Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - A Night in Tunisia (180g vinyl)

The Good Thing selection for November 2019

The opener and title track on this record explodes like a firecracker right out of the gate. I feel like I am being shot out of a cannon or sitting on a flying missile. Either way, I'm hurtling through space at max speed. while sitting on something very, very hot. Three minutes in and I am reminded how I got into hard bop in the first place. I was sitting in a pizza place in San Jose when a friend of a friend said, "You gotta check out Lee Morgan." The next day I had a copy of The Sidewinder. Two days later I had Blue Train*, then Moanin' which opened up the door wide to the enormous catalogue of The Jazz Messengers and eventually - and luckily for you - to this here album. Here's hoping this record induces a similar hard bop journey in your future. - Will Pratt

Track List :

"A Night in Tunisia" (D. Gillespie, F. Paparelli) – 11:16
"Sincerely Diana" (Wayne Shorter) – 6:50
"So Tired" (Bobby Timmons) – 6:39
"Yama" (Lee Morgan) – 6:23
"Kozo's Waltz" (Lee Morgan) – 6:49