Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday October 23rd, 2013 with Bernard Stepien
Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods

Tijuana Moods was recorded in 1957 that many consider the starting year of Charles Mingus golden age and way ahead of its time. Mingus was considered as an outlaw, long before the hype of the ‘60s Free Jazz started. As a matter of fact, he himself didn’t like Free Jazz as such. Instead, his music was drawn from the Jazz tradition, all the way back to Jelly Roll Morton but these regurgitations were re-worked enough that they came out as totally new material and particularly with lots of freedom. Tijuana Moods is based on a concept that is radically different from the usual Jazz form, i.e. theme – improvisation – theme. Instead, composition and improvisations intermingle constantly and especially unexpectedly, pretty much in a roller coaster fashion. The myth goes that Mingus even stopped writing arrangements and instead resorted to teaching the music four bars at a time, giving all the details on how it must be interpreted.