“All the music in this album was written during a very blue period in my life,” the bassist Charles Mingus observed in the liner notes to Tijuana Moods.

Recorded a little over 60 years ago, on July 18 and August 6, 1957, it’s an album that remains unique not only in the Mingus discography but also in jazz as a whole.

Less an expression of Mexican musical influence than a personal evocation of a place, the album belongs to a vibrant category of border art. At a moment of heated political debate around immigration, it strikes a deep and vital chord.

-WBGO