''Live at the Empty Bottle'' is a live album by saxophonist

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

, drummer Hamid Drake, and bassist

Kent Kessler Kent Kessler (born January 28, 1957) is an American jazz double-bassist. Career Although born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Kessler grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He began playing trombone at age ten. When he was thirteen, he moved with his f ...

. It was recorded on July 22, 1996, at

The Empty Bottle The Empty Bottle is a bar and music venue located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located on the west side of Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, the venue primarily hosts local, regional, and touring alternative music act ...

in Chicago, and was released in 1999 by

Okka Disk Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994. Okka began as a rock music label, but Johnson soon changed direction to record free jazz.

as a limited-edition CD. In his liner notes,

David Grubbs David Grubbs (born September 21, 1967) is an American composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He was a founding member of Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol. He has also played in Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet and The Wingd ...

wrote: "Reader, where do you live? Do people where you live stand up and whistle and scream and holler at gigs of improvised music? Give it up for the rhythm section, and give it up for their awesome boogie force. I'm serious. I was there; I was dancing."

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Joslyn Layne wrote: "Excellent, energetic solos (and interplay) are heard from every musician." The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled ...

'' called the album "an hour of top music," and stated: "Brötz sounds both passionate and cheery... Drake isn't a muscleman drummer, but the leader has had so many of those behind him over the years that Hamid's more tractable, polymorphous sound is a source of refreshment: there's nothing wanting." Derek Taylor of ''One Final Note'' commented: "Uncapped for your pleasure, the heady aromas of Brötzmann's horns ferment with bass and trap set in a combination so beguiling it may prove difficult to resist rapturous inebriation at their hands. Like the fine vodka that is one of the German's few admitted passions this performance packs a pungent bite and deserves to be sipped and savored at length."

Track listing

# "Something from Your Heart" – 17:04 # "Crest of the Wave" – 41:02

Personnel

– reeds *

– bass * Hamid Drake – drums

References

{{Reflist 1999 live albums Peter Brötzmann live albums Hamid Drake live albums Okka Disk live albums