My 1001 Albums Journey

Journey Complete!

Finisher # to complete the list

Albums Rated

3.89

Average Rating

Complete

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

1970s

Favorite Decade

Rock

Favorite Genre

Top Origin

Cheerleader

Rater Style ?

5-Star Albums

1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Heavy Weather Weather Report	5	2.99	+2.01
Drunk Thundercat	5	3.12	+1.88
Tank Battles Dagmar Krause	4	2.13	+1.87
Clube Da Esquina Milton Nascimento	5	3.13	+1.87
Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman John Zorn	4	2.23	+1.77
Shaft Isaac Hayes	5	3.24	+1.76
Kenya Machito	5	3.27	+1.73
Bitches Brew Miles Davis	5	3.3	+1.7
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady Charles Mingus	5	3.32	+1.68
Home Is Where The Music Is Hugh Masekela	5	3.36	+1.64

You Love Less Than Most

Album	You	Global	Diff
Beach Samba Astrud Gilberto	1	2.92	-1.92
Inspiration Information Shuggie Otis	2	3.27	-1.27
The Nightfly Donald Fagen	2	3.01	-1.01

Artists

Favorites

Artist	Albums	Average
Miles Davis	4	4.5

5-Star Albums (16)

View Album Wall

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Popular Reviews

Heavy Weather

Weather Report

5/5

2.98 is the current rating as of Feb 2025. What the hell is wrong with you people? This is a landmark album and group in Jazz Fusion. The compositions, instrumentation, and performances are absolutely outstanding. This was cutting edge in the 70s and still holds up. Sure the synths sound a little cheesy thanks to getting overused in the 80s, but man, you got Jaco ripping it up on bass, Shorter on sax, and Zawinul on synth- these dudes are literally legends of jazz. Why does Headhunters have a higher rating? Is it because people recognize Herbie Hancock? More accessible? If the "I dont like jazz" crowd doesn't get it, then maybe we need to just give up on you trying to understand it. But this is the backbone for all the best popular music.

7 likes

Kenya

Machito

5/5

Absolutely fantastic big band jazz. Incredible percussion and kick ass arrangements.

1 likes

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

4/5

Hard listen, but as someone who loves thrash, punk and hardcore AND jazz, this one worked for me. Cool experiment. Worth listening to. Probably won't come back to it but I enjoyed it.

1 likes

4-Star Albums (23)

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

1-Star Albums (1)

All Ratings

Street Life

The Crusaders

4/5

Pretty groovy. Familiar with title track but only as single version. Alfonso Johnson played on this one

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

3/5

One note samba is a classic. Def sets standards but a little too laid back. Almost cliche but those things started here. Might need a few listens but got burned out

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

5/5

Absolute madness

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

3/5

Inspiration Information

Shuggie Otis

2/5

A little too laid back for me.

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

3/5

A few really good songs, some kinda lame songs. Great production and arrangements.

Countdown To Ecstasy

Steely Dan

4/5

Pretty good but a couple stinkers. Great arrangements and solos

Drunk

Thundercat

5/5

Fantastic album. Great bass work.

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

5/5

So ubiquitous in american culture it's stupid

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

4/5

It's not for me, too sad and laid back, but this is an important album as a concept album and vocal pop album. Vocal performance is fantastic.

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Ray Charles

5/5

Great blend of pop songs, big band jazz, and rock n roll. Good energy and mix of fast and slow songs.

Vento De Maio

Elis Regina

4/5

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

5/5

Hits all the funk fusion I like, some straight ahead. Lots of great playing, especially the keys. Everything I'm looking for in a jazz album.

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

4/5

3 hours?1?

Beach Samba

Astrud Gilberto

1/5

I don't understand why this is on the list. It doesn't feel special or significant enough. Its a vibe but feels like an attempt for Gilberto to stay relevant after Girl From Ipanema and the far superior Getz/Gilberto album. Feels like campy over commercialized crap to me and not even close to her best work. Is this included solely to try to showcase her career outside Getz/Gilbert? Really no new ground broken here and not a significant album in any space. Does not belong on the list, so it's a 1. Also, Parade is one of the most annoying songs I've ever heard.

Winter In America

Gil Scott-Heron

4/5

There is some really cool stuff on here. These are the seeds of neo soul and rap. Not exactly something I would listen to on a regular basis, but I really dig pieces of it.

Buena Vista Social Club

3/5

It's not for me, but it's crazy how much of this I recognize. Seems like this modernized production of traditional Cuban music and brought it to a larger audience. Mostly standards but in some ways the definitive versions.

Kenya

Machito

5/5

Absolutely fantastic big band jazz. Incredible percussion and kick ass arrangements.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

5/5

Doesn't even need an introduction. Probably the most known jazz album ever, and for a good reason.

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

4/5

Tank Battles

Dagmar Krause

4/5

This was a weird one. Very unique, incredible vocal performance. I would not have given it the jazz tag- much closer to modernist orchestral music, though with modern arrangements. Not something I would listen to regularly but an interesting idea to take old German compositions and turn them into something new.

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

3/5

The arrangements and sings were food but I really don't like Nina's voice. Very distinct sounding but kind of grating

Head Hunters

Herbie Hancock

5/5

One of the best albums of all time.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

3/5

This is ok. Vocal jazz, end of Billie Holiday's career. Her voice isn't what it used to be but conveys a lot of emotion. Songs are much more emotional and sentimental, which in the realm of jazz to me is on the boring side. Not for me, but a well crafted album and a good reflection of the end of Billie Holiday's life.

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

3/5

It's Alright. First cut is a great take on a classic. Unfortunately the rest kind of stays low tempo and mid dynamic and never really grabbed me. Its nice to hear a different side to Sinatra though. But maybe what I'm learning is I just don't like Sinatra. He's fine, but just not interesting.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

4/5

This is the Sinatra I've been waiting for. Decidedly not lame like the other selections. Still not exactly my jam but a good time.

A Love Supreme

John Coltrane

5/5

Pretty experimental, lots of cool stuff going on.

Dance Mania

Tito Puente

4/5

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

4/5

Strong performances, but the compositions aren't really my thing

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

3/5

Definitely white people soul, some cool arrangements and some cool songs, but not blue enough for me

Frank

Amy Winehouse

4/5

Interesting arrangement, cool voice. A little too polished production for me though

Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento

5/5

One of the coolest albums I've ever heard.

The Genius Of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

4/5

Pretty standard swing. I enjoyed it but liked his other albums more

The Nightfly

Donald Fagen

2/5

Pretty forgettable. Steely Dan is always hit or miss for me. There are some cool arrangements here and there and couple songs are almost good, but some of these songs are just bad songs. Also the synths are really bad 80s cheesy synths.

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

4/5

Hard listen, but as someone who loves thrash, punk and hardcore AND jazz, this one worked for me. Cool experiment. Worth listening to. Probably won't come back to it but I enjoyed it.

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

4/5

Cool concept, experimental and improved like bitches brew but more put together. Pretty cool but not not as ground breaking as bitches brew or put together as Kind of Blue

Palo Congo

Sabu

3/5

It's Alright. Calling it jazz is a stretch. Definitely latin. Great conga work. But it mostly just a lot of conga and not a ton of variation. Not for me.

Miriam Makeba

3/5

Interesting vocal world music. Not a huge fan of the vocal pop kitch songs, but liked the other stuff. Probably not another listen for me but good to know this exists.

Heavy Weather

Weather Report

5/5

Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto

4/5

This is a bossa vibe I can dig. A lot of cool arrangements and stuff going on. Might revisit this one.

Water From An Ancient Well

Abdullah Ibrahim

3/5

It was ok. Some interesting compositions but pretty straight ahead. Didn't feel like much special here.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

5/5

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

4/5

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Charles Mingus

5/5

The New Tango

Astor Piazzolla

4/5

Gris Gris

Dr. John

3/5

Shaft

Isaac Hayes

5/5

Damn right! One of the best albums ever.

Zombie

Fela Kuti

4/5

Pretty cool stuff

La Revancha Del Tango

Gotan Project

3/5

Hotel lobby music. Was a 2 but they did Zappa so it's a 3

Third

Soft Machine

4/5

A lot of really great moments, but also a lot of self indulgent crap. Still gets a 4 because the good outweighs the bad.

Aja

Steely Dan

5/5

Steely Dan's magnum opus. No bad tracks. No filler. Every song works. This band is very hit or miss for me. But this one is all hit. Other albums by the band and their members' solo releases have ranged from 2-4 for me. This one is a 5.

Come Away With Me

Norah Jones

3/5

I normally despise singer songwriters unless they come from a punk or emo background. This is more jazz infused and it works. She's got a great voice for this style. Nothing too special here other than the production and the accessibility.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

4/5

Big band classic. Pretty much the essential swing big band album.

Sunday At The Village Vanguard

Bill Evans Trio

4/5

Pretty killer trio work. Legendary pianist.

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

5/5

I can't believe this was improvised.