Customer Reviews

Night in Tunisia

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of the half-dozen albums this edition of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers recorded in 1960 and early 1961, this is the finest. "A Night in Tunisia" was recorded over two sessions yielding enough material for this album and "Like Someone in Love." The latter album is great as well, but there is just something about the sequence of the Tunisia tracks that makes it a masterpiece. "A Night in Tunisia" opens with the fever-pitched rhythmic orgasm that is the title track. And the album doesn't catch its breath until the reflective "Yama." Then things pick back up again with Blakey's gallop-like drumming on the opening of "Kozo's Waltz." Finally, it's hard to believe "When Your Lover Has Gone" was not the last song on the original album because as the concluding piece, it fits like a glove. "A Night in Tunisia" is a classic from start to finish.

The title track is very possibly the hottest smoking jazz you will ever hear in your life. You will be flat-out amazed that there's only one man playing the drums--Blakey sounds like a percussion ensemble all on his own. If you like jazz that can really tear the roof off, you must own this CD.

It was not until listening to the title track of this recording (as well as John Coltrane's "Live at Birdland" which featured Sir Elvin Jones) that I understood that the creation of spatial polyrhythmic dimensions with percussion did not begin with Ginger Baker (or any other rock drummer) but rather with Jones and Art Blakey. Before this I assumed that most jazz drummers were simply there to mark time for the brass section. But drummers like Blakey, Jones, and even Max Roach were laying the foundations of what people would later call "hard rock". In the case of Blakey, the term given was "hard bop", but labels aside his drumming on this recording shows how a drummer can have voice without taking away from melody and rhythm.

The other blessings of this recording are the strong compositons and performances provided by Wayne Shorter and Lee Morgan. Tunes like "Sincerely Diana", "Yama", and "Kozo's Waltz" are previews of the future greatness of these two horn players.

Blakey also put out another release of "Night in Tunisia" with a later ensemble back in the eighties, of which I also highly recommend.

I suppose I am just a bit perverse, but despite the fame of the title track here, I like the other six tunes better. The Dizzy Gillespie classic "Tunisia" has some shrill passages during its wild 11-minute ride which aren't my cup of tea, but really it is just a minor annoyance. Most of that song is great, and the other 40 minutes of music comes off as beautiful to my ears. There are two versions of a Wayne Shorter composition called "Sincerely Diana" placed back-to-back here, yet for 14 minutes total one is not bored nor do they sound that much like the same piece. Two tunes by Lee Morgan, "Yama" and "Kozo's Waltz" are quite interesting. So is the Bobby Timmons number, "So Tired." (Timmons is credited with the creation of "Moanin'" which appears on several Blakey albums, and is probably the single most famous tune ever laid down by The Jazz Messengers.) The CD ends with the old standard "When Your Lover Has Gone" and it provides a fitting and mellow exit on a release which starts off with the jumping, wailing, drumming-like-a-genius "Night in Tunisia." I can recall being tempted to buy this on LP when it first came out. I was 15, and too scared of hot jazz by black men to pay [the money] for it. I probably bought the new Kingston Trio folk record instead, or something by Johnny Cash. Now, 43 years later, I finally have this in my player, and I'm glad. This quintet makes complex, happy music which rewards repeated and attentive listening. Blakey kept recording for 30 more years with varied but always talented "Messengers." I have a copy of his final release, "One for All" issued in 1990 on the A&M label. That's also good, but not quite as memorable as "Tunisia" or the original "Moanin'" album. Unfortunately, the 1990 farewell CD is not available via Amazon. So get this one, instead, or "Moanin'" if you want to hear Blakey at his best.

This is a great CD. Its sound is bright and clear and the tunes sound totally contemporary. I could have done without the second take of the same tune, hate that in a CD, but overall it is a real 'five.'

The alternative picture is of a same-title 3-track album from 1979. the picture is corrected. But not the items for sale. I am trying to buy it. As i remember i liked it very much all those years ago.

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers - Night In Tunisia: Digital Recording (Philips (J) 6385943)
Valery Ponomarev (tp) Bobby Watson (as) David Schnitter (ts) James Williams (p) Dennis Irwin (b) Art Blakey (d)
Nippon Victor Studios, Tokyo, Japan, February 12, 1979
- A Night In Tunisia
- Moanin'
- Blues March

"A Night In Tunisia" is worth its purchase price for its Dizzy Gillespie-penned title track alone. It's one of jazz's essential moments, released during the era of Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" and Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue."

Played here by a group whose members wrote their own chapters in jazz history, "Tunisia" literally summons a live musical sandstorm. Blakey furiously (but sharply) pounds, rolls and crashes his drums like a tsunami while trumpeter Lee Morgan and saxophonist Wayne Shorter trade fierce, swirling solos. It is among the few musical pieces in any genre sustaining its funk and excitement across each of its more than 11 minutes, culminating in a stop-time, rousing ending many rock bands would find hard to equal.

Take the other six tracks and the players' future pedigrees into account, and the rest of "Tunisia" can be considered a success (albeit on a smaller scale) on the order of "Kind of Blue." Morgan and pianist Bobby Timmons stroll leisurely through "Yama," (written about Morgan's wife). Shorter offers two versions of "Sincerely Diana" (written for Blakey's wife) with subtly different soloing. (These track back-to-back on the CD, lessening their collective effect). Even bassist Jymie Merritt, least heralded among the stars here, holds bass anchor throughout and even finds a funky groove tucked behind the maudlin melody of "When Your Lover Has Gone."

Blakey, who began many jazz careers while creating some of its most distinctive music, states his purpose in Barbara Gardner's exceptional liner notes. "If we can just hurry the wedding of African rhythms and our harmonies," he said, "we would really be able to startle the world." This set, then, links America's classical music to the folk and world musics around it. Blakey and his group thus lived up to their Jazz Messengers nickname, making "Night In Tunisia" an essential jazz document.

Art Blakey just smokes on Skins like nobody's business.He has so much Energy in His Playing&the Band just Stems from start to finish.I truly dig His take on " A Night in Tunisia" even though I still give Dizzy a Slight edge with it.but Art Blakey&Band are Smoking on this set.this Album has a warm Soulful Feel all through out.a Must have.