Peter Brötzmann

Born in Remschied, Germany on March 6, 1941, saxophonist and clarinetist Peter Brötzmann was an important figure in European avant-garde jazz. He is known for his radical, energetic, and unique style that once earned him the nickname ‘Machine Gun’. His musical journey began when he studied art in Wuppertal, Germany and experienced his first jazz concert when he attended a performance by American saxophonist Sidney Bechet. He then began to listen to recordings by other jazz icons including Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Teaching himself to play the saxophone, clarinet, and the tárogató (a Hungarian woodwind instrument), he began to play with several different musicians including Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, and Alexander von Schlipperbach’s Global Unity Orchestra. Peter Brötzmann’s first album as a leader, For Adolphe Sax, was released in 1967 and featured double bassist Peter Kowald and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson. His second album, 1968’s Machine Gun, became a highly influential release and is considered one of the most important European free-jazz albums of the era. After the release of the album Nipples (1970), he co-founded the label FMP Records and released a series of improvisational albums recorded with several of his free jazz friends including Balls (1970), Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink (1971), Tschüs (1975), and Outspan No. 2 ( 1975). He then released the album Solo in 1976 before returning to playing with other musicians on albums such as Groupcomposing (1978) The Nearer the Bone, The Sweeter the Meat (1979), 3 Poems and a Mountain (1979), Maar Helaas! (1981), and Pica Pica (1984). Peter Brötzmann collaborated with American bassist Bill Laswell on the album Low Life (1987). He and Laswell formed the free jazz band Last Exit along with drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson and guitarist Sonny Sharrock, releasing several live albums before Sharrock’s death in 1994. Peter Brötzmann continued his prolific career – which included around 50 studio albums and over one hundred live releases – and continued to collaborate with artists like Toshinori Kondo, William Parker and Hamid Drake in the group Die Like A Dog Quartet. He also formed other ensembles including the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, and Full Blast. His later collaborators included Anthony Braxton, Konstrukt, Borah Bergman, Shoji Hano, Jim O'Rourke, Milford Graves, and many others or others. He founded the Brö label in the late 1960s but only released his first two albums on it, later reviving the label in 2003 and issuing his late career recordings. Peter Brötzmann continued to play music until June 22, 2023, when he died in his sleep at the age of 82.

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