The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is Mingus' most well known work and even if it isn't my personal favorite of his releases, I do believe that its place definitely is warranted on this list. This is an album that seperates itself heavily from the other jazz records on this list both in atmosphere and sound. You have tracks like Group Dancers with its repeated flute melody that sounds like the mythical tones from Pan's flute as the devil's are dancing around the burning bonfire coupled with some lonesome, Kind Of Blue-esque plinks from a piano that gives of an eerie and almost ugly atmosphere.
It is an often sounding ugly record. The brass and playing isn't as clear and orthodox as it was on Coltrane's A Love Supreme which in turn gives The Black Saint its unique sound. It often times sounds almost abrasive and "in-your-face" with its obnoxious and raw melodies which might be a turn off to some but to me signals a notion of uniqueness and originality.
It's a unique record for sure, but it's one that definitely needs some time for a pair of ears that aren't well acquainted with jazz. I've found that Mingus' compositions overall do take a bit of time to digest even if they aren't as inacessible as something like Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch would be or even the later Ornette Coleman compositions. I remember my first experience with The Black Saint being a positive one even if it was a record I didn't fully grasp at the time. Its groove might be the most obvious notion to comprehend but to really grasp the idea of the musicanship at play on this record might take a bit longer than it would on Kind Of Blue or even A Love Supreme.
As to its place on this chart: it's definitely a warranted one and it's still one of the more accessible ones on here with records like Bitches Brew being a bit harder to digest than the quite short The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady.
While it is a solid jazz record, I do believe that Mingus has released better albums, one of which we will get to as I advance down the drain of this list (namely Mingus Ah Um) but The Black Saint still stands the test of time as a unique piece of jazz that combines the more orthodox and natural elements and ideas of the time with a musical sound that you can't really find anywhere in its contemporaries. I also believe that the atmosphere that it revels in is one unparallalled among jazz of the 60's and its most admirable feat as it combines the beautiful with the dissonant and ugly with the instrumentals painting vivid pictures that words couldn't have accomplished.
These are all quite positive opinions which makes may make my low score seem kind of odd. While I do believe that the record deserves its praise I don't find myself enjoying it as much as I had hoped. As I've stated, I do appreciate the atmosphere a lot but I believe that it derails and loses to much momentum halfway through, as Group Dancers is coming to and end. The eighteen minute Trio And Group Dancers works as a combination of the previously heard tracks but it doesn't accomplish something that the previous tracks hadn't already perfected, sounding mainly like a summary of what we've already heard and experienced where the different elements and ideas of the three tracks clash in a way that doesn't fit them. This is what detracts the most from my experience with the album and while it only is one of the tracks on the album and also being the last one (one I can skip if I so desire), it does make up about half of the record which is something you can't ignore when reviewing the album as a whole.
It's an enjoyable record for sure and it deserves its legacy but as an album I don't find it all that enjoyable.
Charles Mingus
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady [1963]
6/10
Anton Öberg Sysojev
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