Peter Brötzmann


Peter Brötzmann is a German free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.

Biography

Early life

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 has not abandoned his art training. Brötzmann has designed most of his album covers. He taught himself to play clarinets, then saxophones; he 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, but it was later marketed by FMP. In 2007 Atavistic reissued Machine Gun.

Career

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 guitarist Derek Bailey. The second set of takes from these sessions, called More Nipples, is more raucous. Fuck De Boere is a live album of free sessions from these early years, containing two long improvisations, a 1968 recording of "Machine Gun" live 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 found in the woods.
In 1981 Brötzmann made a radio broadcast with Frank Wright and Willem Breuker, Toshinori Kondo, Hannes Bauer and Alan Tomlinson, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Louis Moholo, Harry Miller. This was released as the album Alarm.
In the 1980s, Brötzmann flirted with heavy metal and noise rock, recording with Last Exit and the band's bass guitarist and producer Bill Laswell.
Brötzmann has released over fifty albums as a bandleader and has appeared on dozens more. His "Die Like A Dog Quartet" 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 which he disbanded after an ensemble performance on November 11, 2012 in Strasbourg, France.
Brötzmann has also recorded or performed with Cecil Taylor, Keiji Haino, Willem van Manen, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Conny Bauer, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love and Brötzmann's son, Caspar Brötzmann.

Discography

Brötzmann has appeared on over 100 albums.

As leader

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
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/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 H. 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 & Los Toscos de Colombia