CHARLES MINGUS - The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady [lp]

Bassist / composer Charles Mingus is one of the most
radical figures in American music. Throughout the '50s, he
worked as a sideman with legendary players Charlie Parker,
Dizzy Gillespie and more. In the '60s, he gained recognition
as a bandleader, often followed by controversy for
making strong-minded statements in the press about race,
politics and stodgy music critics. While Mingus received
many honors posthumously as well as during his career,
perhaps his greatest achievement was transcending the restrictive
label of jazz.
The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady is without question
Mingus' magnum opus. Originally released on Impulse!
in 1963, the album broke new ground in both genre-defying
composition and innovative recording techniques. A
six-part suite with dramatic shifts in mood and tempo, The
Black Saint and The Sinner Lady features the three-way
brass dialogue of trumpets, trombone and tuba, swooping
reeds and awe-inspiring rhythm section. Balancing delicate
Spanish modes and Ellingtonian themes, the ensemble
breaks into a divine cacophony of group improvisation
on par with free jazz giants like Ornette Coleman or Cecil
Taylor.
In his best-known essay, "Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor
Dung," Lester Bangs praises, "the experience of
the first few listenings to a record so total, so mind-twisting,
that you authentically can say you'll never be quite the
same again. Black Saint and The Sinner Lady did that, and a
very few others. They're events you remember all your life,
like your first real orgasm."
This long out-of-print vinyl release has been carefully
remastered from the original master tapes.