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Each year at the end of March, Knoxville, Tennessee is taken over by hundreds of musicians from every corner of the musical world for the Big Ears Festival, widely considered the most diverse music festival in the country, and most likely the world. For its 13th festival, Big Ears expertly presented nearly 250 acts across 20 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 by some of the artists host Rob Saffer experienced when he attended Big Ears 13, as well as some sets he didn’t make, showcasing the festival’s breadth from avant garde jazz and international music to experimental rock and through-composed Zappa-esque extended pieces. The festival featured peerless sound and patient, rapt and knowledgeable audiences. 

Playlist: 

Jumalattaret (Zorn) - Barbara Hannigan, Stephen Gosling

Prelude - Vitus Labrusca - Ben LaMar Gay

Sustained Nightmare - Ches Smith

The Judas Window - Taper’s Choice

Big Money - Marc Ribot

Theme (Moondog) - Ghost Train Orchestra

Borders - Marilyn Crispell, Harvey Sorgen

Dream City - Basic

Rain Falls in San Francisco - Janel Leppin, Anthony Pirog

I Won’t Go - Ringdown

Nazdar, Poupon, Nazdar - Barbara Hannigan, Stephen Gosling

open your hands (after deuteronomy 15) - David Lang

Soudani Manayou - Saha Gnawa with Nels Cline

Whispers Among Dawn - DoYeon Kim

1,000 Pateaux (Zorn) - Incerto

Evidence (Monk) - Miles Okazaki

entanglement - Julia Ulehla

Andromeda - Patricia Brennan

Chasing Brain - SML

Star Catcher (Zorn) - Barbara Hannigan

Time Travelers Overture - Brian Marsella

Aderetch Arada - Either/Orchestra 

synch - Matt Mitchell

Day Dream - Dave Douglas

The Wind in High Places - 1. Above Sunset Pass (Adams) - Jack Quartet

Unsafe at Any Speed - Orcutt Shelley Miller

“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.