Charles Mingus – Track C – Group Dancers
Very few jazz albums so immediately disrupted my assumptions of what it meant to listen to jazz music as detached gentle outsider as much as Black Saint and the Sinner Lady did; it was almost like having a necessary heart attack, the pain of which is also a revelation. Mingus’ direction over his collaborative, shifting crew is more than just a pleasure to hear, it almost puts every previous attempt at jazz direction to shame – whereas in the past, bandleaders used the written page of sheet music to box in their groups, Mingus behind his bass uses that comfort to insert his own joy & completely unfenced enthusiasm not merely onto the page, but into the bloodstream of every member of the band as well. Black Saint’s 4-song suite is dramatic jazz like no one’s created before: it is life brought to the surface, the tense magic of musicians in vibe with each other & playing only as one piece, one soul.
I have clearly not listened to enough Mingus. I had my mind blown by him once with Mingus plays piano: http://www.last.fm/music/Charles+Mingus/Mingus+Plays+Piano, I should have known that his discography would be full of gems.