Digging Up Bones
Charles Mingus
Tijuana Moods
(1962 – Bluebird)

Wow! If confidence were rhythm and audacity were alto sax…

Recorded in 1957, two years before the milestone Ah Um Mingus, Tijuana Moods was finally released in 1962. Ah Um and Moods capture Mingus at the height of his creative genius. Nothing was beyond reach, and the fun was in the reaching.

Tijuana Moods, as the title implies, is heavy on traditional Spanish motifs, but these are the avenues of an afternoon’s dalliance. The opening hard bop number, "Dizzy Moods," signals nothing significantly out of the ordinary. Then the castanets start snapping on "Ysabel’s Table Dance" and you start to wonder where you turned.

This is a rambunctious, dirty piece of jazz that slams through blues interludes in ¾ time, quasi-classical piano, and flamenco guitar (sometimes mirrored on bass!)

Topping it all off: a healthy dose of real live human hollering, shouting, and screaming.

If you’re looking for something to cleanse your “aural pallet,” without question, this is it.

Mingus, ah um, again.

JH