As we near the end of 2025, this live broadcast from Overlook Mountain will celebrate jazz that recorded in 1925, one century ago. Among the earliest jazz compositions on record, each of the 35 tunes is short, about three minutes in length, due to technical constraints of “acoustic" recordings in which a large horn funneled sound to make wax disks. A few, such as some recordings by Fletcher Henderson and Bessie Smith, are  examples of the brand new era of “electrical" recording that began in 1925 and used microphones rather than horns to capture sound. Many of the recordings are from overlooked regional bands that recorded for small, local independent recording labels. Roughly one-third of the show will feature seminal recordings by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra. 

Playlist:

I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart - Blind Lemon Jefferson

I’m Gonna Gitcha - Louis Armstrong

Money Blues - Fletcher Henderson

Who’ sit - Louis Armstrong

Vitus Labrusca ("Overlooked" theme) - Ben LaMar Gay

Don’t Forget, You’ll Regret - Charlie Johnson’s Orchestra

Medlin’ With the Blues - Charlie Johnson’s Orchestra

Cake Walkin' Babies from Home - Bessie Smith

Angry - Arcadian Seranaders

South Street Blues - Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra

Footloose - California Ramblers

Back Where the Daffodils Grow - California Ramblers

Pussy Cat Rag - Halfway House Orchestra

The Charleston - James P. Johnson

Papa De da Da - St. Louis Rhythm Kings

Davenport Blues - Bix Beiderbecke 

Jig Walk - Ipana Troubadours 

Watcha’ Call ‘em Blues - The Tennessee Tooters

I’m Gonna Hang Around My Sugar - The Washingtonians

Trombone Blues - Duke Ellington

Bull Foot Stomp - Sam Wooding and his Chocolate Dandies

Shanghai Shuffle - Sam Wooding and his Chocolate Dandies

St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong

Stack O’ Lee Blues - May Rainey

Who’ll Chop Your Suey When I’m Gone - Clarence Williams Blue Five

Cake Walkin’ Babies from Home - Clarence Williams Blue Five 

Alabamy Bound - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

Everybody Loves My Baby - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

T.N.T. - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

I’ll See You in My Dreams - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

Naughty Man #2 - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra

Gut Bucket Blues - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

My Heart - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

Yes! I'm in the Barrel - Louis Armstrong's Hot Five

The King of the Zulus - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

Heebie Jeebies - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

Cornet Chop Suey - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

Oriental Strut - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

Dropping Shucks - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five

“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.