One of Art's best albums

Drawn from two recording sessions that took place in August 1960, "A Night in Tunisia" features strong performances by one of the most exciting lineups Art Blakey ever assembled, with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass. The title number, which is also the album's opener, is the weakest of the five tracks. Taken at a barn-burning tempo and tricked out with an extended introduction and interlude in which Blakey solos over a vamp provided by Merritt, with additional percussion by the other band members, the arrangement was a mainstay in the Messengers' live performances, where it was often used as a crowd-pleasing set-closer. Here, the bombast feels a little forced and the pace a little too frenetic; in effect, it's as if the band is pandering to an audience that isn't there. It's good fun when you're in the mood for it, but it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity, and leaves me wishing they had slowed down a bit and given this great tune a more nuanced reading. Shorter's "Sincerely Diana," written in tribute to Blakey's wife, is better served, with tight, elegant ensemble playing and an infectious, propulsive groove from the rhythm section. Shorter, Morgan, Timmons, and Blakey have a ball improvising over the tune's unusual structure, which they all handle with casual aplomb. Morgan's solo is especially authoritative and riveting, and the interplay between him and Blakey on this track is one of the highlights of the album. Timmons's blithe, funky, and very counterintuitively titled "So Tired" leads off side two. Barbara J. Gardner's liner notes call this a "basic blues tune," but while it does have a bluesy melody, it actually follows a 32-bar, AABA structure, with a Latin rhythm on the A sections giving way to a straight walking tempo on the bridge. Not one of Timmons's most memorable efforts, but lively enough, and very well played. Two tunes from Morgan close out the album: the gorgeous, evocative "Yama" and the catchy, playfully upbeat "Kozo's Waltz." Both are excellent, with "Yama" in particular providing the occasion for inspired solos from Timmons, Morgan, and Shorter. The recording quality is quite good, for the most part. (Morgan's trumpet seems to have been recorded a little hot, resulting in unfortunate distortion in some spots, and Merritt's bass isn't as loud as I'd like it to be – though it's more audible than the bass on some of Rudy Van Gelder's other recordings.) Kevin Gray has done his usual fine mastering job for the Blue Note Classics vinyl reissue, and my copy is free of the manufacturing defects that sometimes affect records in this series. It's perhaps worth noting that additional material from the same two sessions was released in 1967 on the album "Like Someone in Love," and that some CD versions of "A Night in Tunisia" include two bonus tracks: "When Your Lover Has Gone" and an alternate take of "Sincerely Diana." Those are of course not included on the vinyl reissue.

In addition a great Rythm Section. Impressive drum intro to Night in Tunisia. Art is definitely one-of-a-kind.

Wie erwartet! Sehr gute Qualität!