Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann at Avant Jazz, Jazz Club 'Die Röhre', Moers/Germany, 12 February 2006
Background information
Born (1941-03-06) 6 March 1941
Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Genres Jazz, free jazz, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation
Occupation(s) Saxophonist, clarinetist
Instruments Tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, tárogató, clarinet, bass clarinet
Years active 1967-present
Associated acts Globe Unity Orchestra, Peter Kowald, Cecil Taylor, Last Exit, Derek Bailey, William Parker, Die Like a Dog Quartet, Sven-Åke Johansson, Evan Parker, Buschi Niebergall, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink, Willem Breuker, Paal Nilssen-Love
Peter Brötzmann, Moers Festival 2010

Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.

Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.

Biography

Early life

Peter Brötzmann
Playing in Aarhus, Denmark 2015

He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement, but grew dissatisfied with art galleries and exhibitions. He experienced his first real jazz concert when he saw American jazz musician Sidney Bechet while still in school at Wuppertal, and it made a lasting impression.[1]

He has not abandoned his art training, however: Brötzmann has designed most of his own album covers. He first taught himself to play various clarinets, then saxophones; he is also known for playing the tárogató. Among his first musical partnerships was that with double bassist Peter Kowald.

For Adolphe Sax, Brötzmann's first recording, was released in 1967 and featured Kowald and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson.

1968, the year of political turmoil in Europe, saw the release of Machine Gun, an octet recording often listed among the most notable free jazz albums. Originally the LP was self-produced (under his own "BRO" record label imprint) and sold at gigs, but it was later marketed by Free Music Production (FMP), In 2007, Chicago-based Atavistic Records reissued the Machine Gun recording.[1]

Career

Peter Brötzmann on tenor saxophone, Minnesota Sur Seine, 2006.
Peter Brötzmann at "Sonore" concert, Lviv, 14 Dec 2008

The album Nipples was recorded in 1969 with many of the Machine Gun musicians including drummer Han Bennink, pianist Fred Van Hove and tenor saxophonist Evan Parker, plus British free-improv guitarist Derek Bailey. The second set of takes from these sessions, appropriately 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 also a member of Bennink's Instant Composers Pool, a collective of musicians who self-released their own records that grew into a 10-piece orchestra.[2]

The logistical difficulties of touring with the ICP Tentet or his own octet resulted in Brötzmann eventually slimming the group to a trio with Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove. Bennink was also partner in Schwarzwaldfahrt an album of duets recorded outside in the Black Forest in 1977 with Brötzmann's sax and Bennink drumming on trees and other objects found in the woods.

Larger groups were put together again later, for example in 1981 Brötzmann made a radio broadcast with Frank Wright and Willem Breuker (saxes), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet), Hannes Bauer and Alan Tomlinson (trombones), Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano), Louis Moholo (drums), Harry Miller (bass). This was released as the album Alarm.

In the 1980s, Brötzmann flirted with heavy metal and noise rock, including a stint in Last Exit and subsequent recordings with Last Exit's bass guitarist and producer Bill Laswell.

Brötzmann has remained active, touring and recording regularly. He has released over fifty albums as a bandleader, and has appeared on dozens more. His "Die Like A Dog Quartet" (with Toshinori Kondo, William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake) is loosely inspired by saxophonist Albert Ayler, a prime influence on Brötzmann's music. Since 1997 he has toured and recorded regularly with the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet (initially an Octet) which he disbanded after an ensemble performance November 11, 2012 in Strasbourg, France.

Brötzmann has also recorded or performed with musicians including Cecil Taylor, Keiji Haino, Willem van Manen, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Conny Bauer, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love and Brötzmann's son, Caspar Brötzmann, a notable guitarist in his own right.

Discography

Brötzmann has an extensive portfolio, and has appeared on well over 100 albums.[3][4] Listed below is his discography, arranged by albums which he has released under his name as a leader or as a solo effort, specifically named bands he has been in, collaborations with other artists with whom he has released albums under distinct monikers, and finally, albums on which he has performed as a sideman. Several of the collaborations were one-off live shows, yielding only a single album release, as seen below.

Brötzmann as a leader, and solo releases

Bands with Brötzmann as a member

Brötzmann Clarinet Project - with John Zorn, and others

The Chicago Octet/Tentet/Tentet Plus Two

Die Like a Dog Quartet - with Toshinori Kondo, William Parker, Hamid Drake

Full Blast - with Marino Pliakas and Michael Wertmüller

Globe Unity Orchestra

Last Exit - with Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock, Ronald Shannon Jackson

North Quartet

Sonore - with Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson

The Wild Mans Band - with Peter Ole Jørgensen and Peter Friis Nielsen

The Wuppertal Workshop Ensemble

ADA Trio - with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Paal Nilssen-Love

Peter Brötzmann — Steve Swell — Paal Nilssen-Love

Other collaborations

Bailey / Sabu / Brötzmann

Bergman / Borgmann / Brötzmann aka "Berg/Borg/Brötz: Mann/n"

Bergman / Braxton / Brötzmann

Bergman / Brötzmann / Cyrille

Borgmann / Brötzmann / Parker / Bakr

Peter Brötzmann / Juhani Aaltonen / Peter Kowald / Edward Vesala

Peter Brötzmann / Gregg Bendian / William Parker

Brötzmann / Bennink

Peter Brötzmann / Caspar Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann & Andrew Cyrille

Peter Brötzmann & Hamid Drake

Brötzmann / Drake / Kessler

B.E.E.K. (Brötzmann, Ellis, Eneidi, Krall)

Brötzmann / Friis-Nielsen / Uuskyla

Peter Brötzmann / Mahmoud Guinia / Hamid Drake

Fushitsusha & Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann & Shoji Hano

Peter Brötzmann, Fred Hopkins & Rashied Ali

Peter Brötzmann, Fred Hopkins & Hamid Drake

Brötzmann / Kondo / Pupillo / Nilssen-Love

Brötzmann / Laswell

Peter Brötzmann / Fred Lonberg-Holm

Peter Brötzmann / Werner Lüdi

Brötzmann / Mangelsdorff / Sommer

Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler & Michael Zerang

Brötzmann / Michiyo Yagi / Nilssen-Love

Brötzmann & Miller

Brötzmann / Miller / Moholo

Peter Brötzmann / Misha Mengelberg / Han Bennink

Peter Brötzmann & Paal Nilssen-Love

Peter Brötzmann, Paal Nilssen-Love & Mats Gustafsson

Brötzmann / Oliver / Kellers

Brötzmann / Parker / Drake

Peter Brötzmann / William Parker / Michael Wertmüller

Peter Brötzmann & Walter Perkins

Peter Brötzmann & Tom Raworth

Peter Brötzmann / Ed Sivkov / Nick Rubanov

Peter Brötzmann, Nicky Scopelitis & Shoji Hano

Brötzmann / Sommer / Phillips

Peter Brötzmann - Keith Tippett Quartet

Peter Brötzmann & Peeter Uuskyla

Brötzmann / Van Hove / Bennink

Brötzmann, Van Hove, Bennink & Albert Mangelsdorff

Peter Brötzmann & Nasheet Waits

Brötzmann Wilkinson Quartet - with Simon Fell and Willi Kellers

Peter Brötzmann / Yukihiro Issoh / Tamio Kawabata / Ryojiro Furusawa

Brötzmann / Zerang

Crispell / Brötzmann / Drake

Frode Gjerstad / Peter Brötzmann

Keiji Haino & Peter Brötzmann

Keiji Haino, Peter Brötzmann and Shoji Hano

Alfred Harth / Peter Brötzmann

Achim Jaroschek / Peter Brötzmann

Kellers / Brötzmann

Evan Parker Trio & Peter Brötzmann Trio

Sabu Brötzmann Duo

Frank Samba, Dieter Manderscheid, Peter Brötzmann

Sharrock / Brötzmann

Nicolai Yudanov, Peter Brötzmann & Sakari Luoma

Peter Brötzmann, 2011
Photo Hreinn Gudlaugsson

As a sideman; guest appearances

Films

Further reading

Peter Brötzmann: We thought we could change the world. Conversations with Gérard Rouy. Wolke Verlag, Hofheim 2014. ISBN 978-3-95593-047-9.

References

  1. 1 2 Dacks,David (2007). "Peter Brötzmann Web Interview". Exclaim! Magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  2. Whitehead, Kevin. "The History of the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra". ICP Orchestra. Instant Composers Pool. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  3. "Interviews, discographies". Efi.group.shef.ac.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  4. "Albums by Peter Brötzmann". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
  5. http://www.utechrecords.com/Fushitsusha-Nothing-Changes-No-One-Can-Change-Anything-I-Am-Ever

External links

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