''Olu Iwa'' is a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

recorded in Berlin, Germany on April 12, 1986, and released on the

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian 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 Black S ...

label. The album features a concert performance by Taylor with Thurman Barker, William Parker and

Steve McCall Stephen Harold McCall (born 15 October 1960) is an English retired footballer who now works as a scout for Carlisle United. A defensive midfielder during his playing days, McCall built a reputation as a cultured midfield player, with immacul ...

with Earl McIntyre,

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...

and Frank Wright added on one track.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by Ron Wynn states, "The opening 48-minute dialogue included the high-register wailing of tenor saxophonists Peter Brotzmann and Frank Wright and Taylor's undulating answering lines and sprawling solos. The second piece was a bit shorter..., but no less ambitious, with shifting moods, themes and tempos. As usual, Taylor's music wasn't for the squeamish or those who desire nicely ordered, predictable material. It required intense concentration and attention from both performers and audience".

Gary Giddins Gary Giddins (born 1948) is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986, Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented conc ...

wrote that on ''Olu Iwa'', Taylor "has a band unified primarily by its rhythm, suggesting at times an Africa-inspired percussion group or a Basie-inspired rhythm section interlude, depending on your frame of reference. Taylor interacts and blends with Thurman Barker on marimba and the ingeniously volatile Steve McCall on drums. Taylor's inherent understanding of jazz's ebullient power comes to the fore in the second half of 'B Ee Ba Nganga Ban'a Eee!' with a paint-peeling solo by Peter Brotzmann and the tailgate slide of Earl McIntyre. The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' commented: "Some of the music... has one reflecting on Taylor's... history: the presence of Barker's marimba harks 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... 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... The second... is if anything more fervent, with the quartet... playing at full stretch. Another great one."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Cecil Taylor.'' # "B Ee Ba Nganga Ban'a Eee!" - 48:21 # "Olu Iwa (Lord Of Character)" - 27:09 :*Recorded in Berlin, Germany on April 11, 1986

Personnel

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Thurman Barker:

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* William Parker:

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Earl McIntyre:

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

(track 1) *

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

, tárogató (track 1) * Frank Wright: tenor saxophone (track 1)

References

{{Cecil Taylor 1987 live albums Cecil Taylor live albums Black Saint/Soul Note live albums