Solo

The first brief track delivers exactly what the listener familiar with Peter Brötzmann's reputation as Teutonic fire breather might expect: a screaming headlong assault on tenor. But this is followed by a light blues that owes more to Sidney Bechet than Albert Ayler and, while a good portion of the record consists of the kind of high-energy blowing that Brötzmann practiced so fervently, other facets of his character are also displayed, some of them perhaps surprising. For example, "Der Grieche" is a heady clarinet piece drawing heavily, as the title indicates, on Greek bouzouki music. "Blue Balls" is indeed a composition drenched in the blues while "Humpty Dumpty," for the cumbersome bass saxophone, lumbers along like an orphaned nursery rhyme. There are works for two clarinets played simultaneously and a couple of off-kilter marches that would have sent Sousa scurrying. Overall, Solo is a fascinating document, both musically satisfying for open-eared listeners and for latecoming Brötzmann fans interested in learning his roots.