5. Charles Mingus - Black Saint & the Sinner Lady (1963)
This album is regarded as one of his masterpieces for its use of colours, tonalities, expansive harmonies, and the juxtaposition of numerous aspects of the jazz tradition - from swing to hard bop, to West Coast and beyond - employing a vocal chorus, and even Latin and flamenco flourishes in a single conceptual work played by an 11-piece orchestra. Mingus has called the album's orchestral style "ethnic folk-dance music". Musicians include Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy, both of whom played in the quintet/sextet bands that toured Europe in 1964.