Idle Moments

Idle Moments is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green recorded in 1963 and released on the Blue Note label in 1965.[1] It features performances by Joe Henderson on tenor saxophone, Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Blue Note in-house producer Duke Pearson on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Al Harewood on drums.

Idle Moments
Studio album by
Grant Green
ReleasedFebruary 1965[1]
RecordedNovember 4 & 15, 1963
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
GenreJazz
Length42:45 original LP
64:06 CD reissue
LabelBlue Note
BST 84154
ProducerAlfred Lion
Grant Green chronology
Am I Blue
(1963)		 Idle Moments
(1965)		 Matador
(1964)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[4]

Recording and music

The album is best known for the title piece, a slow composition in C minor which lasts for nearly 15 minutes. Pearson, who wrote the song, explains in his liner notes to the album that the tune was meant to be much shorter. Due to the musicians repeating the main melody twice, however, there was some confusion as to whether or not one chorus would consist of 16 or 32 bars.[5] Producer Alfred Lion was satisfied with the take, although he suggested that they do a retake to fit the song into a seven-minute limit. However, the song had a special feeling to it which no subsequent take could recapture, so it was decided to release the first take on the album. Two other songs, "Jean De Fleur" and "Django", were re-recorded in shorter renditions to compensate for the length of the title track; the extended renditions of both songs can be heard on the CD re-issues of the album.

Reception

Steve Huey at his review[2] in AllMusic states that Green treats the repertoire of this album "with the graceful elegance that was the hallmark of his best hard bop sessions, and that quality achieves its fullest expression here". "Idle Moments is the essential first Green purchase, and some of the finest guitar jazz of the hard bop era."

The album was identified by jazz historian and journalist Scott Yanow in his essay "What is Hard Bop?"[6] as one of the "17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings".

Track listing

The track listing below follows the 1998 RVG edition of the album on CD.

  1. "Idle Moments" (Pearson) – 14:56
  2. "Jean De Fleur" (Green) – 6:49
  3. "Django" (John Lewis) – 8:44
  4. "Nomad" (Pearson) – 12:16

Bonus tracks on CD reissue:

  1. "Jean De Fleur" [Alternate Take] - 8:09
  2. "Django" [Alternate Take] - 13:12

Recorded on November 4 (#1, 4-6) and November 15 (#2-3), 1963.

Personnel

References
  1. Billboard Mar 6, 1965
  2. Huey, Steve (2011). "Idle Moments - Grant Green | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz (Penguin Books), England, (2004)[1992]: p.663, ISBN 0-141-01416-4
  5. "Grant Green: Idle Moments – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News". Jazz.com. 1963-11-04. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
  6. Yanow, Scott. "WHAT IS HARD BOP?". scottyanow.com/. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
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