Charles Mingus
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is definitely one of the greatest albums by one of the most outstanding jazz musicians in history.
Charles Mingus played with Louis Armstrong and Dinah Washington, studied bop under Bud Powell and Charlie Parker, collaborated with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, founded a label with Max Roach, and was friends with Eric Dolphy. He knew, learned from, and exchanged ideas with the entire elite of the world jazz scene. Mingus studied trombone and cello but soon switched to double bass and piano, mastering them superbly. In the legendary liner notes written by Mingus along with his psychologist, good old Charles admits his mental imbalance, these pieces are the musical transcription of his lucid madness.
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is one of those jazz masterpieces like A Love Supreme and Kind Of Blue that should not be missing even in the homes of those who are not very familiar with this genre.
The music is produced by an 11-piece band, including an entire traditional horn section and additionally guitar and flute; there are constant tempo changes, piano interludes, moments of pure blues, and breaks with Coltrane-like solos. These pieces are called ballet suites in the notes, yes, but a dance inside a smoky tavern with rubber walls and floors with trampolines.
You catch your breath during the interludes within the pieces, but the bewilderment grows when a guitar appears, stolen from a flamenco musician...
The musicians' technique produces an orchestral sound commanded by Mingus between highs, lows, odd times, towering solos, and a great melancholic lyricism in the most expansive moments.

A must-have album, listen to it three times a day to appreciate its most hidden and shining reflections.