This album was insane. I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Start with the fact that Charles Mingus had his psychologist write the liner notes and go from there.It's implied in the notes that this album is "as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle." It was written as a ballet that borrows from styles ranging from Duke Ellington to flamenco and was the first jazz album to rely on the technique known as overdubbing. This led to it becoming the benchmark for all other avant-garde jazz in the '60s.
Like most avant-garde art, this album is not for everyone. It can be a bit frantic at times, but if you listen to it with perspective of the time that it was recorded, you'll see what a visionary Mingus was. Suffering and demented, but a visionary nonetheless.
Favorite Tracks: "Track A - Solo Dancer" and "Track C - Group Dancers"
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