Peter brötzmann machine gun free#
The octet is rounded out by several other players who would form the foundation of the European free avant-garde: Fred Van Hove, Peter Kowald, Sven Ake-Johansson, and Buschi Niebergall. One of two drummers in the group, Han Bennink loudly declares his intent to push free percussion in a direction unique from his American counterparts, Murray, Graves, and Ali. There are even hummable themes, however brief they may be. Machine Gun is not all volume, though: there are passages of silence and chilling hints of space between barrages of instrumental fury. Noise artists for generations to come would give everything to be half this abrasive. Even today, so many years after this was captured to tape, it's still startling, and still brings to question any ideas you might have about what could be considered "jazz." Yes, American fire music players had broken countless barriers earlier in the 1960s, but nobody had ever really sounded like this before. Machine Gun opens with a deafening blast of pure sound, a pummeling broadside of Brotzmann, Evan Parker, and Willem Breuker's saxophones. Peter Brotzmann's second release as a leader, this was the album that firmly established his voice as a performer and an improviser, defined what would become the FMP aesthetic, and truly distinguished European free-music from its American counterpart. Even stout-hearted listeners will nearly be sent into hiding - much like standing outside during a violent storm, withstanding this kind of fierce energy is a primal thrill.2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Machine Gun's release, but it's still just as shocking and powerful a record as ever, a stunning and bewildering listen from beginning to end. The years have not managed to temper this fiery furnace blast from hell it's just as relentless and shocking an assault now as it was then. The sound of Machine Gun is just as aggressive and battering as its namesake, blowing apart all that's timid, immovable, or proper with an unrepentant and furious finality. The players declare and exercise their right to bellow and wail all they want they both send up the stereotype of free playing as simply screaming, and unapologetically revel in it. While Brötzmann has played this powerfully on albums since, never again is it with a group of this size playing just as hard with him. Brötzmann leads this octet in a notoriously concentrated dose of the relentless hard blowing so often characteristic of his music. The rest of the group consists of drummers Han Bennink (Dutch) and Sven-Åke Johansson (Swedish), Belgian pianist Fred van Hove, and bassists Peter Kowald (German) and Buschi Niebergall (Swiss).
Brötzmann is joined on sax by British stalwart Evan Parker and Dutch reedsman Willem Breuker (before Breuker moved away from free music, his lungs were as powerful as Brötzmann's).
Peter brötzmann machine gun for free#
Originally self-released by Peter Brötzmann, the album eventually came out on the FMP label, and set a new high-water mark for free jazz and "energy music" that few have approached since. Recorded in May 1968, Machine Gun captures some top European improvisers at the beginning of their influential careers, and is regarded by some as the first European - not just German or British - jazz recording. This historic free jazz album is a heavy-impact sonic assault so aggressive it still knocks listeners back on their heels decades later.
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