Big Bad Brötzmann Quintet - Bambule! (December 19, 2021 EUPHORIUM Records)

Bambule! was originally released in 2021 as a CD. You can buy it HERE

Again, Peter Brötzmann meets Oliver Schwerdt and Christian Lillinger, the most powerful youngsters of German Free Jazz culture. After 2017s Karacho! we now have the quintet with the unsurpassable Johns as it worked out that brilliant night of 2019! Edwards and Eckhardt did a warm up as a duett dedicated to the most beautiful legs on earth. Peter Brötzmann just know what sexuality has to do with the energy this group deals with! Listen also to the 15-minute-trio-interaction called Hot Ass!

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Kurz nach dem Karacho! vom 7. Oktober 2017, welches die Erstbegegnung von Peter Brötzmann mit Christian Lillinger verzeichnet hatte, sicherte sich Oliver Schwerdt, vormals bekannt geworden als Elan Pauer, den Willen des legendären west-deutschen Saxofon-Schwerts zu, ein abermaliges Abenteuer im doppelt mit dem Doppelbass besetzten Quintett auszufechten. Nach dem er Luten Petrowsky neue Flügel verliehen hatte, scheint auch der Wuppertaler sich Schwerdts Fähigkeiten als fulminanten Turbolader für‘s Alter gern zu bedienen. Dem als Bambule! ausgewiesenen Hauptakt des 2019 realisierten Zweit-Treffens liegt wieder die sensationelle Aufwärmübung im Trio beiseite, dieses Mal in Anspielung an Brötzmanns Lobpreis der Sexualität Hot Ass/Beauty Legs geheißen: eine Viertelstunde Trio ohne Bass, plus Bass-Duo. Die Sternstunden des Free Jazz funkeln nochmal in ihren höchsten Tönen. 

01 Bambule! (37’04)

02 Bambule Again! (13’21)

Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone, clarinet, tarogato

Oliver Schwerdt - grand piano, percussion, little instruments

John Edwards - double bass

John Eckhardt- double bass

Christian Lillinger - drums, cymbals, percussion

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Big Bad Brötzmann Trio / John Edwards & John Eckhardt - Hot Ass​ /​ Beauty Legs (December 19, 2021 EUPHORIUM Records)

Hot Ass/Beauty Legs was originally released in 2021 as a mini CD. You can buy it HERE

Biturbo!, the paradisian debut of the legendary instrumental constellation of saxophone, piano and drums as Peter Brötzmann celebrate it with these powerful German youngsters is highlighted by that performance these three realized two years later. Hot Ass is a fulminant trio action bringing all together for an outstanding explosion of musical interaction: the wisdom and strength of an all-time hero as Peter Brötzmann in dance with the velocity and extremly young fighting of Oliver Schwerdt (formerly known as Elan Pauer) and Christian Lillinger. Get that kick to the ultimate jazz ecstasy. Beauty Legs is called the first duet of the marvelous double bass players both called John, Edwards here, Eckhardt there..

Dass Oliver Schwerdt, vormals Elan Pauer, seine klassischen Hardcore-Freejazz-Quintette mit basslosen Aufwärmrunden beginnt, ist spätenstens seit der jenem 2013 mit Petrowsky entfachten Tumult! vorgelagerten Mini-CD mit dem Titel Short Night bekannt. Nachdem EUPHORIUM Records die allererste Begegnung von Peter Brötzmann und Christian Lillinger, realisiert am 7. Oktober 2017 im legendären Leipziger Club naTo, Biturbo! getauft hat, und bei dem neben Lillinger Schwerdt selbst dem alten Kapitän sein hyperschallschnelles Ruder heranträgt, erscheint nun auch der Nachfolge der damaligen Quintett-Aufnahme (Karacho!) mit einem Trio-Nachfolger. Hot Ass präsentiert mit Beauty Legs zudem die beiden Bassisten, die sich mit den basslosen Drei hernach zum Quintett vereinen werden, im Zweiklang ihrer tieftönenden Holzboote. Die Auffächerung der kompletten Geschichte einer der energetischsten Abenteuer überhaupt.. 

1. Hot Ass 14:43

2. Beauty Legs 08:56

Peter Brötzmann- tenor saxophone, clarinet

Oliver Schwerdt - grand piano, percussion, little instruments

Christian Lillinger - drums, cymbals, percussion

John Edwards - double bass

John Eckhardt - double bass

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Peter Brötzmann / Peeter Uuskyla - BORN BROKE complete + (June 2021)

1. Born Broke 21:45

2. Beautiful But Stupid 13:33

3. Ain´t Got The Money 22:29

4. Dead And Useless 38:24

5. Welcome to a Concert at Nefertiti 2nd September 2006 00:22

6. Concert at Nefertiti part one 27:05

7. 2nd part at Nefertiti 10:37

8. 3rd part at Nefertiti 11:04

9. Final part of the concert at Nefertiti September 2, 2006 16:01

10. Dead And Useless LP side A 19:09

11. Dead And Useless LP side B 18:18

12. Born Broke EP part 1 10:54

13. Born Broke EP part 2 10:55

14. Born Broke promo-demo-teaser (excerpt) 06:54

Tenor sax, clarinet, alto sax (track 6), cover art: Peter Brötzmann

Drums and album producer: Peeter Uuskyla

Engineer at Bohus Sound Recording: Dragan Tanaskovic

Recorded September 9, 2006 at Bohus Sound Recording, Sweden.

Originally released 2008 by Atavistic, USA as the 2CD-album Born Broke 2008 and the longest track "Dead and Useless" was released on 12" vinyl by Omlott, Sweden 2014.

+ The first tour ever with this Brötzmann/Uuskyla sax and drum duo was happening the week prior the studio recording date. An audience DAT-walkman recorder captured the concert at the Nefertiti jazzclub in Gothenburg on September 2, 2006. On track 5-9 you hear the first sketches of what was to become the musical statement titled Born Broke a week later.

PETER BRÖTZMANN asked me to write some notes about me walking the quite hard and dirty road of musicmaking. The liferoad of the one life you have. Been fighting all the time for playing untouchable sounds of simple music, my definition of beauty. Untouchable, therefore powerful. Simple, therefore universal, for everyone. Music that belongs to everybody. Take it or leave it, but you are not able to keep it only for yourself. That´s the strength. Sometimes the struggle is too hard and you just have enough of the terrible conditions around the playing. The lowbudget touring, the stupidity, the curators, the organizers, the ones with power to decide who plays where and what.

Geniusgrants killing natural musicmaking because of simple music being just to simple, not being complex and confusing enough. To illustrate bigheaded nonsense with living music makes you fall into a trap where pure joyful musicmaking is forbidden although sold as free jazz, freely improvised, spontaneous, creative music! This is the situation you have to deal with. Days of solidarity and bands kept together are long gone. Replaced by common egopower and loneliness among millions of lonely people in the big cities. You are also alone when making your musical statement. Alone together but still basically alone. Got to be strong to face that kind of reality. My eternal Sisyphusical circle is playing music for the strength to keep going.

Nobody tells me anymore what and whom to play with. Not even Peter Brötzmann. He anyway never has. I have always liked his way of making music with his beautiful, deep, total sounding horn. No rehearsals, instead you have to bring yourself together, prepare, get ready, concentrate, pay attention and when time comes take off. That´s the way this music is made. Dragan Tanaskovic recorded the small drumkit and the saxophone with his old tube microphones in his large studioroom. 

Quite a comfortable recording situation. No amplification, not even monitorspeakers or headphones needed for this duo. The punch and the scream, the foundation of natural musicmaking! Living in this complicated, complex and confused society it is most important to make clear and honest statements. PEETER UUSKYLA

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Peter Brötzmann / Peter Friis Nielsen / Peeter Uuskyla - Flying Feathers (May 6, 2021)

1. The Ravens Cry At Dawn 14:37

2. Flying Feathers 10:13

3. Willie´s Chilly 12:02

4. Chilly Willy 15:23

5. Muiko 10:59

Recorded September 7, 2001 at Bohus Sound Recording, Kungälv, Sweden. All music originally released by FMR records UK, 2002.

Tenor sax, alto sax (2) and tarogato (4): Peter Brötzmann

Electric bass: Peter Friis Nielsen

Drums and recording session producer: Peeter Uuskyla

Recording engineér: Dragan Tanascovic

Photo (not original cover): Gudrun Edel-Rösnes

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Peter Brötzmann / Peter Friis Nielsen / Peeter Uuskyla - Medicina (2021)

1. Rocket Tango 06:58

2. One, Two, Three, Free 09:44

3. Artemisia 09:55

4. Justicia 08:53

5. Some Ghosts Step Out 14:49

6. Here And Now 06:03

7. Bones And Beans 06:23

8. Hard Times Blues 13:22

Recorded March 16, 2003 at Bohus Sound Recording, Kungälv, Sweden. Edit, mix and mastering by Dragan Tanascovic and Peeter Uuskyla. Album originally released 2004 by Atavistic

Alto, tenor-sax, tarogato, alto-clarinet, cover-design: Peter Brötzmann

Bass: Peter Friis Nielsen

Drums: Peeter Uuskyla

Sound engineer: Dragan Tanaskovic

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Peter Brötzmann & Maâlem Moukhtar Gania & Hamid Drake - The Catch of a Ghost (i dischi di angelica 2020)

 “3 names, 3 cultures, 3 continents, 3 different concepts of time and timing – this is the essence of this trio. This is what we have to bring together. I am rather optimistic.” Peter Brötzmann, Wuppertal, 1st April 2019

With these simple words Peter Brötzmann, one of the greatest representatives in the development of a unique European approach to free improvisation since the ‘60s, announced the unprecedented trio lined up for his return to AngelicA festival in 2019. A trio in which, to the trusted Hamid Drake – one of the best living drummers and his historic collaborator since the times of the Die Like a Dog quartet –, he added Maalem Mokhtar Gania, last representative of a legendary line of Gnawa music masters from Essaouira, son of Maalem Boubker Gania and brother of Maalem Mahmoud Gania, who died prematurely and had been the protagonist with Brötzmann and Drake of an explosive trio in Wels in 1996.

The Bologna trio documented in the CD The Catch of a Ghost thrilled and surprised the attending audience with the great energy and liveliness of the sound textures created by the dialogue among the musicians, but also with the continuous ability to (re)invent itself coupled with boundless physical force of Brötzmann’s emission, who proved that at the age of 78 that he has nothing to envy to his younger self of 50 years ago, at the beginning of his career.

1. The Catch of a Ghost 33:29

2. Almost With The Sun 11:12

3. Sound That Shimmers 13:16

4. Dip And Dive 14:13

Premiere recording

Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone, tarogato

Maâlem Moukhtar Gania: guembri, voice

Hamid Drake: drums

Music by Peter Brötzmann, Maâlem Moukhtar Gania, Hamid Drake

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Peter Brötzmann Octet – Machine Gun (Alternate Takes) TROST RECORDS 2018

First time issued on vinyl: alternate takes from the essential "Machine Gun" album on Brotzmann's BRO label in 1968, aggressive but astute music from now-legendary players Brotzmann, Evan Parker & Gerd Dudek on tenor sax (Brotzmann doubles on baritone sax), Peter Kowald on bass, Fred Van Hove on piano, Buschi Niebergall on bass, and two drummers - Han Bennink & Sven-Ake Johansson.

"Alternate versions, never before released on vinyl from Peter Brotzmann Octet's Machine Gun (1968)."-Cien Fuegos

"The Tet Offensive. The Democratic National Convention In Chicago. The MLK and RFK assasinations. And if 1968 wasn't violent enough, West German avant garde tenorman Peter Brötzmann unleashed Machine Gun unto the world.

Unhinged, utterly devoid of subtlety. In your face. Of all the entries that may follow in my Whack Jazz series, none will be as extreme an expression of free jazz as this one, John Zorn's Naked City with Yamatsuka Eye notwithstanding.

Major eruptions are followed by minor ones. Occasional rat-a-tat-tats on the drums by Han Bennink for the various takes of the title song is a simple reminder of the theme. The other saxophonists Willem Breuker and Evan Parker join PB for some impromtu faux choruses but despite everyone blowing at their hardest, Brötzmann's tenor always manages to rise above the chaos; the man has steel lungs. Pianist Fred Van Hove is barely audible most of the time and even having two bassists...Peter Kowald and Buschi Niebergall...doesn't make for a consistently strong presence on the low end, either, although where they are heard, they make the most of the opportunity. Just as the alert ear can begin to pick up some semblance of a simple melody rising from the chaos, the ensemble blows it up into total disintegration, as if to be playing an evil game of creating enemies for the pleasure of cutting them down; an influence of the then-living Albert Ayler.

Virtually all the players on this record were at the beginning of their careers and have since become some pretty significant jazz players in Europe and the world. Bennink himself will merit his own entry on this blog one day.

So while it's pretty cool to say that Peter Brötzmann is a favorite tenor player of the former Leader Of The Free World, it's even more cool to explore his music and discover how he's become such a giant in both European jazz and free jazz. Machine Gun is where the greatness begins."-S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews (originally published in Whack Jazz)

Peter Brötzmann: baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone

Peter Kowald: acoustic bass

Buschi Niebergall: acoustic bass

Sven-Ake Johansson: drums

Han Bennink: drums

Fred Van Hove: piano

Evan Parker: tenor saxophone

Willem Breuker: tenor saxophone

SIDE A

1. Machine Gun (Second Take)

SIDE B

1. Responsible / For Jan Van De Ven (First Take)

Brötzmann / Leigh - Sparrow Nights (TROST RECORDS November 2, 2018)

Recorded this year in Vienna with Martin Siewert

First studio album from the furious duo of pedal Heather Leigh and reedist Peter Brötzmann.

The collaboration quickly gained a well earned reputation for their cutting edge music and frenetic but sensuous playing.

Peter Brötzmann - b-flat/bass/contra-alto clarinet, alto/tenor/bass saxophone 

Heather Leigh - pedal steel guitar

Recorded in Vienna in the studio of Martin Siewert 

Mastered by Martin Siewert 

Published by Cien Fuegos 

Artwork by Peter Brötzmann 

Foto by Ziga Koritnik

1. Summer Rain

2. This Word Love

3. It's Almost Dark

4. Sparrow Nights

5. This Time Around

6. River Of Sorrow

7. At First Sight

8. All Of Us

9. My Empty Heart

10. The Longer We're Apart

FULL BLAST - Live in Rio (TROST RECORDS October 5, 2018)

With all the projects Peter Brötzmann is currently working on, FULL BLAST - with the precise and dynamic swiss rhythm-section Pliakas/Wertmüller - is the most consistent, the longest running.

Peter Brötzmann: reeds

Marino Pliakas: e-bass

Michael Wertmüller: drums

1. Rio one

2. Rio two

3. Rio three

4. Rio four

5. Rio five

Live at at Audio Rebel, Rio, Brazil - 17.7.2016 

Released in cooperation with Brasil label QTV

Recording engineer: Pedro Azevedo, João Paulo “Binos” Franklin 

Pre-mix: João Paulo “Binos” Franklin 

Mix and master: Martin Siewert 

Artwork: Brötzmann

Peter Brotzmann & Fred Lonberg-Holm - Ouroboros (ASTRAL SPIRITS 2018)

1. The Circle 06:04

2. The Figure Eight 13:42

3. The Spiral 16:09

4. The Fusion of Opposites 04:46

Peter Brötzmann - Reeds

Fred Lonberg-Holm - Strings & Electronics

Recorded by Stefan Deistler at Loft Köln on January 18, 2011

All music by Broetzmann/FMP publishing/Gema - Lonberg-Holm/BMI

Brötzmann / Uuskyla - Dead And Useless (OMLOTT 2018)

Peter Brötzmann and Peeter Uuskyla have played together in different constellations for more than fifteen years. Peter Brötzmann has been playing his own fire music since 1966. He started out with European free jazz musicians such as Han Bennink, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Sven-Åke Johansson, Albert Mangelsdorff, continued with American musicians such as Sonny Sharrock, Shannon Jackson, Andrew Cyrille, Hamid Drake and Japanese musicians such as Keiji Haino, Akira Sakata, Toshinori Kondo, Takeo Moriyama. Peter Brötzmann produced his two first LPs all by himself. After that he teamed up with Jost Gebers to start the FMP-label, Free Music Production, in 1969. Brötzmann has created numerous album-covers and posters in his personal unique style, so his artwork became the FMP visual profile.

1. Dead And Useless part 1 19:09

2. Dead And Useless part 2 18:18

Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone

Peeter Uuskyla: drums

Brötzmann / Uuskyla - Red Cloud On Silver (OMLOTT 2018)

Before we start talking about the music on this album, one thing which is hardly mention is the fact that Peter Brötzmann is also a great fine artist. Recently he had an exclusive exhibition of his art in China, I also saw one in Wuppertal once. Like his saxophone/clarinet sound, his visual artistic style is also unique and has a high recognition value. The covers of all the albums reviewed here are designed by Brötzmann himself. So, when you buy a Brötzmann album you get a piece of fine arts as a bonus.

As to the music: Brötzmann  has worked quite often with Swedish drummer Peeter Uuskyla (e.g. on Dead  and Useless) since 1997 and in general the reeds/drums line-up is something he feels very comfortable with. His duos with Han Bennink, Hamid Drake, Paal Nilssen-Love and Steve Noble belong to best releases in free jazz.  Uusklya cannot quite keep up with these drummers because they are able to challenge him. Uuskyla is more the supporting kind of a drummer on this album. 

My favorite passage is on side B when Brötzmann plays a particularly tender version of the “Master of  a Small House” theme, one of three or four themes he likes to integrate especially in solo and duo performances, Brötzmann once told me. Uuskyla simply drops out here, then he adds a just a few sparse few sounds, which is just perfect. And then it is him who pulls Brötzmann back to rougher waters. In  general Red Cloud on Silver is a rather  rough, torn and bumpy album.

1. Red Cloud On Silver part 1 20:23

2. Red Cloud On Silver part 2 14:45

3. Home Of Snake 05:35

4. Thistel And Thorns 11:42

5. Mind Is A Monkey 10:43

6. Striding Along 08:02

Brötzmann / Swell / Nilssen-Love - Live in Tel Aviv (NOT TWO RECORDS 2017)

1. The Greasy Grind

2. Ticklish Pickle

Steve Swell – trombone

Paal Nilssen-Love – drums, percussion

Peter Brötzmann – saxophone, clarinet

Borah Bergman / Peter Brötzmann / Frode Gjerstad - Left (2016) NOT TWO RECORDS

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Borah Bergman / Peter Brötzmann / Frode Gjerstad - Left (2016)

"Borah Bergman was my favorite pianist. One of the few pianists who can work with me at all."

Peter Brötzmann

"One of the greatest pianists of our time."

John Zorn 

"Borah Bergman is perhaps the most technically accomplished pianist in jazz -- and if he's not at the top, then he's certainly on a short list of two."

Chris Kelsey

Featuring Borah Bergman on piano, Peter Brotzmann on ten or sax, bass clarinet & taragato and Frode Gjerstad on alto sax. This set was recorded live at the Molde International Jazz Festival in Norway in July of 1996. When Borah Bergman passed in 2012, we lost one of the finest and most distinctive pianists to emerge from New York in the past century. Mr. Bergman has recorded duo CDs with both Mr. Brotzmann and Mr. Gjerstad in the past, as well as a couple of trios with Anthony Braxton or Andrew Cyrille.

Mr. Brotzmann erupts with his unique, clarion call tenor right from the first note. He is soon joined by Mr. Bergman’s explosive piano and later by Mr. Gerstad’s equally distinctive, bent-note cluster. The sound here is superb, the performance well-balanced and well-recorded. There are three long pieces here, each with the word “Left” in the title as in “Left Hand”. Mr. Bergman was well-known for his singular-style ambidextrous playing, even recording an entire album side of just his left hand at the piano. What makes this combination so intriguing is that Mr. Bergman is often balancing two separate lines or strategies with each hand as well as interacting with each saxist independently. This makes for some fascinating listening which requires some deep concentration as two strong forces shift between different poles. Both Mr. Brotzmann (on tenor or clarinet) and Mr. Gerstad are well-matched saxists. Sometimes Brotzmann slows down to carefully bend certain notes while Gjerstad speeds up, interjecting occasional streams of notes. I like that this session is not all, over-the-top bluster, there are a number of more stark moments which are filled with suspense and thoughtful ruminations. This is a colossal trio effort that had me at the edge of my seat throughout its 55 minute length.

(Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG

1. Left hand 18:23

2. Left us 11:54

3. Left out 24:47

Borah Bergman: piano

Peter Brötzmann: tenor sax, clarinet and tarogato

Frode Gjerstad: alto sax

Recorded at Molde International Jazzfestival, July 17, 1996

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