[This is a Class 1 item] A Night in Tunisia is a musical composition written by Dizzy Gillespie in 1942 while he was playing with the Earl Hines Band. It is also known as Interlude, under which title it was recorded (with lyrics) by Sarah Vaughan. Gillespie himself called the tune Night in Tunisia.
A Night in Tunisia, along with Manteca, was one of the signature pieces of Gillespie’s bebop big band, and he also played it with his small groups. 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”); it 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.
Posted on March 23rd, 2007 by Jeff
Filed under: Class 1
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