NEW LP
New sealed copy. 2021 Verve Acoustic Sounds series remastered reissue. Remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings. Jacket printed at Stoughton Printing Co..
Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a landmark in 20th-century jazz. Recorded in a single session in January 1963 and released later that year on Impulse! Records, the album presents a sweeping, deeply personal composition structured as a six-part ballet suite across four tracks. Mingus called the music "ethnic folk dance," a label that only hints at its complexity—fusing jazz with elements of flamenco, classical, and African music in a tightly orchestrated eleven-piece ensemble.
With co-arranger Bob Hammer helping bring Mingus' vision to life, the result is one of the most emotionally charged and compositionally ambitious albums in jazz history. Intensely expressive, the work reflects Mingus’ psyche not only musically but literally, with liner notes penned in part by his psychotherapist. Often cited alongside Mingus Ah Um as one of his two great masterworks, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady remains a towering statement in orchestration and ensemble performance—restless, refined, and fully alive.
TRACKLIST:
A1 Solo Dancer (Stop! Look! And Listen, Sinner Jim Whitney!)
A2 Duet Solo Dancers (Hearts' Beat And Shades In Physical Embraces)
A3 Group Dancers ((Soul Fusion) Freewoman And Oh, This Freedom's Slave Cries)
B1 Trio And Group Dancers (Stop! Look! And Sing Songs Of Revolutions!)
B2 Single Solos And Group Dance (Saint And Sinner Join In Merriment On Battle Front)
B3 Group And Solo Dance (Of Love, Pain, And Passioned Revolt, Then Farewell, My Beloved, Til It's Freedom Day)
