Borbetomagus

Borbetomagus started in New York in the late '70s, when childhood friends Jim Sauter (reeds) and Don Dietrich (reeds) got together with college radio dj Donald Miller (guitar), whose shows they were fans of. Brian Doherty (electronics) was also a part of the first phase of the band.

The trio's music is free-improv "jazz" of the most extreme nature and not for the faint hearted, since Borbetomagus create a heavy bone crushing wall of noise. They worked with many artists, including Toshinori Kondo, Hijokaidan and the Swiss duo Voice Crack.

“Borbetomagus” was initially only meant to be the name of the quartet’s first album; a play on words, as the cover depicted the members holding pieces of newspapers with worms inside them. The cover concept of “a city of worms” then led to an actual town called Worms in Germany, which used to be called Borbetomagus in the Celtic era. The critics that reviewed the album thought "Borbetomagus" was the name of the band, and the group just went along with it from then on.

Miller passed away in 2024.