While American free jazz in the 1960s / 1970s was mainly dominated by spirituality and (African) roots, the European variant was much more in line with the prevailing unrest in the streets of Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam. The album Machine Gun (1968) by the German saxophonist Peter Brötzman was the first statement of the European free jazz scene. With Dutchmen Willem Breuker and Han Bennink in the
… ranks, the ensemble on this album blows the listener off the socks without an apparent target or deeper layer - like the barrage of a machine gun. In the meantime, Brötzman has passed seventy, but his game has not lost any of its strength. Together with the British drummer Steve Noble he improvises lustily and with a lot of energy, without disturbing any key or structure. Sensory music that allows itself to be experienced rather than listened to, and that is still its strength. (MR)more
