Trumpet Player Dizzy Gillespie Performing A Night in Tunesia in a Show from 1958

This is a video clip showing the great jazz trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie performing the song A Night in Tunesia. The drummer on this recording is Kenny Clarke.
The song earned this title after Earl Hines suggested it to Dizzy because the melody sounded exotic and because of World War II battles, Tunisia was a well-known city in the news at the time.
Dizzy Gillespie plays a trumpet with a special form which was custom-made for him because he liked the sound he perceived when playing it. There are many legends and stories about the rare form of Dizzy’s trumpet among which the story that relates it to an accidental footstep of a guy on a birthday party seems to be one of the most believeable ones.
However, the form of Dizzy’s trumpet is not the most important thing when the conversation goes about jazz musicians and trumpet players. Nobody can have doubts about the excellent skills Dizzy shows on the trumpet. I think he is the world’s best trumpet player ever, even though I know that it is difficult to ‘proove’ this but after all it’s just a matter of taste. Some people might like Miles Davis better and still others mention Arturo Sandoval or Rafael Méndez. I would say that all of these guys are fabulous trumpet players but I like Dizzy Gillespie the best. Listen to his improvisation! You decide for yourself.

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