A Night in Tunisia

This article is about the Dizzy Gillespie song. For the Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers albums, see A Night in Tunisia (1957 album) and A Night in Tunisia (1960 album).

"A Night in Tunisia"
Song by Dizzy Gillespie & His Sextet
Released	1942
Recorded	1942
Genre	Jazz
Writer	Dizzy Gillespie
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Bass vamp underpinning the A sections of A Night in Tunisia.

"A Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by Dizzy Gillespie in 1942 while he was playing with the Earl Hines Band. It has become a jazz standard.

It is also known as "Interlude",^[1] under which title it was recorded (with lyrics) by Sarah Vaughan and Anita O'Day. Gillespie himself called the tune "Night in Tunisia". Although the song is sometimes titled “A Night in Tunisia”, the proper title is “Night in Tunisia.” The song appears as the title track of 30 CDs and is included in over 500 currently available CDs. In January 2004, The Recording Academy added the Dizzy Gillespie & His Sextet’s 1946 Victor recording of “Night in Tunisia” to its Grammy Hall of Fame.

"Night in Tunisia" was one of the signature pieces of Gillespie's bebop big band, and he also played it with his small groups.

Analysis

The complex bass line in the "A section" is notable for avoiding the standard walking bass pattern of straight quarter notes, and the use of oscillating half-step-up/half-step-down chord changes gives the song a unique, mysterious feeling. Like many of Gillespie's tunes, it features a short written introduction and a brief interlude that occurs between solo sections — in this case, a twelve-bar sequence leading into a four-bar break for the next soloist.

Cover versions and adaptations

One of its most famous performances is Charlie Parker's recording for Dial. (Dial even released a fragmentary take of it simply titled "The Famous Alto Break". See Charlie Parker's Savoy and Dial Sessions for more info.) The song also became closely identified with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, who often gave showstopping performances of it with extra percussion from the entire horn section. On the album A Night at Birdland Vol. 1, Blakey introduces the piece with the story of how he was present when Dizzy composed it "on the bottom of a garbage can." The liner notes say, "The Texas department of sanitation can take a low bow."

It has been covered in various styles by various artists, including:

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in 1957 and 1960 Anthony Braxton Clifford Brown Rusty Bryant Don Byas June Christy Miles Davis Stefano di Battista Paquito D'Rivera[2] Maynard Ferguson Ella Fitzgerald

Stan Getz Dexter Gordon Kids These Days Bobby McFerrin with The Manhattan Transfer Lambert, Hendricks & Ross The Modern Jazz Quartet Charlie Parker PE'Z Bud Powell Nelson Rangell Sonny Rollins Poncho Sanchez

Arturo Sandoval Jimmy Smith Cal Tjader The Toasters Lennie Tristano The Turtle Island String Quartet Frank Vignola Victor Wooten Big Sugar J.A.M Sylvain Luc

Chaka Khan included a version of the tune (with a guest appearance by Gillespie himself as well as an electronically altered sample of Parker's "The Famous Alto Break") on What Cha' Gonna Do for Me.

The song was a part of the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps' show in 1997.

References

1. ^ "Night in Tunisia" at jazzstandards.com. Accessed 10 January 2008.
2. ^ "A Night in Tunisia (Album Version)" at amazon.com. Accessed 19 march 2010.