Customer Reviews

Nipples (1969)

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Peter Brotzman is one of those artists who's vision is so overwhelming and adamantine that to write about him is almost beside the point. His music is volcanic and like a volcano seems not to care very much what my puny opinion of it really is. Suffice it to say, the music on this disc is the most extreme from of energy jazz that I have ever heard. Next to Brotzman, Cecil Taylor is Mozart and Coltrane's Ascension is a walk in the park. While I am not sure that I can say I enjoy this stuff, I can say that it moves something in me...something visceral.

Nipples was released soon after Brotzman's breakthrough disc, Machine Gun. It lacks that work's unrelenting quality, plus it is written for a smaller ensemble. But this does not mean this is wimpy music....rather it is only for the brave. Brotzman's tenor is scorching. He has a raspy screetch that is all his own and dominates the ensemble everytime he plays. His foil on this date is Evan Parker. On this recording Parker is still in his post Coltrane mold, not having developed the unique style he would show on later discs. But his style here fits the ensemble in a way that his cooler later style wouldn't. Backing up the horns is a rhythm section with Fred Van Hove playing his mix of Cecil Taylor and Stockhausen, Derek Bailey on guitar extracting sound that borders on pure noise (it's easy to see why today's noise artists love Bailey so much) Hans Bennick on drums and Buschi Niebergall on bass. The result is a full scale attack of energy. At first you are just hit by the sonic assault, but with added listening you come to appreciate the group's sense of interplay and shifting textures. Unlike many bad free players, Brotzman's groups understand that you can't just play in your own little world....all the time. As a result, this disc is more than just "extreme", it is music.

The second side is a little less intense than the first. Parker and Bailey bow out and the piece is played by Brotzman and the rhythm section. As a result, you can appreciate Brotzman's soulful side as well as his fierce side. Bennick and Van Hove are marvelous on this cut. Their interplay under Broztman is telepathic.

Once again, thanks to Atavistic for this marvelous rerelease of legendary but rare music. The transfer quality is excellent as are the reproductions of the original liner notes and artwork. Atavistic is the standard by which many other independent labels should be judged.

i could never understand why so many people fail to mention the melodic part of peter brotzmann's playing, as he is one of the only people i have ever heard (along with only hendrix and coltrane) who fuses wall-of-sound fury with interspersed passages of very fluid, beautiful note collections. but something sets brotzmann's music apart from anything else even musical, something about the way he plays so angry and melodic, that touches something deep inside you, and makes you want to go on a killing spree with a screwdriver and make love to everyone within five feet of you at the same time. this is PASSION, and the amount of it in brotzmann's playing is f**king incredible.
ps i just saw him play in the village maybe 2 days ago, with william parker and milford graves, and seeing the way they all interacted and improvised with one another, just completely changed the way i feel about music. at all costs, try and catch one of their shows, i promise you it will be the most intense ninety minutes of your life.

If you're checking out this Brotz reissue, you may have heard his legendary MACHINE GUN. This slightly later recording is a little less intense, less unrelenting. The "first side" is a sextet with Evan Parker on tenor and Derek Bailey on guitar, and that makes this a unique session.

Of these three titans of European free improv, Brotzmann has persevered with his raw, wild sound most single-mindedly over the years. Bailey's odd orthogonal electric picking gives NIPPLES a more open texture than MACHINE GUN. Parker has not yet fully evolved into "Evan Parker" yet here (of the amazing circular breathing and overtones, most awesomely with the Parker/Guy/Lytton trio), and what we hear is a player still clearly using late Coltrane as a point of reference. Parker is into manic, high-pitched, circular blowing totally distinct from Brotz's more guttural, earthy sound.

The "second side" is a quartet featuring Brotz, Han Bennink (percussion) and Fred van Hove (piano) without Parker and Bailey, and not only is it great stuff, but provides a fascinating contrast to the sextet. Thanks to Atavistic for their new Unheard Music series!

I can say without hestitation that Peter Brotzmann is my favorite free jazz player.

This is another fabulous, brilliant album from Mr. Brotzmann. I had wanted to get this album for a while, but something funny happened. I was scheduled to go to a comedy club one evening, but the comedienne that I was going to see appeared on TV a few days before, and ranted on politics like she's prone to do. She said a lot of overly simplistic, generalised things (typical of politicos in the US, regardless of which side their on) that frankly I'm sick of hearing, and her manner was a complete turnoff. I decided to take the cash I would have paid for overpriced, watered down drinks and I bought this CD (the drinks would have been cost more, though, and would have been much less artistic). A superb choice, if I do say so myself.

The album has only 2 pieces, both side long tracks. The title track is by far the more intense, but the flip side, Tell a Green Man (great title), is really good too. It's much more impressionistic that the title track. It's reminiscent of the track "Responsible" from Brotzmann's much vaunted (and deservedly so) Maching Gun Sessions album. Both tracks are fantastic and blisteringly intense. It's just what you'd expect from Brotzmann, who is really an extraordinary musician. He's still going today, which is awesome, and seeing clips on youtube of him, he hasn't lost it. He's still wailing like hell. Brotzmann makes ears bleed, lungs pop, and amazes minds and souls. He's incredible, and this is another example of his greatness.

This was the first Peter Brotzmann disc I purchased.I had read reviews and was aware that he is a legend in free jazz circles, but nothing can prepare you for the onslaught of hearing him for the first time. I've been an avid jazz collector and fan for years.My definition of avante-garde and or free jazz was Cecil Taylor. Peter Brotzmann makes Cecil Taylor sound like the Preservation Hall Jazz band! You have to be prepared to give it a few listens; at first I was ready to return it! slowly it starts to take on a logic all it's own.