While Brötzmann has played this powerfully on albums since, never again is it with a group of this size playing just as hard with him. Brötzmann leads this octet in a notoriously concentrated dose of the relentless hard blowing so often characteristic of his music. The rest of the group consists of drummers Han Bennink (Dutch) and Sven-Åke Johansson (Swedish), Belgian pianist Fred van Hove, and bassists Peter Kowald (German) and Buschi Niebergall (Swiss). Brötzmann is joined on sax by British stalwart Evan Parker and Dutch reedsman Willem Breuker (before Breuker moved away from free music, his lungs were as powerful as Brötzmann's). Originally self-released by Peter Brötzmann, the album eventually came out on the FMP label, and set a new high-water mark for free jazz and "energy music" that few have approached since. Recorded in May 1968, Machine Gun captures some top European improvisers at the beginning of their influential careers, and is regarded by some as the first European - not just German or British - jazz recording. This historic free jazz album is a heavy-impact sonic assault so aggressive it still knocks listeners back on their heels decades later.
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