Overview
“Machine Gun” is the second album by Peter Brötzmann, a German free jazz saxophonist born in 1941.
Commentary
The album is an important work of European free music/avant-garde jazz in the early days, which includes the elements of free jazz pioneered by Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler, the influence of contemporary music, and aggressiveness like garage rock.
It contains noisy and destructive free improvisations by the octet that consists of three saxophones, two basses, two drums and piano, including Brötzmann’s freaky tenor/baritone saxophones.
The original LP “Machine Gun” (three tracks) was self-released by Brötzmann’s own BRÖ label in 1968.
In 1991, the German label FMP released it on CD, adding two previously unreleased alternate takes.
In 2007, Atavistic Records reissued it as “The Complete Machine Gun Sessions”, adding the live version of the title track “Machine Gun”.
