Since 1969, Manfred Eicher’s ECM record label has issued nearly two thousand recordings; most focus on piano or woodwinds; only some feature guitar. Pre-recorded from Overlook Mountain, this program will focus on guitarists who have graced ECM, sometimes pushing its staid sonic boundaries. “Overlooked” host Rob Saffer will be joined by record collector Bill Dubilier to explore five decades of ECM recordings highlighting some of jazz’s greatest guitar players, such as Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, John McLaughlin, Steve Tibbetts, Terje Rypdal, David Torn and many others. The show will also celebrate Ralph Towner, who died in mid-January of this year. 

Playlist: 

Theme - Vitus Labrusca - Ben LaMar Gay

Red & Orange - John Abercrombie 

Three - Gary Burton

Nimbus - Ralph Towner

Unshielded Desire - Jack DeJohnette

Unquity Road - Pat Metheny

Windows - Jan Garbarek

Palacio de Pinturas - Egberto Gismonti

Vision - Steve Tibbetts

Chaser - Terje Rypdal

You and Me - Zakir Hussain

The Mercury Grid - David Torn

Ballantine for Valentine - Enrico Rava

Alien Prints - Bill Frisell 

My Little Grass Shack - Hall Russell

Raging Thirst - Kakatau

Khmer - Nils Petter Molvaer

Love in Blues - Saudades

The Whispering Forest - Eiving Aarset

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning - Ben Monder

“Overlooked” is a show focusing on overlooked and underplayed music of all varieties: jazz, improvisational, international, and other fringe music, ancient to future, familiar to rare, classic to weird. Broadcast live from Overlook Mountain in Ulster County, “Overlooked” offers programs focused solely on newly released music along with others that focus on specific musical themes or history.

Host Rob Saffer is the former Executive Director and Producer of the Creative Music Foundation and Creative Music Studio. While living in Brooklyn for 25 years, he served on advisory boards for Celebrate Brooklyn! and Symphony Space. He also co-curated the Brooklyn Museum’s summer jazz series and helped found The Mingus Big Band with Mingus’s widow, Sue. Rob is also a judge for the annual Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll.