This live broadcast from Overlook Mountain will feature music played by overlooked tenor saxophonist, Leon “Chu” Berry. He was one of the most in-demand tenor men of the 1930s, when he was featured in top swing bands led by masters such as Fletcher Henderson, Cab Calloway, and Lionel Hampton. Born in 1908 in West Virginia, he died tragically young in a 1941 car crash (memorialized in “Overlooked’s” recent series on jazz musicians who died young). He was called Chu either because of the way he chewed on the sax’s mouthpiece or because of his Fu Manchu-style mustache (to be included in “Overlooked’s" forthcoming series on jazz nicknames). His tenor tone was so fluid, unique and well known that many musicians of his day unofficially used the term “Chu Berry” to refer to their saxophones, particularly with models made by leading sax manufacturer CG Conn. All 34 tunes on this program come from “Classic Chu Berry: Columbia and Victor Recording Sessions" (Mosaic, 2007). 

Playlist: 

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

Krazy Kapers - The Chocolate Dandies (1933)

I’m Down in the Dumps - Bessie Smith (1933)

Lookie Lookie Lookie Here Comes Cookie - Teddy Hill Orchestra (1935)

Rosetta - Henry Allen Orchestra (1935)

Chasing Shadows - Putney Dandridge Orchestra (1935)

I’d Love to Take Orders from You - Mildred Baily Swing Band (1935)

Eeny Meeny Meiny Mo - Teddy Wilson Orchestra (1935)

Swing is Here - Gene Krupa Swing Band (1936)

Blue Lou - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (1936)

Warming Up - Teddy Wilson Orchestra (1936)

Slummin on Park Avenue - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (1937)

Liimehouse Blues - Chu Berry & His Stompin’ Stevedores (1937)

Chris and his Gang - Fletcher Henderson Orchestra (1937)

Savage Rhythm - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1937)

Chuberry Jam - Chu Berry & His Stompin’ Stevedores (1937)

A Minor Breakdown - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1937)

When You’re Smiling - Teddy Wilson Orchestra (1937)

Lover Come Back to Me - Mildred Bailey Orchestra (1938)

Annie Laurie - Wingy Manone Orchestra (1938)

Jive (Page 1 of the Hepsters Dictionary) - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1938)

That’s All I Ask of You - Billie Holiday Orchestra (1938)

Floogie Walk - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1939)

Johnny Get Your Gun - Lionel Hampton Orchestra (1939)

Corrine Corrini - Wingy Manone Orchestra (1939)

Ain’t Cha Comin’ Home - Lionel Hampton Orchestra (1939)

Farewell Blues - Wingy Manone Orchestra (1939)

Trylon Swing - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1939)

Blue Lou - Wingy Manone Orchestra (1939)

Hot Mallets - Lionel Hampton Orchestra (1939)

A Bee Gezindt - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1939)

Special Delivery - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1941)

Take the A Train - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1941)

Hey Doc! - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1941) 

My Coo-Coo Bird (Could Swing) - Cab Calloway Orchestra (1941)

“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 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.