A Night In Tunisia

Two different albums with this title

Art Blakey recorded A Night in Tunisia twice, for different labels, with different bands. The later one is the Blue Note album recorded in 1960 and released in 1961, catalogue BLP 4049 and BST 84049.

The earlier record is on Vik, catalogue LX-1115, recorded in April 1957 and released in February 1958. It is the only recorded pairing of saxophonists Jackie McLean and Johnny Griffin, and it has its own modern reissue on Music On Vinyl.

Owners of that reissue warn on Discogs against confusing it with the 1960 Blue Note LP. Check the catalogue number and label before buying, since these are different records by the same bandleader rather than two editions of one album.

Recording history and tape provenance

This lineup had come together earlier in 1960 on The Big Beat. Shorter joined after a gig where the regular tenor player Hank Mobley did not appear.

Lee Morgan crossed a racetrack at a Canadian jazz festival to ask Shorter if he wanted to sit in. Blakey's only question before hiring him was reportedly whether he had eyes.

The album opens with an 11-minute version of Dizzy Gillespie's title composition, by then a staple of the band's live sets. The rest of the five-song set is new material by the younger members. It has Shorter's "Sincerely Diana," written for Blakey's wife, Timmons's "So Tired," and two Lee Morgan tunes, "Yama" and "Kozo's Waltz."

A companion album from the same August 1960 sessions, Like Someone in Love, went unreleased until 1967.

One collector reports a brief right-channel anomaly audible on one track and not elsewhere on the record. Multiple owners confirm it, which points to the tape rather than to a mistracking stylus or a bad copy.

Identifying a first pressing

A first-pressing BLP 4049 has a laminated front jacket and deep-grooved labels. They read "Blue Note Records Inc." with a "47 West 63rd" New York City address, and the registration mark sits under the "E" in "NOTE."

The dead wax carries the Van Gelder stamp and the Plastylite "ear." The back cover address reads "43 West 61st St., New York 23."

Clean originals command real premiums, so every detail is worth confirming. A period-correct catalogue number on its own does not establish a first pressing.

Music Matters 45rpm (2008)

The Music Matters edition was mastered by Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman at AcousTech from the original Van Gelder tapes. It is cut at 45rpm across four sides.

Its runouts are hand-etched, reading MMBST-4049-(45)-A through D. The jackets are extra thick. Music Matters Blue Note reissues from this period are well regarded, and owner reports on this title follow that pattern.

Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition

The Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes and pressed at Optimal in Germany. It is the accessible modern option against the out-of-print Music Matters set.

One owner of the 2024 pressing reports non-fill, a manufacturing defect where the vinyl does not completely fill the stamper and leaves audio dropouts. The same owner rates the sound under most other Classic Vinyl releases.

Other owners of that same release report clean, flat and quiet copies. They rate Blue Note's quality control better here than on earlier titles in the series. The defect reads as copy-specific rather than a fault of the whole run, which makes inspection or a return policy worth having.

Buyer's guide by budget

$$$: The Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition, bought from a seller with a clear return policy.

$$$$: A clean Blue Note BLP 4049 original, with the identification details confirmed.

$$$$$: The Music Matters 45rpm, the reference pressing for this title.

Pressing tier summary

References

• Discogs (master, all versions): https://www.discogs.com/master/176732
• Wikipedia, "A Night in Tunisia (1961 album)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_in_Tunisia_(1961_album)
• Mosaic Records, "Art Blakey's 1960 Jazz Messengers": https://www.mosaicrecords.com/art-blakey-1960-jazz-messengers-mosaic-records/

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