Review Summary: A guitar can cover the entire spectrum of jazz.
As jazz built steam and developed throughout the 50’s and early 60’s, it diverged a long way from its origins. Brubeck’s experimentation with alternative time signatures, Thelonious Monk forcing bebop to its limits, Davis and Coltrane pushing instrumental skill to the forefront and Charles Mingus gaining notoriety earlier in 1963 with his avant-garde masterpiece
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady – all of these defining artists moved the genre towards a stricter, more complicated style that is known by many today. If you wanted to listen to something a bit alternative, you’d move towards Latin or Afrocuban jazz. Simple, smooth jazz became a thing of the past, and slowing down became almost synonymous with a lack of talent. However, there were a small handful of artists that tried to incorporate this more sedate jazz from times past into the complex modal jazz favoured by musicians in the early 60’s, and none accomplished this more successfully than Grant Green and co. on
Idle Moments.
It can be painful to see an album come so close to importance. It’s easy to spot a release like this amongst the masses when looking back in retrospect, because it came right out of left field. It sidestepped conventional song progression and challenged trends that were rapidly building momentum in the jazz sphere, an act that is rarely appreciated in the moment. These musicians endeavoured to combine polarizing musical elements, and by continuation, tried to mesh two very different crowds together. From the languid, seductive pace of the opener, to the energetic hard-bop of the closer,
Idle Moments traverses the length and breadth of the jazz world known at the time. Featuring muted bluesy licks, upbeat swing passages and addictive hooks (often all within the one track), the album consistently evades expectations, succeeding by reigning in this volatile mixture and tempering it with Green’s soulful tone and steady hand.
Credit has to be given to the brilliant chemistry and unselfish attitude of all musicians involved. It’s hard to believe that the sterling title track was something of an accident – misunderstandings between the musicians led to Green soloing for twice as long as planned, and each other musician followed suit, doubling the total length of the song. The other sections of the album had already been recorded, and ‘Idle Moments’ was supposed to last no longer than 7 minutes. However, because of the brilliance that resulted from this mistake, they re-recorded shorter cuts of other tracks so they could fit the entire session on an LP. It passed midnight while they recorded, yet nobody held back or cut themselves short due to the mix-up, and this selflessness resulted in one of the greatest jazz pieces of all time. Incredibly high technical skill obviously contributes to the quality, but more than anything, it’s the variability of the musicians and a willingness to adapt that makes everything feel so organic, and that’s what keeps listeners coming back for more.
Jazz has rarely felt as rich and vibrant as it does here. Despite several different songwriters, mix-ups in recording and having to cut songs short for the final release,
Idle Moments manages to maintain a careful balance between instrumental prowess, accessible songwriting and a consistent atmosphere that is simply breathtaking. This is some of the most impressive jazz guitar ever laid to record, as well as some of the most infectious themes this side of
Time Out. It’s essential listening for jazz fans of every variety, Green’s finest moment, and the album that places him amongst the pantheon of great jazz guitarists
