Peter Brötzmann

is happy about his Honorary Award 2022.

04.11.2022 – At the beginning of the year, it was still looking as if he would not be able to travel again. But at the beginning of November, at the Berlin Jazz Festival, he was at it: With his longtime artist friends Hamid Drake on drums and Majid Bekkas on sintir, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann put on a captivating concert at the Festspielhaus. There was a standing ovation for the 81-year-old old master of free jazz in the sold-out hall even before the first explosion of sound, when PdSK juror Bert Noglik (left in the picture) gave him a personal laudation on the big stage and presented him with the 2022 Honorary Award. An appreciation that Brötzmann, often skeptical about public honors, accepted with visible emotion. Especially since Hamid Drake spontaneously took the floor after the joint performance to emphasize the importance and overdue nature of the PdSK award for a life’s work that has long had a worldwide impact. Although going as far as to pose with the certificate of honor, the gnarled »berserker«, who still fires »burning sounds« into time and space, preferred to avoid.