This album is pretty gosh darn freaking good. I mean, it starts with what is probably the best track on the album, a Caribbean-tinted straight-eighths tune with a simple chord progression on which Jamal fills constantly. It's amazing that he can improvise such rhythmic and harmonic complexity, although I guess that's the nature of jazz itself. The rest of the album is also fantastic, highlights including "Cabin in the Sky" and "Devil's in my Den," featuring a lovely tenor player. Ahmad is as always a master of making dissonance consonant. And Othello Monileux's pans give the whole album a Caribbean vibe. This is a great album, and you should buy it.

Silent Feet is a darn good album. It's slow paced, certainly, but it pays off. For every seemingly static moment, there is beauty. Weber only takes one solo, on the albums longest and worst track, Seriously Deep. This is a good track, but it's not the most remarkable on the album, and is what costs it a star. Silent Feet is a work of genius. Starting with a nice piano solo, it moves into the head of the whole piece, which is an amazingly peaceful yet driving bit, segueing into a soprano sax solo on different chords. I don't normally care for soprano solos, and this is no different, but the solo is compositionally extremely complex and really good. Then it goes into a quiet section, then it finishes with the head again. This is the album's masterpiece, and may even be Weber's. Eyes That Can See in the Dark is an awesome piece, starting with a bizarre flute solo, going into a solo-only two chord vamp. It's pretty darn cool how it suddenly switches from the energetic solos all the way back to the slow beginning. So, there you have it. I don't know European jazz too well, but I know what I like, and this is where it's at, if it is indeed anywhere.

This album is not just essential for a Jazz musician or fan to own, it is pretty much essential for everyone to own provided they don't hate the genre. I mean, first of all, the music is all performed by an all-star cast, but also, Kind of Blue was recorded without the musicians knowing the tunes too well, and this is what makes it so great, you can hear how brilliant all the musicians are as improvisers. Of course, its modality contributes to a very melodic type of improvisation, it gives the musicians much more freedom with their solos and, in the piano's case, comping. It kicks off with some subtle chords from the piano (Bill Evans) trading off with phrases in the bass (Paul Chambers) and soon evolves into 'So What,' a tune so famous that even if you don't know who Miles Davis is, you may well have heard this. Brilliant solos, pretty high energy considering how relaxed the head had been. The album picks up the pace with 'Freddie Freeloader,' this time with Wynton Kelly on piano. It's a blues. The album then puts the pace back down, leading to the beautiful ballad 'Blue in Green.' This is the most relaxed the album gets, and may be the most relaxed any album ever gets. Also great is 'All Blues,' yet another that people who don't know Jazz probably know. It is a blues, but I never would have guessed it. The repeated chord on the piano almost disguises it. And finally, 'Flamenco Sketches,' an experiment in modality. Well there you have it. The greatest album ever? Maybe. The most laid back? Definitely.