Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods (1976 Japanese RCA Stereo LP)

Vinyl: VG+
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

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Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods | Vinyl LP - 1976 Japanese RCA Camden Stereo Reissue (RGP-1168, RCA Jazz Spirit 1300 Series, RVC Corporation)

Charles Mingus and Dannie Richmond drove from New York to Tijuana in 1957, apparently on impulse. When they returned, Mingus had the concept for a suite of compositions inspired by what they had seen: the nightclubs, the street musicians, a flamenco dancer named Ysabel Morel. He booked RCA Victor's Studio A and assembled a seven-piece band that included Jimmy Knepper on trombone, Clarence Shaw on trumpet, Curtis Porter (Shafi Hadi) on alto, Bill Triglia on piano and Frankie Dunlop on percussion alongside Richmond. He brought Morel in to play castanets and voice the lead on "Ysabel's Table Dance." Lonnie Elder provided additional voices on other tracks.

"Ysabel's Table Dance" is the centrepiece: Mingus opens it strumming his bass strings flamenco-style before switching to arco, Morel's castanets and voice layered above the rhythm section as the piece moves through several time signature changes and a series of soloists. Knepper, Hadi and Shaw all push further here than on any other track. "Los Mariachis" puts Shaw in the solo foreground with a behind-the-beat phrasing Mingus praised specifically for its melancholy quality. "Dizzy Moods," built on Gillespie's "Woody 'N' You," opens the album with the full band driving from the first bar. "Tijuana Gift Shop" has a dissonant, repeating riff that functions differently from anything else on the record. "Flamingo," the 1941 Ted Grouya and Edmund Anderson standard, closes the album and is the only piece that comes to the session with an existing melody.

RCA held the recordings for five years before releasing the album in 1962. This is the 1976 Japanese RCA Camden stereo reissue (RGP-1168), manufactured by RVC Corporation.