''A Night in Tunisia'' is a 1957

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

album by

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

& the Jazz Messengers, released by the

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

subsidiary label Vik.RCA Vik Record Label Discography
accessed November 30, 2015 It features the only recorded instances of saxophonists

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

and

Johnny Griffin John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...

playing together. The album's original five tracks were augmented by up to three alternative takes on CD reissues. The album was also reissued under the title ''Theory of Art'', with two nonet tracks – "A Night at Tony's" and "Social Call" – added.

Track listing

''A Night in Tunisia'' CD

# "

A Night in Tunisia "A Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by Dizzy Gillespie around 1940–42, while Gillespie was playing with the Benny Carter band. It has become a jazz standard. It is also known as "Interlude", and with lyrics by Raymond Leveen w ...

" (

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

, Frank Paparelli) – 12:55 # "Off the Wall" (

) – 7:16 # "Theory of Art" (

Bill Hardman William Franklin Hardman Jr. (April 6, 1933 – December 6, 1990) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege. Career Hardman was born and grew ...

) – 9:46 # "Couldn't It Be You?" (

) – 8:12 # "Evans" (

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

) – 6:30 # "A Night in Tunisia" (Gillespie, Paparelli) – 12:30 Bonus track on CD re-issue. # "Off the Wall" (Griffin) – 7:21 Bonus track on CD re-issue. # "Theory of Art" (Hardman) – 10:14 Bonus track on CD re-issue.

''Theory of Art'' CD

First five tracks as ''A Night in Tunisia'', above.

"A Night at Tony's" (
Gigi Gryce Gigi Gryce (born George General Grice Jr.; November 28, 1925 – March 14, 1983), later Basheer Qusim, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator. While his performing career was relatively short, ...
)
"Social Call" (Gryce,
Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and rep ...
)

Personnel

''A Night in Tunisia''

– drums *

– trumpet *

– tenor sax *

(listed as Ferris Benda/Ferris Bender on the cover) – alto sax *

Sam Dockery Samuel Dockery (1929 – December 21, 2015), nicknamed Sure-Footed Sam, was a hard bop pianist and well-respected musician on the Philadelphia jazz scene since the early 1950s.Allmusic Biography See als"A Veteran Piano Man Just Keeps on Playing" ''P ...

– piano *

Spanky DeBrest Jimmy "Spanky" DeBrest (April 24, 1937 in Philadelphia – March 2, 1973 in Philadelphia) was an American jazz bassist. DeBrest played with Lee Morgan in his early years in Philadelphia. In 1957 he was a member of Ray Draper's Quintet, Jackie McL ...

– bass

''Theory of Art''

* Art Blakey – drums * Bill Hardman – trumpet *

Lee Morgan Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s, Morgan came to prominence in his late teens, recording on John Coltrane's '' Blue Train'' (1 ...

– trumpet *

Melba Liston Melba Doretta Liston (January 13, 1926 – April 23, 1999) was an American jazz trombonist, arranger, and composer. Other than those playing in all-female bands she was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands during the 1940s and 1960s, ...

– trombone *

Cecil Payne Cecil Payne (December 14, 1922 – November 27, 2007) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, New York. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute. He played with other prominent jazz musicians, in particular Dizzy Gilles ...

– baritone sax * Johnny Griffin – tenor sax *

Sahib Shihab Sahib Shihab (born Edmund Gregory; June 23, 1925 – October 24, 1989) was an American jazz and hard bop saxophonist (baritone, alto, and soprano) and flautist. He variously worked with Luther Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Fletcher Henderson, Tad ...

– alto sax *

Wynton Kelly Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of ...

– piano * Spanky DeBrest – bass Sources:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night In Tunisia, A (1957 Album) Art Blakey albums The Jazz Messengers albums Bluebird Records albums 1958 albums Hard bop albums RCA Records albums