewis at The Guardian, 12 February 2023