Tijuana Moods

In 1957 Charles Mingus had recently returned from a sojourn in Mexico and, inspired by the bittersweet mariachi sounds he’d heard there, he and his musicians recorded Tijuana Moods for RCA. The record had a convoluted genesis, as the result of a complex legal tangle with RCA involving Thad Jones, who had been exclusively signed to Mingus’s own label Debut. Add this to the collapse of the RCA subsidiary Vik, for which Tijuana Moods was originally intended, and the result was a five year delay before Mingus’s album saw the light of day in 1962 — when it was recognised as a classic. 

It has now been reissued in a splendid audiophile vinyl edition from Speakers Corner in Germany. As the label’s notes observe, this isn’t just excellent music, it’s a sonically spectacular recording. And that exceptional sound quality has been done full justice here. The Speakers Corner pressing has great spatial characteristics and wonderful presence. So much so that sax player Shafi Hadi (still known as Curtis Porter at the time of the recordings) appears to be a benign presence in your sitting room.