Amongst his many collaborators were key figures in free jazz, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, as well as experimental musicians such as Keiji Haino and Charles Hayward.

[2][7][8] The album Nipples was recorded in 1969 with many of the Machine Gun musicians, including drummer Han Bennink, pianist Fred Van Hove, tenor saxophonist Evan Parker, and British guitarist Derek Bailey.

[9] The logistics of touring with the ICP tentet or his octet resulted in Brötzmann reducing the group to a trio with Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove.

[2] In 1981, Brötzmann made a radio broadcast with Frank Wright and Willem Breuker (saxophones), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet), Hannes Bauer and Alan Tomlinson (trombones), Alexander von Schlippenbach (piano), Louis Moholo (drums), and Harry Miller (bass).

[2] His "Die Like a Dog Quartet" (with Toshinori Kondo, William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake) was loosely inspired by saxophonist Albert Ayler, a prime influence on Brötzmann's music.

Beginning in 1997, he toured and recorded regularly with the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet (initially an octet), which he disbanded after an ensemble performance in November 2012 in Strasbourg, France.

In 2022 he received the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, described by the jury as a personality "going on an individual path, change listening and set new standards in avantgarde jazz" ("die ihren individuellen Weg ging, Hörgewohnheiten veränderte und Maßstäbe setzte im Avantgarde-Jazz").