Cecil Taylor - Olu Iwa (1986)

On the shelf for eight years before release, and whith Wright and McCall both gone in the interim, this already has the feel of history about it. Some of the music, too, has one reflecting on Taylor's own history: the presence of Barker's marimba harcks back to Earl Griffith on the ancient "Looking Ahead!", and the small group with horns reminds one of "Unit Structures". But the two sprawling pieces here (the first is almost 50 minutes; the second , where the horns depart, is nearly 30) have moved far on from those days. Alternately hymnal, purgatorial, intensely concentrated and wildly abandoned, the first theme is a carefully organized yet unfettered piece that again disproves Taylor's isolation (it's firmly within free jazz traditions, yet sounds like something no one else could have delivered). The second, despite the absence of the towering Brötzmann, superb in the first half, is if anything even more fervent, with the quartet - a more-time appearance for this band on record - playing at full strech. Another great one. (The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD - Ninth Edition)

1		B Ee Ba Nganga Ban'a Eee! (48:21)
2		Olu Iwa (Lord of Character) (27:09)

Cecil Taylor: piano; Thurman Barker: marimba, percussion; William Parker: bass; Steve McCall: drums.
Earl McIntyre: trombone (1); Peter Bröztmann: tenor sax, tarogato (1); Frank Wright: tenor sax (1)


Recorded live during the "Workshop Freie Musik 1986" of Berlin, April 11 & 12 1986.