A Night in Tunisia
"A Night in Tunisia" | |
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Instrumental by Dizzy Gillespie & His Sextet | |
Released | 1942 |
Recorded | 1942 |
Genre | Bebop[1] |
Composer(s) |
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"A Night in Tunisia" or "Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by Dizzy Gillespie around 1941-2 while Gillespie was playing with the Benny Carter Band. It has become a jazz standard.
It is also known as "Interlude",[2] under which title it was recorded by Lennie Tristano (on Mercury), and, with lyrics written by Raymond Leveen,[3] by Sarah Vaughan (from the EP "Hot Jazz", 1953) and Anita O'Day. Gillespie himself called the tune "Interlude" and said "some genius decided to call it 'Night in Tunisia'".[4] It appears as the title track on dozens of albums and is performed on hundreds of recordings. In January 2004, The Recording Academy added the Dizzy Gillespie & his Sextet’s 1946 Victor recording 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.
Gillespie said the tune was composed at the piano at Kelly's Stables in New York.[5] Alternatively, on the live album A Night at Birdland Vol. 1, Art Blakey introduces his 1954 cover version with this statement: "At this time we'd like to play a tune [that] was written by the famous Dizzy Gillespie. I feel rather close to this tune because I was right there when he composed it in Texas on the bottom of a garbage can." The audience laughs, but Blakey responds, "Seriously." The liner notes say, "The Texas department of sanitation can take a low bow."[6]
Gillespie gave Frank Paparelli co-writer credit in compensation for some unrelated transcription work, but Paparelli actually had nothing to do with the song.[4]
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 (using the Sub V) gives the song a unique, mysterious feeling. The B section is notable for having an unresolved minor II-V, since the chord progression of the B section is taken from the B section of the standard "Alone Together, " causing the V chord to lead back into the Sub V of the A section. 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
- Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Jazz at Massey Hall (1953)[7]
- Clifford Brown, The Beginning and the End (1955)[7]
- Sonny Rollins, A Night at the Village Vanguard (1957)[7]
- Art Blakey with Lee Morgan, A Night in Tunisia (1960)[7]
- Dexter Gordon with Bud Powell, Our Man in Paris (1963)[7]
- Mary Lou Williams, Live at the Keystone Korner (1977)[7]
- Donald Harrison, Real Life Stories (2001)[7]
- Count Basie
- Stefano di Battista
- Anthony Braxton
- Dee Dee Bridgewater
- Don Byas
- Ray Brown
- Rusty Bryant
- Michel Camilo
- June Christy
- Miles Davis
- Roland Dyens
- Bill Evans and Tony Scott
- Maynard Ferguson
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Stan Getz
- Gigi Gryce
- Chaka Khan
- Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
- Yusef Lateef
- Sylvain Luc
- Ibrahim Maalouf
- Bobby McFerrin with The Manhattan Transfer featuring Joe Williams
- Hugh Masekela, I Am Not Afraid
- The Modern Jazz Quartet
- Wes Montgomery
- Phineas Newborn
- Bud Powell
- Boyd Raeburn
- Nelson Rangell
- Paquito D'Rivera
- Poncho Sanchez
- Arturo Sandoval
- Jimmy Smith
- Supersax
- Cal Tjader
- The Toasters
- Lennie Tristano
- Turtle Island String Quartet
- Tuxedo Junction
- Frank Vignola
- Victor Wooten
References
- ↑ Porter, Eric C. (January 1, 2002). What Is This Thing Called Jazz?: African American Musicians As Artists, Critics, and Activists (3rd ed.). University of California Press. p. 74. ISBN 0520928407.
- ↑ "Night in Tunisia" at jazzstandards.com. Accessed 10 January 2008.
- ↑ "Interlude (A Night in Tunisia) - Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra, Sarah Vaughan Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
- 1 2 p. 172 To Be, Or Not... To Bop
- ↑ p. 171 To Be Or Not... To Bop
- ↑ It's not clear whether Blakey was mistaken or joking.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gioia, Ted (2012). The Jazz Standards. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-993739-4.