Peter Br: For Adolphe Sax

Then again, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann's music has never been lost. His ceaseless enthusiasm since this self-produced recording 35 years ago has carried the music of Albert Ayler and John Coltrane through the fusion years, the retro-bop years and gulp, the smooth jazz era. Today the sixty year old is still blowing fire from his horn worldwide.

For Adolphe Sax takes us back before the his large ensemble projects of Machine Gun (1968) and Chicago Tentet (1997-present). Before his associations with drummer Han Bennink and pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and before Last Exit with Bill Laswell, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Sonny Sharrock.

Initally released on Brotzmann's own BRO label, this disc was later an FMP LP out-of-print some thirty years now. Brotzmann is joined by bassist Peter Kowald (Global Unity Orchestra, Schlippenbach Trio, London Jazz Composers Orchestra) and Swedish free-jazz drummer Sven Ake Johansson, both of which would play on the 1968 Machine Gun sessions. The disc also includes a unreleased track with pianist Fred Van Hove recorded at Radio Bremen.

Perhaps the music is not as scary today as it was in 1967. Brötzman's bands were working free from the constraints of time signitures and notated music. His energy driven jazz starts off the title track feeling his way onto the soundstage with a tentaive prelude. Soon he s joined by his band finding their direction, shifting thoughts and energies between the players. Thorughout,as you would expect, there are passages of dynamic power. But there are also weighty and introspective sections of ingenious music making.