The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (album)

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a studio album by American jazz musician Charles Mingus, released on Impulse! Records in 1963. The album consists of a single continuous composition—partially written as a ballet—divided into four tracks and six movements.

Album information
The album was recorded on January 20, 1963 by an eleven-piece band made up of Mingus (double bass, piano), Jerome Richardson (soprano and baritone saxophone, flute), Charlie Mariano (alto saxophone), Dick Hafer (tenor saxophone, flute), Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Richard Williams (trumpet), Quentin Jackson (trombone), Don Butterfield (tuba, contrabass trombone), Jaki Byard (piano), Jay Berliner (acoustic guitar) and Dannie Richmond (drums). Bob Thiele served as producer and Bob Simpson as studio engineer.

Mingus has called the album's orchestral style "ethnic folk-dance music". Mingus's perfectionism led to extensive use of studio overdubbing techniques. The album features liner notes written by Mingus and his then-psychotherapist, Dr. Edmund Pollock. The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is often characterized by jazz and music critics as one of Mingus's two major masterworks (the other being Mingus Ah Um) and has frequently ranked highly on lists of the best albums of all time.

Reception
The reception to The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady has been generally positive.Piero Scaruffi ranks it as the greatest jazz album of all time. Richard Cook and Brian Morton, writers of The Penguin Guide to Jazz, award the album a "Crown" token, the publication's highest accolade, in addition to the highest four-star rating. Steve Huey of Allmusic awards The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady five stars out of five and describes the album as "one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history." Q magazine describes the album as "a mixture of haunting bluesiness, dancing vivacity, and moments of Andalusian heat..." and awards it four of five stars.

Personnel

 * Musicians
 * Charles Mingus – bass, piano, composer
 * Jerome Richardson – soprano and baritone saxophone, flute
 * Charlie Mariano – alto saxophone
 * Dick Hafer – tenor saxophone, flute
 * Rolf Ericson – trumpet
 * Richard Williams – trumpet
 * Quentin Jackson – trombone
 * Don Butterfield – tuba, contrabass trombone
 * Jaki Byard – piano
 * Jay Berliner – acoustic guitar
 * Dannie Richmond – drums


 * Production
 * Bob Thiele – production
 * Bob Simpson – engineering
 * Bob Ghiraldini – photography (cover and liner photos)
 * Joe Lebow – artwork (liner design)