2nd ***** Review of Idle Moments by Grant Green – Far Better Than Miles’ Kind of Blue

Every traditional jazz artist seems to have a recording of their version of the Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.  That much should not be a surprise because Kind of Blue was a best seller.  I don’t know if it is still this way, but at least at one time Kind of Blue was the best selling jazz album ever.  My honest opinion of Kind of Blue is that it really isn’t that great of an album.  I like complexity in music, and when Miles made that album, he was open as to his feelings.  He felt that jazz music had become too complex, and Kind of Blue was a sort of a rebellion against complex jazz.

I really like this album because for me it proved that an album in the style of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis could be nothing short of amazing.  Specifically, this is a great album to sit back and have a glass of wine to at a bar, and listen to a phenomenal band of jazz musicians of which nobody knows who they are, but they are still much more accomplished musicians than that which usually gets popular.

There is not a single wasted note on Idle Moments.  Every note has purpose and is well placed in a thoughtful manner as to cause impact upon the listener.  Idle Moments is for a musician that has taken a step beyond the pursuit of speed.  It is no doubt that these musicians are capable of playing fast, and one must be capable of playing fast first before he or she is able to do their best at playing slow.  At its fastest, Idle Moments is only modestly fast, at its slowest, you don’t get much slower.  This is the key to which Miles Davis was trying to open.  You can’t just play complex music and have it be good.  You can’t just play fast music to be good.  However, what you must have is coordination, and in my opinion that is why most of the best musicians are dark skinned.  People with dark skin naturally seem to be better  capable of the strong muscle movements necessary to produce the highest quality music because in the end it is not the fact that you played the note, but to the trained ear, the way you play a note is of the utmost importance, and to play a note in the best possible way it requires the precision that only well toned and strong muscles can give.