If you are unfamiliar with this album, you can download an MP3 file containing Johnson's solo at jazztrombonist.com. The album is still available on CD as part of a 2-albums-on-1-CD deal from Collectables Records [http://www.oldies.com]. Check your favorite online music store for details. You will also frequently find this album on online auction sites like eBay and in second hand record stores. “Night in Tunisia” offers a very typical J. J. Johnson solo: note how he plays with the tune's rhythms, fragments of the melody and the contrast between his solo instrument, the ensemble and Candido's conga drums; pay close attention to Johnson's variations in articulation, attack and volume; and, finally, have a look at the clear, controlled, and logical rise and fall of melodic tension. Most impressive to us, however, is the sheer confidence of delivery that is the true sign of mastery. It all looks like very simple, and compared to solos by other trombonists, it is indeed simple and straight forward. Yet simple as it may be, this solo moves with an inevitable inner logic and is masterfully planned and executed.
The transcription
J.D. and I did our best to make this transcription as accurate as possible. Muddy audio sources, slight shifts in tempo, and the inherent inaccuracy of standard notation when applied to a jazz solo may have resulted in a glitch or two. We suggest you trust your own ears before you trust our transcription. This transcription is not meant as a perfect record, but should rather be taken for as good an approximation as we could manage. We hope it helps you understand J.J.'s music a bit better – DL
