Peter Brötzmann

His 1968 Machine Gun became "one of the landmark albums of 20th-century free jazz".

• Name — Peter Brötzmann • Born — 6 March 1941 • Birthplace — Remscheid, Germany • Died — 22 June 2023 • Place of death — Wuppertal, Germany • Genre — European free jazz, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation • Occupation — Musician • Instrument — Saxophone, clarinet, tárogató • Years Active — 1967–2023 • Past Member Of — 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, John Zorn

• Illustration — Brötzmann in 1979 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.

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. • Illustration — Brötzmann on tenor saxophone, Minnesota Sur Seine, 2006 • Illustration — Brötzmann at the Sonore concert, Lviv, December 2008 • Illustration — Brötzmann in 2011 • Illustration — Brötzman in Aarhus 2015 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.

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 • Ginger Baker, No Material (ITM, 1989) • Ginger Baker, Live in Munich Germany 1987 (Voiceprint, 2010) • 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) • Laboratorio Musicale Suono plus Peter Brötzmann, deComposition (Setola di Maiale, 2016) • Joe McPhee, Guts (Okka Disk, 2006) • 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) • Black Bombaim, Black Bombaim & Peter Brötzmann (Shhpuma Records, 2016)

Peter Brötzmann worked in music, jazz and saxophone performance. His work is associated with Fluxus. He worked at Wuppertal.

Peter Brötzmann is recorded as jazz musician, saxophonist, clarinetist and musician. German free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.