John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory is an album of a performance of John Zorn's improvisational game piece, Cobra, performed at the Knitting Factory in 1992. The album resembles the missing link between John Zorn's work with Masada and Naked City. It also had a major impact on the electronic scene of New York.
Reception
The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 1½ stars stating "There are some colorful segments, but in general, these self-indulgent performances would be much more interesting to see in person than to hear on record. Taken purely as a listening experience, one is surprised that this material has even been released."Yanow, S. Allmusic Review accessed October 24, 2013 Guy Peters stated "If this is your first acquaintance with Zorn’s multifaceted universe, chances are you’ll never visit it again and therefore it only can serve as a treat for those who were there, seriously dedicated fans."Peters, G. Guy's Music Review , accessed October 24, 2013
Track listing All compositions by John Zorn "Hemachatus Haemachatus" – 2:11 "Naja Naja Atra" (Organized by David Shea) – 8:43 "Many-Banded Krait" – 10:53 "Taipan" – 1:30 "D. Popylepis" – 3:20 "Lampropeltis Doliata Syspila" (Organized by Joe Gallant) – 2:19 "Boomslang" – 11:07 "Maticora Intestinalis" – 6:13 "Acanthopis Antarcticus" – 4:00 "Hydrophiidae" – 5:42 "Ngu Sam Liem" – 0:53 "Ophiophagus Hannah" – 1:25 "Boulengerina" – 5:23 "Laticaudia Laticaudia" (Organized by Steven Bernstein) – 3:03 Note: All songs are named after subspecies of Cobra snakes
All tracks recorded live at the Knitting Factory, New York City Track 1 – recorded in January 1992 Track 2 – recorded in February 1992 Track 3 – recorded in March 1992 Tracks 4 & 5 – recorded in April 1992 Track 6 – recorded in May 1992 Track 7 – recorded in June 1992 Track 8 – recorded in July 1992 Track 9 – recorded in August 1992 Track 10 – recorded in September 1992 Tracks 11 & 12 – recorded in October 1992 Track 13 – recorded in November 1992 Track 14 – recorded in December 1992
Performers Christine Bard (1,3,7) – drums Anthony Coleman (1,2,3,7,9) – sampler Mark Degliantoni (1,2,3,9) – sampler Curtis Fowlkes (1,3) – trombone Evan Gallagher (1,2,6,8,10) – keyboards, sampler, trombone, cornet Gisburg (1,4,5,7) – voice (soprano), mouth organ, tin whistle Roy Nathanson (1,3,7,9) – soprano, alto, tenor James Pugliese (1,2,7,9) – drums, sampler, percussion Marcus Rojas (1,13) – tuba David Shea (1,2,9) – sampler Doug Wieselman (1) – clarinet Michelle Kinney (2,13) – cello, electronics Tim Spelios (2) – CD players David Weinstein (2) – sampler Brad Jones (3) – string bass Myra Melford (3) – synthesizer Zeena Parkins (3,7) – electric harp Marc Ribot (3,7) – electric guitar Jay Rodrigues (3) – alto E.J. Rodriguez (3,14) – drums, percussion Bill Ware (3) – vibraphone Jeff Buckley (4,5) – voice (tenor) M. Doughty (4,5) – voice (tenor) Judy Dunaway (4,5,8) – voice (mezzo-soprano), electric guitar, balloons Mark Ettinger (4,5) – voice (tenor) Cassie Hoffman (4,5) – voice (soprano) Nina Mankin (4,5) – voice (mezzo-soprano) Chris Nelson (4,5) – voice (baritone) Juliet Palmer (4,5) – voice (alto) Wilbur Pauley (4,5) – voice (bass) Rick Porterfield (4,5) – voice (baritone) Eric Qin (4,5) – voice (baritone) Kevin Sharp (4,5) – voice (throat) Louie Belogenis (6) – drums Steven Bernstein (6,10,13,14) – sampler, trumpet, slide trumpet Dawn Buckholz (6) – sampler Joe Gallant (6,10) – string bass, 6-string contrabass guitar Randy Hutton (6) – synthesizer Margaret Lancaster (6) – soprano, alto Fred Lonberg-Holm (6,8,11,12) – electric harp, tape recorder, CD players, noisemakers, cornet Vito Ricci (6) – electric guitar Walter Thompson (6,10) – alto, baritone, flute Ed Broms (7) – string bass Tamela Glenn (7) – voice (soprano) Lee Hyla (7) – sampler Tim Smith (7) – bass clarinet Chris Wood (7,9) – string bass Bob Lipman (8) – electric guitar, bongos, percussion Leslie Ross (8,11,12) – bassoon, electric bassoon, shawm, various reeds Blaise Siwula (8) – alto, trumpet Kiku Wada (8) – electric guitar David Watson (8,11,12) – electric guitar, trumpet Steve Waxman (8) – electric bass, pocket trumpet, percussion Michael Evans (9,10) – drums, percussion Craig Flanagin (9) – electric guitar K.J. Grant (9,11,12) – electric bass, voice (alto) John King (9) – dobro Sharon Topper (9) – voice (soprano), noisemakers John Zorn (9) – alto David Cast Castigilione (10,14) – tenor, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone Allan Chase (10) – soprano, alto Hollis Headrick (10) – drums Rolf Sturm (10) – electric guitar Steve Swell (10) – trombone Thomas Ulrich (10) – cello Nick Balaban (11,12) – synthesizers April Chung (11,12) – violin Paul Hoskin (11,12) – baritone Donna Jewell (11,12) – voice (soprano) James Lo (11,12) – drums Makigami Koichi (11,12) – voice (tenor) Matthew Ostrowski (11,12) – analog synthesizer Greg Anderson (13) – acoustic, string instruments David Krakauer (13) – clarinet, bass clarinet Frank London (13) – trumpet, percussion Paul Morrissett (13) – kaval, gaida, violin Andrea Parkins (13) – accordion Sebastian Steinberg (13) – electric bass Alicia Svigals (13) – violin Jane Tomkiewicz (13) – percussion Billy Martin (14) – percussion, talking drum Ben Perowsky (14) – drums Adam Rogers (14) – electric guitar Dan Rosengard (14) – synthesizers Danny Sedownik (14) – percussion Paul Shapiro (14) – soprano, tenor, flute David Tronzo (14) – slide guitar
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