The Complete Machine Gun Sessions cover

The Complete Machine Gun Sessions

Released

Peter Brötzmann’s Machine Gun is his second album, but it’s such an emphatic, line-in-the-sand gesture, it feels like a debut. The horns come out blasting, but the more you listen the more you realize how structured and disciplined the music is. It owes a surprising amount to the hard-riffing blues of Illinois Jacquet, Big Jay McNeely and other bar-walking saxophonists of the 1940s. And it’s not a constant hurricane of sax-on-sax violence, either; pianist Fred Van Hove and the two bassists get plenty of spotlight time. This disc includes the album, the two alternate takes that exist, and a live version of the title track that predates the studio session.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Ekstasis cover

Ekstasis

Julia Holter
Cantos I-IV cover

Cantos I-IV

Franz Koglmann
Sign cover

Sign

Nobukazu Takemura
Illusions cover

Illusions

Arthur Blythe
Flat-Out Jump Suite cover

Flat-Out Jump Suite

Julius Hemphill
Vibes from the Tribe cover

Vibes from the Tribe

Phil Ranelin, Emanative
Black Hole cover

Black Hole

Full Blast
Mokoondi cover

Mokoondi

Mice Parade
The Peach Orchard cover

The Peach Orchard

In Order to Survive, William Parker