The Complete Machine Gun Sessions

The Complete Machine Gun Sessions

Wuppertal-born reedman Peter Brötzmann’s second LP as a leader, Machine Gun, is a formidable and formative piece in the broad discography of free jazz. The initial “fast, automatic firing” of the title track gives way to smaller group iterations, such as a duet of contrabasses courtesy of the muscular Buschi Niebergall and Peter Kowald, the shimmy and clatter of percussionists Han Bennink and Sven-Åke Johansson, Fred Van Hove’s rumpled classicism and the three-pronged tenor attack of Brötzmann, Evan Parker, and Willem Breuker. The piece closes with rambunctious R&B riffing. This reissue includes alternate takes of the title composition and Van Hove’s kwela-ish “Responsible / for Jan Van Der Veen” as well as a squirrely live version of “Machine Gun” featuring little-discussed German tenorman Gerd Dudek in the ensemble. It’s interesting to think of different “takes” of something that appears so spontaneous at first blush, but rest assured the Octet had these pieces nailed.

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