Had the release of jazz giant Charles Mingus’ classic “Tijuana Moods” not been delayed for five years until 1962, it would easily rank along such other classic 1957 albums as John Coltrane’s “Blue Train,” Art Blakey’s “Orgy in Rhythm” and Miles Davis’ “Miles Ahead.”

Well ahead of its time, this stunning concept album is a suite of five compositions — two of which clock in at more than 10 minutes— that seamlessly combine sophisticated arrangements and sterling improvisations. Mingus himself held the album in very high esteem, which makes its performances here Sunday and Monday on both sides of the California/Mexico border doubly notable.

The music on “Tijuana Moods” was inspired by his visits in the 1950s to the vibrant Mexican border city that inspired its name. Some of those visits took place as he sought solace while the second of his three marriages was crumbling.

The resulting album is one of the finest works by this Arizona-born, Los Angeles-raised American cultural icon, whose collaborators ranged from Duke Ellington and Joni Mitchell to Charlie Parker and John Scofield.


Mingus’ final San Diego performance took place at San Diego State University’s Backdoor club in 1976. That was just three years before he died of cancer, in early 1979, in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Concert performances of “Tijuana Moods” were rare in his lifetime. Since his death, there have been none by Mingus Dynasty, the official tribute band formed posthumously in 1979 under the guidance of his widow, Sue Mingus.

That lends significant historic importance to Mingus Dynasty’s pending performances of “Tijuana Moods,” which take place Sunday at the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) and Monday at TSRI Auditorium in La Jolla. The seven-man band features ace drummer Adam Cruz, trombonist and vocalist Ku-umba Frank Lacy and saxophonist Wayne Escoffery.

The Mingus Dynasty band will perform Sunday in Tijuana and Monday in la Jolla. ((Photo by Fran Kaufman) )


The San Diego concert is being presented by La Jolla’s Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, in conjunction with the San Diego Symphony’s month-long “It’s About Time” festival. The Tijuana concert, also part of “It’s About Time,” is being presented by CECUT.

The “Tijuana Moods” performances are the brainchild of Athenaeum jazz honcho Daniel Atkinson, who also is UC San Diego Extension’s Director of Public Programs. He also organized Saturday’s UCSD Helen Edison Lecture Series panel discussion on Mingus at the downtown San Diego Central Library. Admission to both the panel discussion and the Tijuana concert is free.

To be moderated by noted jazz author Ashley Kahn, it will feature former Mingus saxophonist — and longtime San Diegan — Charles McPherson, pianist, composer and UCSD music professor Anthony Davis and noted percussionist, UCSD professor and “It’s About Time” curator Steven Schick. The two subsequent concerts will mark the Mingus Dynasty’s first San Diego appearances since a 1979 gig at the Catamaran.

“Mingus made multiple trips to Tijuana in his earlier years and it was a place that had resonance for him,” said Atkinson, who was instrumental in the Western Jazz Presenters Network — of which he is a board member — organizing a five-city “Tijuana Moods” tour that stretches from Phoenix to Portland’s PDX Jazz Festival in Oregon.


“Given the political context of the events of the last year and ongoing issues regarding the border,” Atkinson continued, “it seemed important to me celebrate this connection that exists between this great American jazz composer and the Mexican city right next door to us, with which we have so many connections.”

Mingus himself was effusive about “Tijuana Moods,” writing at the time: “I believe this record includes performances by some of the greatest musicians I have ever worked with.”

Beyond the excellence of his compositions, the album is notable as the first of many by Mingus to feature Danny Richmond on drums, an instrument the former saxophonist quickly mastered under Mingus’ astute guidance. It also features Clarence Shaw, an almost criminally under-recorded trumpeter, and the wonderful pianist Bill Triglia.

Atkinson met in New York last year with Sue Mingus, Mingus Dynasty bassist and musical arranger Boris Kozlov and Albert Sun, who works closely with Sue Mingus to help preserve Charles Mingus’ artistic legacy.


“I told them we’d like to do these ‘Mingus Dynasty’ concerts here and they were excited and signed on,” said Atkinson, who noted a limit to that excitement. “NPR was going to record the concert in Tijuana, but Sue won’t allow any live recordings.”

Atkinson credits Ramon “Bostich” Amezuca of the Tijuana acclaimed electronic music group Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich & Fussible for playing a key role in arranging Sunday’s “Tijuana Moods” concert at CECUT in Tijuana.

The two had met a few years gao when Amezuca’s son, Andrés, studied drumming at the now-16-year-old UC San Diego Jazz Camp, which is headed by Atkinson.

“Ramon and I met last summer, and l told him I was trying to get someone in Tijuana interested in doing a ‘Tijuana Moods’ concert,” Atkinson recalled. “Ramon jumped right on it. He said: ‘This is really important to the history of music in Tijuana,’ and that he couldn’t imagine missing this opportunity.


“While we sat in a coffee shop in Barrio Logan, he got on his phone and — with some difficulty — got Pedro Ochoa, the director of CECUT, on the line and told him: ‘It is very important that you do this concert.’ It was key that they heard this from an artist they chose to play at CECUT’s 35th anniversary last fall.

“Shortly after that call, I had a meeting at CECUT with Pedro and his team, and they said: ‘Let’s do it.’ The U.S. consulate in Tijuana has agreed to take care of the Mingus Dynasty band going in and out of Tijuana. Bassist Julián Plascencia, who is the director of the Tijuana Jazz and Blues Festival, is providing all the back-line gear for the concert, including a grand piano, bass and drums.”

If all goes according to plan, Atkinson hopes that Sunday’s free “Tijuana Moods” family-day concert at CECUT will open the door for future cross-border concerts that would include consecutive shows in Tijuana and San Diego.

“We talked with CECUT about having (Mexico City-born jazz drum great) Antonio Sanchez. He’s someone I’ve had the chance to present a number of times in San Diego and is an outstanding artist. It’s a question of whether we can do something in our border region that has a lot of resonance. And having Antonio and his band perform his (2017 album) ‘Bad Hombre’ live would certainly have lots of resonance.”


UC San Diego Helen Edison Lecture Series presents a panel discussion on Charles Mingus and “Tijuana Moods”

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

Where: Neil Morgan Auditorium, San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., downtown

Admission: Free

Phone: (858) 822-2026


Online: helendison.ucsd.edu

Mingus Dynasty performs “Tijuana Moods”

When: 5 p.m. Sunday

Where: Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT), Paseo de los Heroes No. 9350, Zona Urbana Rio, Tijuana.

Admission: Free


Online: cecut.gob.mx

Mingus Dynasty performs “Tijuana Moods”

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday

Where: Athenaeum Jazz at TSRI Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla

Tickets: $30 (members), $35 (non-members)


Phone: (858) 454-5872

Online: ljathenaeum.org


george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga