Peter Brotzmann

[colinmce]

The 25 minute piece with John Tchicai on the Long Story Short box is my favorite example of the group. Another one at the top is "All Things Being Equal" from Images; a 37 minute masterpiece.

Otherwise: per what Clifford said above, my favorite individual albums are the two with William Parker & Roy Campbell: A Short Visit To Nowhere and Broken English.

I have yet to hear the two volumes of American Landscapes, At Molde 2007, and quite regrettably Walk Love Sleep; I missed it when it came out and the Smalltown Superjazz catalog seems to have evaporated from availability almost overnight. 

[clifford_thornton]

I haven't listened to those mentioned above in years. Years. 

Be Music, Night is probably my favorite Tentet CD because of the Patchen readings. The Tchicai performance is very good too -- I also like the Tchicai CD with Engines. But of course JT is another kettle of (or tin of) fish altogether. 

[Д.Д.]

1 hour ago, colinmce said:

[...] Walk Love Sleep; I missed it when it came out and the Smalltown Superjazz catalog seems to have evaporated from availability almost overnight. 

if you do downloads, it's available from one Mr. Vandermark at bandcamp: https://vandermark1.bandcamp.com/album/walk-love-sleep 

[Steve Reynolds]

On 8/26/2022 at 11:36 AM, colinmce said:

The 25 minute piece with John Tchicai on the Long Story Short box is my favorite example of the group. Another one at the top is "All Things Being Equal" from Images; a 37 minute masterpiece.

Otherwise: per what Clifford said above, my favorite individual albums are the two with William Parker & Roy Campbell: A Short Visit To Nowhere and Broken English.

I have yet to hear the two volumes of American Landscapes, At Molde 2007, and quite regrettably Walk Love Sleep; I missed it when it came out and the Smalltown Superjazz catalog seems to have evaporated from availability almost overnight. 

They played “All Things Being Equal” the second time I saw them. It was insane. Both volumes of American Landscapes are very good as well as At Molde 2007. Whenever I revisit this stuff, I’m always more taken in by the freely improvised stuff which started with these recordings. Regrettably I missed this tour and more regrettably it’s the last time the large band toured the US. At first I couldn’t or didn’t know how to take it all in. Repeated listens and my ears changing helped. Today I’m mostly interested in improvised music that has little or no compositional elements. Although not a hard rule, of course. 

[Rabshakeh]

Sounds like bad news from Mr. Brotzmann. Sending him thoughts and wishes for as full a recovery as possible.

[mjazzg]

Seconded. 

I thought he seemed in pretty fine fettle at Oto last month.

I do remember reading somewhere recently that he suffers from COPD which if that's been exacerbated by playing and traveling could well be the breakdown to which he refers. 

https://twitter.com/burn_amb/status/1638970211306196992?t=gETA_kA436CYOti7hVQOmQ&s=19

[Rabshakeh]

22 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Seconded. 

I thought he seemed in pretty fine fettle at Oto last month.

I do remember reading somewhere recently that he suffers from COPD which if that's been exacerbated by playing and traveling could well be the breakdown to which he refers. 

https://twitter.com/burn_amb/status/1638970211306196992?t=gETA_kA436CYOti7hVQOmQ&s=19

Sad to think that might have been his last gig.

[sidewinder]

‘Jazzwise’ this month has a review of that Cafe Oto gig. There was mention of a serious bout of pneumonia back in 2021 I think.

[Steve Reynolds]

Thoughts go out to the granddaddy of them all

[clifford_thornton]

On 3/23/2023 at 5:57 PM, mjazzg said:

I do remember reading somewhere recently that he suffers from COPD which if that's been exacerbated by playing and traveling could well be the breakdown to which he refers. 

https://twitter.com/burn_amb/status/1638970211306196992?t=gETA_kA436CYOti7hVQOmQ&s=19

correct. Glad I had so many opportunities to see him.

[Steve Reynolds]

39 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

correct. Glad I had so many opportunities to see him.

Same here and many of those shows were among the most memorable of all the live shows I’ve seen over the past decades. For me he is among the 2 or 3 greatest living legends of this music. His music changed my ears. My appreciation of his music has intensified over the years. The most incredible *sound* especially from his tenor.

“The sound of god” came to me a few years back at Judson Hall when on a few of his unaccompanied crescendos that is what I thought I heard. I will never forget it. 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Steve Reynolds

[clifford_thornton]

Yes, for sure. I may have mentioned this earlier, but he's also the first musician I ever interviewed and for that I am eternally grateful. 

[unitstructures]

Hoping for the best for Peter Brotzmann.