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Peter Br?tzmann: I Surrender Dear

By Mark Corroto
November 28, 2019
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You can forgive yourself if you get the feeling that you're a bit of a voyeur while listening to I Surrender Dear, the solo recording by saxophonist

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann. This sense of eavesdropping is due to the intimate sounds and the great man's choice of music. This intimacy is not something you generally associate with Br?tzmann's music. Typically, one has to stand clear of the blast radius of his performance, but there is something redolent of the past about this session.

By a rough count this is the saxophonist's ninth solo release, dating back to his Solo (FMP Records, 1976), and the more recent (and almost impossible to find) M��nster Bern (Cubus Records, 2015). Unlike all his previous unaccompanied outings, here he sticks solely to tenor saxophone. Perhaps that is the source of the sentimentality, though let's not call it nostalgia.

Of the twelve tracks, eight are covers. With the title track, he revisits music popularized by

Bing Crosby

vocals
1903 - 1977

" data-original-title="" title="">Bing Crosby, and made famous by

Coleman Hawkins

saxophone, tenor
1904 - 1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Coleman Hawkins, and then

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk. Br?tzmann lingers over the sound, eschewing fortissimo as a means of communication. It is as if he were performing for an audience of one. Let's not forget this oracle of the free jazz explosion of the 1960s had (and has) a keen ear for the music of

Sidney Bechet

saxophone, soprano
1897 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Sidney Bechet,

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington, and

Lester Young

saxophone
1909 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Lester Young. Certainly memories of Prez are conjured with his cover of "Lover Come Back To Me" and "Lady Sings The Blues." This is Br?tzmann looking back, maybe disclosing the raw materials that made up his oeuvre. His take on

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins "Sumphin'" attempts to suppress his inner-Br?tzmann in service of Rollins' contribution to music. This clash of approach remains unresolved until he opens the throttle with "Brozziman," and we hear his full-throated tenor voice. Listen and decide if the artist was recording this music for himself or the ghosts of music past.

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Track Listing

I Surrender Dear; Lover Come Back To Me; Lady Sings The Blues; Con Alma; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Dark Blues; Improvisation ?ber Ein Thema Von JS Bach; ChurchSong; Sumpin��; Brozziman; Ballade/Love Poem Nr. 7/Blues; I Surrender Dear.

Personnel

Peter Br?tzmann

woodwinds

Peter Br?tzmann: tenor saxophone.

Album information

Title: I Surrender Dear | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Trost Records

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