0252. Charlie Mingus
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
Charles Mingus, at the time calling himself Charlie, recorded this album / composition almost fourty-eight years ago and like yesterday's album it was written like a score for the scene.
This time however it's jazz and written as a ballet (or "ethnic folk-dance music" as Charlie put it) which have both been compared to Duke Ellington and stated to be "one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history".
And, well I got to say that from the brrah-brrah of the tuba to the pluckiness of the Spanish guitars it's a very exciting composition and one I feel that to fully appreciate (or, well, start to grasp) I'd have to sit down in a dimly lit room with a glass of Lagavulin and this album an hour a day for a week or two. I.e. a heavy dose of thinking is needed.
An opinion that I guess gets support by the fact that the liner notes of this release were penned by Mingus' psychotherapist.
