Each year at the end of March, Knoxville, Tennessee is taken over by hundreds of musicians from every corner of the world for the Big Ears Festival, widely considered the most diverse music festival in the country, and most likely the world. For its 12th festival, Big Ears expertly presented nearly two hundred acts across 18 perfectly suited venues, from the intimate Jig & Reel to the majestic Tennessee Theater.  This live broadcast from Overlook Mountain will recap some of the music host Rob Saffer experienced when he attended Big Ears 12, as well as some sets he didn’t make, showcasing the festival’s breadth from avant garde jazz and through-composed extended pieces, to minimalism-infused bagpipes and fully-produced theatrical, operatic sets. The festival featured peerless sound and patient, rapt and knowledgeable audiences. At one of the final shows of the festival, when saxophonist Steve Lehman announced the  playing of a rare Anthony Braxton piece, the weary but enthusiastic audience knowingly clapped. Stunned, Lehman, said, “For real?” An audience member answered, "It’s Big Ears, dude!” 

This program, Big Ears 12 (Part One), mirrors days one and two of the festival; a second program will focus on its third and fourth days and will air on May 13, 2025. 

NOTE: April 22 is the birthday of “Overlooked” favorite and giant of American music, Charles Mingus.  No room during the live broadcast to play his music in tribute this year, but Mingus had huge ears and surely would understand.

Playlist:

Koko Cherokee - Charles Mingus

Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love - Charles Mingus

Vitus Labrusca (“Overlooked” theme) - Ben LaMar Gay

Sinatra Avenue Breakdown - Yo La Tengo

Rang, Bang, Thrum - Joel Harrison, Nels Cline

Archaism B2 - Tyshawn Sorey, Adam Rudolph

Shake Hands with Danger - Tortoise

Prey - SUSS

For Julius Eastman (excerpt) - Tyshawn Sorey (composer), Sarah Rothenberg, piano

Archipelago - Fleck, Castaneda, Sanchez

Hell Suite Part I - Darkside

Hittin’ - Adam Rudolph

Uguviu (ii) - Bridghde Chaimbeul

Segunda - Nels Cline Singers

Fragmentation and the Single Form - iii - Song - Modney

Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) (excerpt) - Tyshawn Sorey (composer), Sarah Rothenberg, piano, Steven Schick, percussion, Kim Kashkashian, viola

Baldwin Manifesto - Meshell Ndegeocello

Lift - Kalia Vandever

What Can It Take - Alabaster DePlume

String Quartet No. 10 (Angela Davis) (excerpt) - Wadada Leo Smith

Theme for Contrails - Squanderers

Md Ntr - Steve Coleman

Breaks - Jules Reidy 

Along Slow Blink Before the Answer - Yuka Honda

bloomed (the ongoing processional….) - Ambrose Akinmusire

After the news at noon, “Overlooked” is a show focusing on overlooked and under-heard jazz, improvisational, and other fringe music, from early roots to contemporary experiments, a mix of familiar to rare, classic to weird. Live from Overlook Mountain in Ulster County.

Host Rob Saffer is the former Executive Director and Producer of the Creative Music Foundation. While living in Brooklyn for 25 years, he served on advisory boards for Celebrate Brooklyn and Symphony Space. He also curated the Brooklyn Museum’s summer jazz series and helped found The Mingus Big Band.