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The local news at noon is followed by Jazz Supergroups — Good, Bad and Mediocre, an overlooked aspect of jazz music. Many listeners are aware of rock and roll supergroups such as Cream, Blind Faith, and the Traveling Wilburys. But far fewer know this phenomenon has also occurred in jazz for decades, beginning with all-star summits concocted by ambitious promoters and record labels. Some of these groups successfully balanced egos, commercialism and artistic direction, and live up to their promise of being super. Other super-combos, for various reasons, have been less musically successful. The broadcast will provide a brief overview of early jazz supergroups from the 1940s and 50s, featuring players such as Charlie Parker, Lester Young, and Charles Mingus, before focusing on recordings from the 1970s-2000s with luminaries such as Cecil Taylor, Henry Threadgill, Lester Bowie, Sun Ra, Don Cherry, Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin, and many others. Plus two pieces by the 1970s avant-garde jazz supergroup Circle, with Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland, and Barry Altshul. Special thanks goes to jazz archivist Marc Epstein for researching and helping to develop this program. “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 the shadow of Overlook Mountain in Ulster County.

Playlist
Gathering - Circle
"Overlooked Theme”/Vitus Labrusca - Ben LaMar Gay
After You’ve Gone - Jazz at the Philharmonic
Overtime - Metronome All Stars
Perdido - The Quintet (Parker, Gillespie, Roach, Mingus, Powell)
QA - Circle (Braxton, Holland, Corea, Altshul)
Zero - The Leaders (Don Moye, Kirk Lightsey, Chico Freeman, Lester Bowie, Arthur Blythe, Cecil McBee)
Is - Cecil Taylor, Elvin Jones, Dewey Redman
Ten Minutes - Jack DeJohnette with Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Larry Gray
Devil’s Island - Colossal Saxophone Sessions
6A - Circle
What’s New - Sun Ra All Stars (Don Cherry, Lester Bowie, Archie Shepp, Richard Davis, Philly Jo Jones, Famoudou Don Moye)
Backwater - Last Exit (Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Peter Brotzmann)
I Lu Kron - Ginger Baker Trio (Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden)
Continuum - Trio of Doom (John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, Tony Williams)

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.

Overlooked Playlist Archive