Bringing down the walls of Jericho

By Richard Blute 

And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat…

-The Book Of Joshua, Chapter 6, Verse 5

Today we’re looking at two albums featuring saxophonists whose playing could bring down the walls of Jericho. Don Dietrich and Martin Escalante aren’t interested in melody in any ordinary sense of the term. You won’t find a cover of Surrey With The Fringe On Top here. They are living entirely on the very edge of what their instruments can do, skronking, screeching, howling, maybe a made-up verb with -ing on the end should go here. You won’t come away from these albums humming. But if you can find yourself in the same headspace as these musicians, you will come away from listening to this stunning, frequently shocking music exhilarated.

Richard Cook and Brian Morton, in writing The Penguin Guide To Jazz, used the word “god-bothering” several times. I’m not sure they meant it as a compliment, but I take it as one. I frequently think of it when I listen to music like this. This music certainly isn’t for everyone, even among free jazz fans. But for those looking for extremity in their music, these albums are special. 

Dietrichs - Live Bahdu (Relative Pitch, 2026)

 

First up is Live Bahdu by the Dietrichs. Don Dietrich, along with Jim Sauter and Donald Miller, formed the thunderous free jazz/harsh noise band Borbetomagus. Rather than sitting around trying to think of new adjectives to describe Borbetomagus, I would just urge you to check them out. They aren’t on Bandcamp, but there are many samples of their music on Youtube.

(True story. I was once on a jazz open discussion group when someone wrote in asking for recommendations for music similar to Chuck Mangione. Some evil person who was not me, I swear, suggested Borbetomagus. I’ve often wondered what became of that poor listener.)

Here we have Don joined by his daughter Camille Dietrich on cello. While this album has much of what you would expect from an album with Don Dietrich, Camille’s cello provides an exciting counterpoint to Don’s saxophone. She’s equally skilled at plucking and bowing, her classical music training brings moments of peace and musicality and then her desire to wreak musical mayhem takes over. Don responds and the result is some serious fire and brimstone. There’s a moment just before the 4-minute mark when there is some relative calm, and then the duo turns on a dime to create a shocking racket. The whole album is full of such surprises. 

Max Devereaux & Martin Escalante - Consequences Live! (Caresse Cassettes, 2026)   

And then there’s Martin Escalante. Another frequent creator of extreme sounds, Mats Gustafsson, said of Escalante:

“This is the JAZZ we need! URGENT! DEDICATED! RADICAL! Unique-face-peeling-cutting-edge- and-totally-in-your-face-MF! This is ALL we need for a better living!”

Who am I to argue with Mats Gustafsson, especially when he’s writing in ALL-CAPS? You might think Mats is exaggerating, but a listen to this album will tell you otherwise. Escalante, especially when he’s accompanied by a guitar, sounds punk as hell to me. I’m taken back to college days when I would crash off the walls of my dorm room screaming along to Black Flag. On this release he’s accompanied by the guitar of Max Devereaux, who manages to hold his own amid the noise and haste. He’s capable of creating his own ruckus but also quite good at providing accompaniment to Escalante on his wildest flights. At times he sounds like a rhythm section and at times he sounds like a machine gun. I wasn’t familiar with him before this album, and have been checking out his work since getting it. I hope to write more about him in the future.