Live at the Knitting Factory 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 jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell

Roscoe Mitchell

Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...

 and the Sound Ensemble recorded in 1987 at the Knitting Factory

Knitting Factory

The Knitting Factory is a music venue and concert house with locations in Brooklyn, Boise, Reno, and Spokane. The club originally specialized in jazz and experimental music and has expanded to showcasing all genres of music, performing arts and comedy....

 for the Italian Black Saint

Black Saint/Soul Note

Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian jazz independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.-History:...

 label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 3 stars stating "This live set with his Sound Ensemble features several compositions and approaches that Roscoe Mitchell explored with some regularity in the late '80s... it's a pleasure to hear Mitchell's imaginative and forceful alto playing (as well as some fine work by trumpeter Ragin), but there is little sense of the group dynamics that were paramount on records like Snerdy McGurdy and Her Dancin' Shoes... Humdrum Mitchell is still more exciting than a lot of the better offerings from his peers though, so fans of his will still want to hear this album. It's just a little disappointing after fine efforts".

Track listing

All compositions by Roscoe Mitchell

1. "Almost Like Raindrops" - 8:57
2. "Bass Solo From the Composition Sing" - 2:23
3. "Nonaah" - 10:20
4. "The Flight of Birds" - 1:09
5. "Trumpet Solo From the Composition Rock Out" - 2:01
6. "The Reverend Frank Wright" - 13:00
7. "You Changed the Texture on Me" - 11:16
8. "Beyond the Fast Lane" - 1:56
9. "The Stick & Stone" - 9:45
   • Recorded at the Knitting Factory in New York City on November 11, 1987

Personnel

• Roscoe Mitchell
  Roscoe Mitchell
  Roscoe Mitchell is an African American composer, jazz instrumentalist and educator, mostly known for being "a technically superb—if idiosyncratic—saxophonist." He has been called "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz who has been "at the forefront of modern music" for the past...
  
   - soprano saxophone
  Soprano saxophone
  The soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
  
  , 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...
  
  
• Hugh Ragin
  Hugh Ragin
  Hugh Ragin is an American jazz trumpeter.Ragin was raised in Houston and began on trumpet when he was in eighth grade. After playing in the Houston All-City High School Orchestra, which toured the UK, he took his bachelor's in music education at the University of Houston and his master's in trumpet...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  , flugelhorn
  Flugelhorn
  The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
  
  
• A. Spencer Barefield - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Jaribu Shahid - 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...
  
  , congas
• Tani Tabbal
  Tani Tabbal
  -Biography:By age fourteen Tabbal was playing professionally, performing with Oscar Brown Jr. In his teens he also performed with Phil Cohran and the Sun Ra Arkestra....
  
   - percussion