Night in Tunisia

Art Blakey's career-long zeal for showcasing young musicians reached its pinnacle on this powerful hard-bop masterpiece: Wayne Shorter (saxophone), Bobby Timmons (piano) and Lee Morgan (trumpet) were all dazzling 20-somethings when this 1960 release was recorded. <i>Tunisia</i> opens with a bang: One feverish solo follows another during an extended scramble with Dizzy Gillespie's then-exotic title tune. The rest—including "Sincerely Diana", the bluesy "So Tired" and the closing standard "When Your Lover Has Gone"—feels like a cool, refreshing breeze in comparison.