Peter Brötzmann

Peter Brötzmann
Brötzmann playing in 2010
Background information
Born(1941-03-06)6 March 1941
Remscheid, Germany
Died22 June 2023(2023-06-22) (aged 82)
Wuppertal, Germany
GenresEuropean free jazz, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation
OccupationMusician
Instrument(s)Saxophone, clarinet, tárogató
Years active1967–2023
Formerly ofGlobe 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 (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his many collaborators were key figures in free jazz, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, as well as experimental musicians such as Keiji Haino and Charles Hayward. His 1968 Machine Gun became "one of the landmark albums of 20th-century free jazz".