Live Air is a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by the improvisational collective Air

Air (jazz group)

Air was a free jazz trio founded in 1971 by saxophone player Henry Threadgill, double bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall. They combined radical free improvisation with a strong sense of tune and equal emphasis on each instrument in the group....

 featuring Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill

Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....

, Steve McCall

Steve McCall (drummer)

Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.McCall was born in Chicago and began his career there in the 1950s. One of his early gigs was playing behind blues singer Lucky Carmichael. McCall befriended Muhal Richard Abrams in 1961, and went on to be one of the founders of the AACM in 1965...

, and Fred Hopkins

Fred Hopkins

Fred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cellist Diedre Murray...

 recorded at Studio Rivbea

Studio Rivbea

Studio Rivbea was a jazz performance loft run by saxophonist Sam Rivers in the 1970s.It was located on Bond Street in Lower Manhattan and was originally opened as a public performance space as part of the first New York Musicians Festival in 1970...

, in New York and the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 in Ann Arbor, first released by Black Saint Records in 1980.

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Jazz

The Penguin Guide to Jazz

The Penguin Guide to Jazz is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which are currently available in Europe or the United States...

selected this album as part of its suggested Core Collection.

The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 4 stars stating "Live Air is a must for any fan of this wonderful trio".

Track listing

All compositions by Henry Threadgill

1. "Eulogy for Charles Clarke" - 10:37
2. "Portrait of Leo Smith" - 8:06
3. "Keep Right on Playing Thru the Mirror over the Water" - 15:30
4. "Be Ever Out" - 5:40
   • Recorded at Studio Rivbea, New York on July 1, 1976 (tracks 1 & 2) and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 28, 1977 (tracks 3 & 4)

Personnel

• Henry Threadgill
  Henry Threadgill
  Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
  
   - alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
  , flute
  Flute
  The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
  
  , percussion
• Fred Hopkins
  Fred Hopkins
  Fred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cellist Diedre Murray...
  
   - bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Steve McCall
  Steve McCall (drummer)
  Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.McCall was born in Chicago and began his career there in the 1950s. One of his early gigs was playing behind blues singer Lucky Carmichael. McCall befriended Muhal Richard Abrams in 1961, and went on to be one of the founders of the AACM in 1965...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion