Dizzy Gillespie, music · Jon Hendricks, lyrics · Written in 1942 while Gillespie played with the Benny Carter band
A Night in Tunisia
A Night in Tunisia is Dizzy Gillespie's 1942 tune, also called Interlude, usually played in D minor. A two-bar bass ostinato under the A sections and half-step chord moves give it a mysterious sound. You will hear it on records by Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins and Ella Fitzgerald.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Hear the composer's record Dizzy Gillespie✓
- 2 Hear the alto break Charlie Parker Septet✓
- 3 Hear a full-length band version Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers✓
- 4 Hear it sung Ella Fitzgerald✓
- 5 Hear it as a piano trio Bud Powell Trio✓
- 6 Follow the changes in a solo Lee Morgan✓
- 7 Hear a horn trio with no chords played Sonny Rollins Trio✓
- 8 Hear the two founders together The Quintet✓
How the tune works
Thirty-two bars in four sections of eight, A A B A, in D minor. Each A section trades E♭7 and Dm7 bar by bar for six bars, plays Em7♭5 and A7 in bar 7 and lands on Dm7. The E♭7 stands in for the dominant A7, and the section ends with a minor ii–V into D minor. John Proulx describes the A sections in straight eighths and the bridge in swung eighths. The bridge opens with a ii–V in G minor (Am7♭5, D7, Gm7), moves to a ii–V that resolves to Fmaj7 (Gm7♭5, C7, Fmaj7), and ends on Em7♭5 and A7, which sets up the last A. Around the chorus, sources describe a written introduction and a twelve-bar interlude (Em7♭5, E♭7♯11, Dm7, G7♯11, GmMaj7, Gm7, G♭7♯11) that leads into a four-bar break over Fmaj7. Proulx says the interlude is played once, before the solos; the Learn Jazz Standards chart marks it for after each head, solo or chorus, so players differ.
The 32-bar chorus as printed on the Learn Jazz Standards chord chart in D minor, checked bar by bar against the Weimar Jazz Database transcriptions of Clifford Brown (1954) and Pepper Adams (1957). Fake books differ in small places.
The Weimar transcriptions write Dm6 where this chart has Dm7, D7♭9 and C7♭9 where it has D7 and C7, and F6 where it has Fmaj7. Bars 19 and 20 differ most: this chart reads Gm7 then D7, Clifford Brown's solo reads Gm7 then Gm7, and Pepper Adams's reads Gm6 then Gm7 C7. The interlude and break sit outside the 32 bars: twelve bars of Em7♭5, E♭7♯11, Dm7, G7♯11 (two bars each), then GmMaj7, Gm7 and G♭7♯11 (one, one and two bars), followed by four bars on Fmaj7 for the break or the ending. Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Source: Learn Jazz Standards: A Night in Tunisia chord chart (C instruments, Dizzy Gillespie)
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗The path starts with Gillespie's own 1946 record and Parker's 1946 session with the famous alto break. It goes on to Art Blakey's 1960 band, Ella Fitzgerald's vocal, Bud Powell's trio, Lee Morgan's 1957 quintet with a transcribed baritone solo and Sonny Rollins's live trio, and ends with the 1953 Massey Hall quintet.
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Step 1 · Hear the composer's record Now playing
Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra 1946
“Night in Tunisia”, Single, with “Anthropology”
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The lineup has tenor saxophone, vibraphone and guitar beside the trumpet. Follow the 32-bar chorus with the chart, and listen for the written introduction and the twelve-bar interlude that leads into a four-bar break.
- Try this
- Play the eight-bar A section from the chart: E♭7 and Dm7 trade every bar, with Em7♭5 and A7 sharing bar 7. Smaller version: play only the roots, E♭ and D, one per bar.
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Step 2 · Hear the alto break Now playing
Charlie Parker Septet 1946
Single, with “Ornithology”
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Wikipedia places the famous alto break on this session. In the tune's form, a twelve-bar interlude leads into a four-bar break for the next soloist, so listen for the alto playing alone there.
- Try this
- Play the first eight bars of the interlude from the chart notes, two bars to a chord: Em7♭5, E♭7♯11, Dm7, G7♯11. Smaller version: play only the roots E, E♭, D and G.
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Step 3 · Hear a full-length band version Now playing
Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1960
A Night in Tunisia
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The track runs about 11 minutes with trumpet, tenor saxophone and piano in the lineup. Count the 32-bar choruses and use the chart to find the A sections each time round.
- Try this
- Play the eight-bar bridge from the chart in swung eighths: Am7♭5, D7, Gm7, D7, Gm7♭5, C7, Fmaj7, Em7♭5 A7. Smaller version: play only the first four bars.
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Step 4 · Hear it sung Now playing
Ella Fitzgerald 1961
Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The quartet has piano, guitar, bass and drums and no horns. Follow the 32-bar form with the chart while she sings.
- Try this
- Pick a key that fits your voice and transpose the A section from the chart: E♭7 and Dm7 trade every bar. Smaller version: play the two chords on piano, one per bar, and hum a melody over them.
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Step 5 · Hear it as a piano trio Now playing
Bud Powell Trio 1951
Single, with “Over the Rainbow”
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- There are no horns, so the piano takes the tune and the solos with bass and drums behind it. Follow the 32-bar form against the chart.
- Try this
- Play the A section from the chart on piano or guitar: E♭7 and Dm7 trade every bar, with Em7♭5 and A7 sharing bar 7 and Dm7 in bar 8. Smaller version: play only the bass notes, E♭ and D.
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Step 6 · Follow the changes in a solo Now playing
Lee Morgan 1957
The Cooker
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Adams's baritone saxophone solo, two choruses starting about 3:43 into the track, is the part the Weimar Jazz Database transcribes. Its entry rates the tempo at about 128 beats per minute, medium, in a Latin feel.
- Try this
- Play the 32-bar chart once at a medium tempo around 128 beats per minute, one chord per bar. Smaller version: play only the first eight bars until the two chords feel steady.
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Step 7 · Hear a horn trio with no chords played Now playing
Sonny Rollins Trio 1957
“A Night in Tunisia (afternoon take)”, A Night at the Village Vanguard
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Only three instruments play: tenor saxophone, bass and drums. With no piano or guitar, nothing plays the chords, so use the chart to keep your place in the form.
- Try this
- Harder: improvising over the changes. Start smaller by playing the E♭ and D roots of the A section as a bass line, one per bar, and add one or two notes of your own on top. Improvising over the full form is a bigger step.
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Step 8 · Hear the two founders together Now playing
The Quintet (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach) 1953
“A Night in Tunisia (undubbed)”, The Complete Debut Recordings
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Gillespie wrote the tune and Parker made the 1946 Dial record with the famous alto break. Here the two play it together live, with Bud Powell on piano.
- Try this
- Play the chart through once, then count the twelve-bar interlude and the four-bar break that follow, using the chord list in the chart notes. Smaller version: count the interlude in two-bar chunks and name the chord for each.
More great versions
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Art Blakey Quintet 1954
A Night at Birdland, Vol. 1
Art Blakey's quintet with Clifford Brown, recorded live at Birdland on February 21, 1954.
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Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers 1957
“A Night in Tunisia (take 3)”, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: A Night in Tunisia
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers recorded it at RCA Victor's New York studio on April 8, 1957, with Bill Hardman, Jackie McLean, John Griffin, Sam Dockery and Jimmy De Brest.
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Dizzy Gillespie and His Band 1957
Dizzy Gillespie at Newport
Gillespie's band at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, in an evening set on July 6, with Lee Morgan among the five trumpets and Wynton Kelly on piano.
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Sonny Rollins Trio 1957
“A Night in Tunisia (evening take)”, More from the Vanguard
The evening-set take from the same day as the original LP take, with Wilbur Ware on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.
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Dexter Gordon with the Three Bosses 1963
Our Man in Paris
Dexter Gordon's tenor saxophone with Bud Powell on piano, recorded in Paris on May 23, 1963 for the Blue Note album Our Man in Paris.
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Arturo Sandoval 2011
“A Night in Tunisia (Actually an Entire Weekend!)”, Dear Diz
Arturo Sandoval's 2011 tribute to Dizzy Gillespie.