Charles Mingus: The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady (1963)

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a 1963 jazz composition and album by bassist Charles Mingus. The piece consists of a single six-part suite performed by an eleven-piece band. An intensely emotional work, it displays Mingus' skill as composer, orchestrator, and technician. Written as ballet, the work borrows from Ellingtonian and Latin sources, but creates a unique orchestral style that Mingus called "ethnic folk-dance music". The orchestrations (described as "one of the greatest achievements [...] by any composer in jazz history" by the All Music Guide) are rich and multi-layered. Mingus' perfectionism led to extensive use of studio overdubbing techniques, the first for a jazz album. The album liner notes were provided by Mingus' psychotherapist, Dr. Edmund Pollock.

Track List:

1. "Track A — Solo Dancer" –6:20
   "Stop! Look! and Listen, Sinner Jim Whitney!"
2. "Track B — Duet Solo Dancers" –6:25
   "Hearts' Beat and Shades in Physical Embraces"
3. "Track C — Group Dancers" –7:00
   "(Soul Fusion) Freewoman and Oh, This Freedom's Slave Cries"
4. –17:52

   "Mode D — Trio and Group Dancers"
   "Stop! Look! and Sing Songs of Revolutions!"

   "Mode E — Single Solos and Group Dance"
   "Saint and Sinner Join in Merriment on Battle Front"

   "Mode F — Group and Solo Dance"
   "Of Love, Pain, and Passioned Revolt, then Farewell, My Beloved, 'til It's Freedom Day"

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