Peter Brötzmann is dead. To the end, he felt his own mortality was an impertinence, just like his chronic lung disease. Every now and then it didn’t work anymore, but then he wrote defiant e-mails to everyone who knew him well or a little. That he had survived again, that he might need a little patience and help. The illness plagued him for twenty years, which would actually have meant the end of his calling for a saxophonist. But if you’ve seen him on stage again over the past few years, if you’ve listened to the countless albums he’s released, you wouldn’t tell. Then he was still and again this strong man with the broad shoulders and the heavy gait, as he had been since the beginning of his career (he was not just a musician, but also graphic designers).
The musician Peter Brötzmann has died – an obituary – culture
