Peter Brötzmann — the acclaimed German free jazz saxophonist who released over 50 albums across his career and recorded with Cecil Taylor, Keiji Haino and more — has died. Brötzmann's death was confirmed to The Guardian by his label, Trost Records, and collaborator Heather Leigh, reporting that the artist passed away "peacefully in his sleep" at his home. He was 82.
Born in Remscheid, DE, in 1941, Brötzmann studied visual art and became a painter before pursuing music, and was involved with the Fluxus art movement as an assistant to pioneering Korean artist Nam June Paik.
As Brötzmann recalled of the time in a wide-ranging 2007 interview with Exclaim!, "Music was always there on the side and it developed. But on the other hand ... Stockhausen had just opened up his electronic studio in Cologne and John Cage was visiting Europe very often ... So I had influences from this side of the art field, all these kinds of influences were as much as important as finding out what's going on with me and my way of playing as the other side the jazz music was. I mean I listen to all kinds of jazz from when I was very young: King Oliver, the Hot Five, Ellington – jazz history was what I loved very much and I still do."
Self-taught on the saxophone and clarinet, Brötzmann would release his debut album, For Adolphe Sax, in 1967 via his own label, Brö. The three-track release, dedicated to the inventor of the saxophone, was cut with bassist Peter Kowald and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson.
Sophomore album Machine Gun would follow in 1968, and would go on to become a landmark recording of the free jazz style. According to Brötzmann, "Machine Gun" was a nickname given to him by American trumpeter Don Cherry, inspired by his visceral playing style.
In conversation with Exclaim!, the artist shared, "For the rest of my life I can play ballads and sweet stuff, I still have this image. I mean, I like the physical way of playing: a horn has to sound, to go somewhere. But if you listen a little carefully even to my first recordings you will find already a lot of sensitive spots and all of what I developed over the decades is already there at the beginning. At that time, people see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear, and for them I was just the loudest, very brutal saxophone player who couldn't actually play the horn, it just was loud. This image is still there, not really, but it won't go away."
Brötzmann released over 50 albums as a bandleader, with most recent LPs Catching Ghosts and Naked Nudes arriving via Trost earlier this year. He also continued touring into his later years, making Canadian appearances at festivals like Quebec's FIMAV and Halifax's Everyseeker (fka OBEY Convention).
Read Exclaim!'s 2007 interview with Brötzmann.
Born in Remscheid, DE, in 1941, Brötzmann studied visual art and became a painter before pursuing music, and was involved with the Fluxus art movement as an assistant to pioneering Korean artist Nam June Paik.
As Brötzmann recalled of the time in a wide-ranging 2007 interview with Exclaim!, "Music was always there on the side and it developed. But on the other hand ... Stockhausen had just opened up his electronic studio in Cologne and John Cage was visiting Europe very often ... So I had influences from this side of the art field, all these kinds of influences were as much as important as finding out what's going on with me and my way of playing as the other side the jazz music was. I mean I listen to all kinds of jazz from when I was very young: King Oliver, the Hot Five, Ellington – jazz history was what I loved very much and I still do."
Self-taught on the saxophone and clarinet, Brötzmann would release his debut album, For Adolphe Sax, in 1967 via his own label, Brö. The three-track release, dedicated to the inventor of the saxophone, was cut with bassist Peter Kowald and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson.
Sophomore album Machine Gun would follow in 1968, and would go on to become a landmark recording of the free jazz style. According to Brötzmann, "Machine Gun" was a nickname given to him by American trumpeter Don Cherry, inspired by his visceral playing style.
In conversation with Exclaim!, the artist shared, "For the rest of my life I can play ballads and sweet stuff, I still have this image. I mean, I like the physical way of playing: a horn has to sound, to go somewhere. But if you listen a little carefully even to my first recordings you will find already a lot of sensitive spots and all of what I developed over the decades is already there at the beginning. At that time, people see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear, and for them I was just the loudest, very brutal saxophone player who couldn't actually play the horn, it just was loud. This image is still there, not really, but it won't go away."
Brötzmann released over 50 albums as a bandleader, with most recent LPs Catching Ghosts and Naked Nudes arriving via Trost earlier this year. He also continued touring into his later years, making Canadian appearances at festivals like Quebec's FIMAV and Halifax's Everyseeker (fka OBEY Convention).
Read Exclaim!'s 2007 interview with Brötzmann.