here's his review for the best jazz album of all times:
The narrative dynamic typical of Mingus' extended works is the essence of The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (january 1963), ostensibly a six-movement ballet (divided into three "tracks" and three "modes") for big band (the three modes were squeezed into a single 17-minute track on the vynil version), and one of the masterpieces of 20th century's music. Scored for an orchestra of two trumpets, trombone, tuba, flute, baritone sax, guitar, alto (Charlie Mariano), piano (Jaki Byard), bass and drums, and painstakingly assembled by Mingus (even overdubbing several passages), it was, by definition, an exercise in colors: Mingus juxtaposed groups of instruments to maximize the contrast of tones, while using a shifting dynamic to lure ever-changing textures out of that jarring counterpoint. The resulting music was highly emotional, bordering on neurotic, merging the ancestral frustration of black slaves with the modern alienation of the urban middle class. The sense of universal tragedy was increased by the facts that instruments were clearly simulating human voices, whether the joyful singing of Mariano's sax or the sorrowful murmur of trumpet and trombone or the ghostly howls of tuba and baritone sax. The story opens with the bleak Track A - Solo Dancer, slides into the orchestral Track B - Duet Solo Dancers (reminiscent of Ellington) and delves into the melodic fantasy of Track C - Group Dancers, with piano and flute sculpting the leitmotiv. The "modes", Mode D - Trio And Group Dancers, Mode E - Single Solos And Group Dance and Mode F - Group And Solo Dance, wed hard bop, classical music and flamenco.
lel