Top Jazz Albums of July 9, 1983

Let's take a look at what was topping the various jazz album charts on July 9, 1983.

	Billboard	Cash Box	Radio & Records
1	Jarreau Al Jarreau	In Your Eyes George Benson	Low Ride Earl Klugh
2	Low Ride Earl Klugh	Travels Pat Metheny Group	In Your Eyes George Benson
3	The Hunter Joe Sample	Jarreau Al Jarreau	Jarreau Al Jarreau
4	Star People Miles Davis	The Genie Bob James	Journey to a Rainbow Chuck Mangione
5	The Genie Bob James	Low Ride Earl Klugh	The Genie Bob James
6	Friends Larry Carlton	Star People Miles Davis	Les Fleurs Ramsey Lewis
7	Autumn George Winston	Friends Larry Carlton	Friends Larry Carlton
8	Mirage a Trois Yellowjackets	The Hunter Joe Sample	Mirage a Trois Yellowjackets
9	Dave Grusin and the New York/L.A. Dream Band	Mirage a Trois Yellowjackets	Travels Pat Metheny Group
10	In Your Eyes George Benson	Journey to a Rainbow Chuck Mangione	The Hunter Joe Sample

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. Jarreau (26 points)
2. Low Ride (25 pts)
3. In Your Eyes (20 pts)
4. The Genie (19 pts)
5. Friends (14 pts)
6. (tie) The Hunter and Star People (12 pts)
8. Travels (11 pts)
9. (tie) Mirage a Trois and Journey to a Rainbow (8 pts)
11. Les Fleurs (5 pts)
12. Autumn (4 pts)
13. Dave Grusin and the New York/L.A. Dream Band (2 pts)

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Listen to selected tracks from the above albums and other 1983 releases, courtesy of Dr. Smooth:

Top 50 Jazz Albums of 1983

According to the December 24, 1983 edition of Billboard magazine. Chart peaks are from that publication's jazz, pop, and R&B album charts, respectively. If the album was released in a year prior to 1983, that information is noted following the album title.

	Album	Artist	Jazz	Pop	R&B
1	Two of a Kind ('82)	Bob James & Earl Klugh	1	44	23
2	Jarreau	Al Jarreau	1	13	4
3	As We Speak ('82)	David Sanborn	1	70	32
4	Offramp ('82)	Pat Metheny Group	1	50	43
5	In Your Eyes	George Benson	1	27	6
6	Breakin' Away ('81)	Al Jarreau	1	9	1
7	December ('82)	George Winston	2	54
8	Incognito ('82)	Spyro Gyra	2	46	39
9	The Best is Yet to Come ('82)	Grover Washington, Jr.	2	50	8
10	Winter into Spring ('82)	George Winston	7	127
11	Casino Lights ('82)	Various Artists	1	63	32
12	Hands Down ('82)	Bob James	3	72
13	George Benson Collection ('81)	George Benson	1	14	5
14	Low Ride	Earl Klugh	2	38	27
15	Dave Grusin & The NY/LA Dream Band ('82)	Dave Grusin & The NY/LA Dream Band	4	181	54
16	Autumn ('80)	George Winston	7	139
17	The Hunter ('82)	Joe Sample	3	125	44
18	Rit/2 ('82)	Lee Ritenour	5	99	53
19	Off the Top ('82)	Jimmy Smith	5
20	Procession	Weather Report	3	96	46
21	Quartet ('81)	Herbie Hancock	5	202
22	Touchstone ('82)	Chick Corea	9	207
23	Star People	Miles Davis	4	136
24	Friends	Larry Carlton	6	126
25	Travels	Pat Metheny Group	3	62

	Album	Artist	Jazz	Pop	R&B
26	The Genie	Bob James	5	77	43
27	Mirage a Trois	Yellowjackets	7	145
28	We are One ('82)	Pieces of a Dream	4	114	22
29	Think of One	Wynton Marsalis	1	102
30	Learning to Love ('82)	Rodney Franklin	9	190	45
31	Live at The Plugged Nickel ('82)	Miles Davis	16
32	Dreams of Tomorrow	Lonnie Liston Smith	11	193	46
33	Desire ('82)	Tom Scott	5	164
34	Gentle Fire	Wilton Felder	8		55
35	Kenny G ('82)	Kenny G	10
36	Tour de Force - Live ('82)	Al Di Meola	8	165
37	Journey to a Rainbow	Chuck Mangione	10	154
38	Les Fleurs	Ramsey Lewis	10	206
39	Havana Moon	Carlos Santana	13	31	55
40	Finesse	John Klemmer	10
41	Out of the Shadows ('82)	Dave Grusin	4	88
42	Home Again ('82)	Stanley Turrentine	11
43	City Kids	Spyro Gyra	2	66
44	Steps Ahead	Steps Ahead	24
45	Passion, Grace & Fire	John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco de Lucía	9	171
46	California Here I Come ('82)	Bill Evans	12
47	Winelight ('80)	Grover Washington, Jr.	1	5	2
48	Mr. Nice Guy	Ronnie Laws	6	98	24
49	Crazy and Mixed Up ('82)	Sarah Vaughan	22
50	Crazy for You ('81)	Earl Klugh	2	53	14

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Speaking of jazz albums from 1983, why don't you give Dr. Smooth's flashback a listen:

Promo posters as seen on "WKRP in Cincinnati" #79

Albums & singles: Lene Lovich - "New Toy" (Epic, 1981), Peter Tosh - Wanted: Dread & Alive (EMI, 1981), Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away (Warner Bros., 1981), Dynasty - The Second Adventure (Solar, 1981), The Tubes - The Completion Backward Principle (Capitol, 1981)
Episode:  Season 4, Episode 5, "Straight from the Heart"
Original air date: Wednesday, November 4, 1981

It looks like Dr. Fever is perusing the September 19, 1981 issue of Billboard:

Billboard's Top Jazz Artists 1976-85

Not sure if they still do it, but years ago Billboard would list its top jazz artists in its year-end issues, based on album sales for that year. Here's a sample list from 1982:

I'm guessing the results were based on both chart peak as well as the number of weeks the artists' albums spent on the charts. Regardless, I took the results of the 10 lists from the years 1976-85 and ran them through a simple algorithm. Here's a countdown of the top ten jazz artists for the decade along with albums that placed on the Billboard Jazz Album charts during those years:

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CHUCK MANGIONE

Album	Jazz Chart
Bellavia	7
Encore	24
Main Squeeze	4
Chase the Clouds Away	30
Land of Make Believe	21
Feels So Good	1
The Best of Chuck Mangione	23
Children of Sanchez	1
Live at the Hollywood Bowl	5
Fun and Games	1
Tarantella	10
Love Notes	8
70 Miles Young	19
Journey to a Rainbow	10
Disguise	26

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DAVID SANBORN

Album	Jazz Chart
Taking Off	19
Sanborn	10
Promise Me the Moon	27
Heart to Heart	16
Hideaway	2
Voyeur	1
As We Speak	1
Backstreet	1
Straight to the Heart	1

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SPYRO GYRA

 

Album	Jazz Chart
Spyro Gyra	14
Morning Dance	2
Catching the Sun	1
Carnaval	2
Freetime	1
Incognito	2
City Kids	2
Access All Areas	1
Alternating Currents	3

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BOB JAMES

Album	Jazz Chart
Three	2
BJ4	3
Heads	1
Touchdown	1
Lucky Seven	3
"H"	3
All Around the Town	3
Sign of the Times	2
Hands Down	3
The Genie	5
Foxie	3
12	5

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THE CRUSADERS

Album	Jazz Chart
Chain Reaction	1
Those Southern Knights	2
The Best of The Crusaders	18
Free as the Wind	1
Images	1
Street Life	1
Rhapsody and Blues	1
Standing Tall	2
Royal Jam	5
Ghetto Blaster	3

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AL JARREAU

Album	Jazz Chart
Glow	9
Look to the Rainbow	5
All Fly Home	2
This Time	1
Breakin' Away	1
Jarreau	1
High Crime	2
In London	10

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PAT METHENY

Album	Jazz Chart
Bright Size Life	28
Watercolors	28
Pat Metheny Group	5
New Chautauqua	3
American Garage	1
80/81	4
As Falls Wichita...	1
Offramp	1
Travels	3
Rejoicing	4
First Circle	2

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EARL KLUGH

Album	Jazz Chart
Earl Klugh	16
Living Inside Your Love	8
Finger Paintings	6
Magic in Your Eyes	4
Heart String	2
Dream Come True	4
Late Night Guitar	4
Crazy for You	2
Low Ride	2
Wishful Thinking	1
Nightsongs	4
Soda Fountain Shuffle	3
Key Notes	30

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GROVER WASHINGTON, JR.

Album	Jazz Chart
Mister Magic	1
Feels So Good	1
A Secret Place	1
Live at The Bijou	1
Reed Seed	1
Paradise	2
Skylarkin'	1
Baddest	5
Winelight	1
Anthology (Motown)	11
Come Morning	1
The Best is Yet to Come	2
Inside Moves	3
Anthology (Elektra)	37

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GEORGE BENSON

Album	Jazz Chart
Breezin'	1
Good King Bad	3
The Other Side of Abbey Road	28
Blue Benson	23
In Flight	1
In concert - Carnegie Hall	6
Weekend in L.A.	1
Livin' Inside Your Love	1
Give Me the Night	1
The George Benson Collection	1
In Your Eyes	1
20/20	3

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Rolling Stone magazine's 1981 Reader's & Critic's Polls

Taken from issue #364, March 4, 1982. Click images to enlarge.

1980 Album of the Month: This Time

Released: May 1980 (Warner Bros.) Produced by: Jay Graydon

Side One	Side Two
Never Givin' Up Gimme What You Got Love is Real Alonzo (If I Could Only) Change Your Mind	Spain (I Can Recall) Distracted Your Sweet Love (A Rhyme) This Time

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Billboard 200	27
Billboard Jazz	1
Billboard R&B	8
CashBox Albums	34
Rolling Stone 100	20

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Billboard, June 14, 1980, p. 66

CashBox, June 7, 1980, p. 15

Record World, June 21, 1980, p. 15

Stereo Review, October 1980, pp. 94-95

Allmusic

★★★★½

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CD Longbox photos courtesy of Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox, please visit The Legend of the Longbox.

Top 50 Jazz Albums of 1979

According to the December 22, 1979 edition of Billboard magazine. Chart peaks are from that publication's jazz, pop, and R&B album charts, respectively. If the album was released in a year prior to 1979, that information is noted following the album title.

	Album	Artist	Jazz	Pop	R&B
1	Street Life	The Crusaders	1	18	3
2	Livin' Inside Your Love	George Benson	1	7	4
3	Touchdown ('78)	Bob James	1	37
4	Reed Seed ('78)	Grover Washington, Jr.	1	35	7
5	Pat Metheny Group ('78)	Pat Metheny Group	5	123
6	Carmel	Joe Sample	1	56	25
7	Children of Sanchez ('78)	Chuck Mangione	1	14	37
8	Mr. Gone ('78)	Weather Report	1	52
9	Flame ('78)	Ronnie Laws	1	51	16
10	Morning Dance	Spyro Gyra	2	27	33
11	Angie	Angela Bofill	5	47	20
12	All Fly Home	Al Jarreau	2	78	27
13	Paradise	Grover Washington, Jr.	2	24	15
14	Feets Don't Fail Me Now	Herbie Hancock	2	38	16
15	Heart String	Earl Klugh	2	49	32
16	Feels So Good ('77)	Chuck Mangione	1	2
17	New Chautaqua	Pat Metheny	3	44
18	Cosmic Messenger ('78)	Jean-Luc Ponty	2	36
19	Patrice ('78)	Patrice Rushen	5	98	27
20	Secrets ('78)	Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson	4	61	10
21	Intimate Strangers ('78)	Tom Scott	6	123
22	Fever	Roy Ayers	6	67	25
23	You Send Me ('78)	Roy Ayers	4	48	16
24	Images ('78)	The Crusaders	1	34	18
25	Follow the Rainbow	George Duke	3	56	17

	Album	Artist	Jazz	Pop	R&B
26	Together	McCoy Tyner	5	66
27	In Concert	Milestone Jazzstars	12	122
28	Carnival ('78)	Maynard Ferguson	9	113
29	Brazilia	John Klemmer	5	172
30	We All Have a Star ('78)	Wilton Felder	11	173	33
31	Tiger in the Rain	Michael Franks	6	68
32	Before the Rain ('78)	Lee Oskar	10	86	29
33	Live at the Hollywood Bowl	Chuck Mangione	5	27
34	Manhattan Symphonie ('78)	Dexter Gordon Quartet	11
35	Land of Passion	Hubert Laws	6	93	48
36	Awakening	Narada Michael Walden	9	103	15
37	Magic in Your Eyes ('78)	Earl Klugh	4	139
38	Mingus	Joni Mitchell	3	17
39	Exotic Memories	Lonnie Liston Smith	3	123	50
40	I Wanna Play for You	Stanley Clarke	5	62	36
41	Soft Space	Jeff Lorber Fusion	13
42	Hot Dawg	David Grisman	14
43	Light the Light	Seawind	8	143
44	Live	Jean-Luc Ponty	8	68
45	Legacy ('78)	Ramsey Lewis	10	149
46	Browne Sugar	Tom Browne	6	147	50
47	Secret Agent ('78)	Chick Corea	7
48	Part of You	Eric Gale	11	154
49	The Joy of Flying	Tony Williams	13	113
50	Groovin' You	Harvey Mason	11	149	48

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Speaking of jazz albums from 1979, why don't you give Dr. Smooth's flashback a listen:

CD Longbox #34

Al Jarreau - This Time (1980)

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Exclusive photo courtesy of Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

For more information on the brief life of the CD longbox, please visit The Legend of the Longbox.

MFD Random Five #43

In which I click the shuffle icon on the iTunes app and listen to the first five songs that pop up from the years 1976-85.

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1. "Trouble in Paradise" by Al Jarreau (1983, Warner Bros.)
   I consider Jarreau to be one of the best albums of 1983 and this is one of the better songs on said album. Everything works - I don't even mind the synth toms. Even the fact there's no bridge doesn't bother me because the chorus is so good. Released in the fall of 1983, this single peaked at #63 pop and #10 adult contemporary. I think I even have the sheet music to this one around here somewhere - BRB.
   
   


2. "He Could Be the One" by Josie Cotton (1982, Elektra)
   I first heard this one via the Valley Girl movie and the Rhino compilation CD. I liked it so much I subsequently purchased the Convertible Music album so I could hear more Josie. Cotton's retro-60's pop sound is immediately accessible. She sings the entire song as if she's on talking on the phone to her girlfriend, on the verge of a giggle fit, which makes the whole song completely endearing.


3. "Back Seat Betty" by Miles Davis (1981, Columbia)
   As usual, I have no idea what Miles is up to here, but it did remind me of this recent quote I read from Wayne Shorter: "When Miles and I talked, he would ask me a question. 'Hey Wayne -- do you ever get tired of playing music that sounds like music?' Before I answered him, he said, 'I know what you mean.' Like, he's answering his own question." It's great to hear the interplay between Miles and bassist Marcus Miller. At 11+ minutes, it's a bit long for this guy, but I'll still listen to it because it's Miles.


4. "Groovitation" by Deodato (1980, Warner Bros.)
   Too much disco influence to be smooth jazz, but it's pretty close. Deodato lifts his own backbeat from Kool & The Gang's "Ladies' Night," buts a funky bass line on it and tries to milk it for six minutes - doesn't quite work, though.


5. "Sign of the Times" by The Belle Stars (1982, Stiff)
   Catchy, but not great. Sounds like Bananarama (you have to decide for yourself if that's a compliment or an insult).