Blues and Roots: Charles Mingus, from Nogales and Watts to music for the ages AZ Luminaria Charles Mingus with Eric Dolphy Jazz Desk Charles Mingus performs his original composition Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, then Blue Silk in this Norwegian performance from 1964. A year earlier, Mingus had released his sprawling magnum opus, Charles Mingus, album Changes two, 1975, "Orange was the color of her dress, then silk blue"