Jazz Articles about Peter Brötzmann

Frode Gjerstad and Peter Br: Soria Boria

by Rex Butters
November 6, 2004

European wind wonders and frequent collaborators Frode Gjerstad and Peter Brötzmann bring their glacier-melting intensity to this intimate collection of clarinet duos. These two know their instruments and each other so well that they stick like shadows. Although usually associated with an A-bomb approach to playing, Brötzmann often indulges a rich melodicism on these tracks.

The duo opens with an enthusiastic “Soria Boria," a sunny improvisation that, while energetic, runs comfortably short of these blowers in full throttle. The mysterious ...

Br: Medicina

by AAJ Staff
October 16, 2004

Peter Brötzmann delivers strong medicine. It took me a while to properly appreciate that after having been Machine Gun ned nearly to death back in the day by the German reed player's 1968 octet recording on FMP, an experience I earnestly recommend to newbies but not at all to the faint of heart. Brötzmann taught me something important when I took that plunge, and he hasn't let up since. When you listen to Brötzmann, you don't chat with the family, ...

Peter Br

by Clifford Allen
August 29, 2004

History is a process, a cyclical movement through time that, rather than an abstract concept, one experiences on an innate, firsthand level. For someone growing up and coming up artistically in a shattered postwar Europe, and especially postwar Germany, the complex nature of this experience and the desire to rid oneself of excess baggage while simultaneously embracing that violent, dark time is almost impossible to comprehend. Artists like Anselm Kiefer, Joseph Beuys and Peter Br'tzmann are a direct aesthetic link ...

Peter Brotzmann: Der Kaput Play

by Nic Jones
July 18, 2004

The cultural life of post-war West Germany was always subject to significant American influence, and though this may seem surprising on the surface it says a lot about American hegemony in this period and the means through which it was acheived. Julian Cope has quite rightly highlighted the presence of American service personnel as a agent for cultural change1 particularly with reference to rock 'n' roll radio and the allure of plenty for people living in austere times. But by ...

Br: Tales Out Of Time

by Mark Corroto
June 2, 2004

I always liked but never quite understood Neil Young's lyric that went something like this: “...are you ready for the country, 'cause it is time to go..." To call someone “country" is to say they are simple or at the very least not urbane. But I think Neil Young was speaking more of organics and getting back to authenticity, and genuineness. If my theory is correct, this disc by four members of Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet is indeed a country ...

Peter Brotzmann Tentet at Kraftbrau Brewery

by Lazaro Vega
March 12, 2004

Peter Brotzmann Tentet Kraftbrau Brewery Kalamazoo, MI June 16, 2002 Not being a musician I can only surmise what musical challenges composing for and performing with a mid-sized jazz ensemble pose. Everyone knows how Miles Davis dealt with some of those musical issues in the nonet as he, Gil Evans, John Lewis, Gerry Mulligan and the crew began tying together the Claude Thornhill band's static harmonies and mysterious sonorities with the quick ...

Peter Br: FMP130

by AAJ Staff
December 5, 2003

Until last year you would be hard pressed to get your hands on any historic recording by this European free improv trio. Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, and Fred Van Hove originally appeared on the German FMP label in 1970 with Balls, finally reissued last year by Atavistic's Unheard Music Series. They picked up Albert Mangelsdorff for a live recording in 1971, then returned to the studio as a trio in 1973 for this self-titled release, returned to circulation as FMP130.