Peter Brötzmann facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Peter Brötzmann
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Brötzmann at the Moers Festival 2010
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| Background information | |
| Born | 6 March 1941 Remscheid, Germany |
| Died | 22 June 2023 (aged 82) Wuppertal, Germany |
| Genres | European free jazz, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Saxophone, clarinet, tárogató |
| Years active | 1967–2023 |
| Associated acts | Globe Unity Orchestra, Peter Kowald, Cecil Taylor, Last Exit, Derek Bailey, William Parker, Die Like a Dog Quartet, Sven-Åke Johansson, Evan Parker, Buschi Niebergall, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink, Willem Breuker, Paal Nilssen-Love, John Zorn |
Peter Brötzmann (born March 6, 1941 – died June 22, 2023) was a famous German jazz musician. He was best known for playing the saxophone and clarinet. He was a very important artist in the world of free improvisation, a type of music where musicians make up the music as they go along, without a set plan.
Contents
About Peter Brötzmann
Early Life and Art
Peter Brötzmann was born in a German city called Remscheid on March 6, 1941. When he was younger, he studied painting in Wuppertal. He was even part of a special art movement called Fluxus, which focused on art that was more about ideas and actions than traditional paintings or sculptures. However, he soon felt that art galleries and exhibitions were not for him.
His first experience with jazz music was when he saw the American jazz musician Sidney Bechet play. This concert left a big impression on him and changed his path.
Even though he became a musician, Peter never stopped using his art skills. He designed most of the covers for his own music albums. He taught himself how to play the clarinet and saxophone. He also played a special instrument called the tárogató, which is a woodwind instrument from Hungary.
One of his first musical partners was a double bassist named Peter Kowald. Brötzmann's first recorded album, For Adolphe Sax, came out in 1967. It featured Kowald and a drummer named Sven-Åke Johansson. In 1968, he released another important album called Machine Gun. This album was made with eight musicians. Peter produced it himself under his own record label, BRO, and sold it at his concerts.
Peter Brötzmann passed away at his home in Wuppertal, Germany, on June 22, 2023, when he was 82 years old.
His Music Career
Peter Brötzmann was a member of a group called the Instant Composers Pool (ICP). This was a group of musicians who worked together to release their own music. It started as a small group and grew into a large orchestra with ten members.
Traveling with such a big group was hard, so Brötzmann often played in a smaller group, a trio, with Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove. He even recorded an album called Schwarzwaldfahrt in 1977 with Bennink. They recorded it outdoors in the Black Forest, and Bennink used trees and other things he found in the woods as drums!
In the 1980s, Brötzmann's music started to be influenced by heavy metal and noise rock. These are types of music known for being loud and powerful. He was part of a band called Last Exit and made music with their bass guitarist and producer, Bill Laswell.
Peter Brötzmann released more than fifty albums as the main musician and played on many more albums by other artists. One of his groups, the "Die Like a Dog Quartet," was inspired by another famous saxophonist named Albert Ayler. From 1997, he often toured with his Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, a group that started with eight members. He stopped this group after a performance in 2012.
He also played and recorded with many other well-known musicians, including Cecil Taylor, William Parker, and even his own son, Caspar Brötzmann.
Films About Peter Brötzmann
- RAGE!, a film by Bernard Josse (released in France in 2011).
- BRÖTZMANN, a documentary film by René Jeuckens, Thomas Mau, and Grischa Windus (released in Germany/UK in 2011).
Peter Brötzmann also wrote a book called We thought we could change the world, which is a collection of conversations with Gérard Rouy.
Images for kids
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Brötzmann at the Moers Festival 2010
See also
In Spanish: Peter Brötzmann para niños
