Here’s a side to Peter Brötzmann you may not have encountered before: a dozen cuts, all solo tenor performances, that largely interpret some of the saxophonist’s favourite tunes culled from the history of jazz and the great American songbook. Eschewing the high-energy blitzkrieg with which he is customarily associated, Brötzmann tackles pieces such as the title-track, ‘Lady Sings The Blues’, and Gershwin’s ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ in a leisurely fashion, employing a mellow, smoky tone that finds him both vulnerable and sentimental. Mixed in with these homages are a few of his own compositions, such as ‘Dark Blues,’ essayed as a simple, unhurried refrain. In his liner notes, Brötzmann claims, “the only idea for this recording was to show – mostly to myself – the connection between what has been and what there is right NOW.” As such, he also allows himself, on one or two occasions, to hint at the extremes for which he has become better known: Sonny Rollins’ ‘Sumphin’’ is more boisterous, taking off with looping fanfares and grizzled growls, while Misha Mengelberg’s tribute to the saxophonist, ‘Brozziman’, unleashes a more familiar howling energy. On the whole, though, it’s as clear a proof as we’ve ever seen of just how two-dimensional Brötzmann’s reputation as the pugnacious tenor terrorist behind Machine Gun really is. There is much more to him than generally meets the ear.