39. Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Artist: Charles Mingus
Album: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Year: 1963

Mingus is an artist I'd heard of in name only. This album, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, is typically listed among the top jazz albums of all time, right up there with Kind of Blue and Time Out and John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.

I thought this album sounded like a soundtrack to one of those 195o's classic film noirs. There are suspenseful bits, sultry sections, completely chaotic parts, and others of undeniable beauty. It's divided up into four tracks, named A, B, C, and D. I thought C was the best of the bunch (it's the prettiest and most melodic of the bunch--the piano, sax, and Spanish guitar themes combining uniquely to make something quite...interesting), but D also had its moments.

This is a densely layered, multi-faceted recording. For a lot of the record it seems like the players are not really in unison with one another, but eventually amid the chaos a theme or melody will snap into focus almost at random. It's an interesting approach and one that may reward repeated listens. I listened through this record three times before doing this write-up, focusing on different things each time, and I can say that different aspects stood out to me with each listen. I plan on listening to this album more often in the future.

I can't say that I quite "get" this album, but I feel like that's the case with most of the best jazz albums--the inability to pin them down is what brings you back for subsequent listens until they completely win you over.

Rating: Worth repeated listens