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:

Top Jazz Albums on January 8, 1983

Let's take a look at what was topping the various jazz album charts for the week of January 8, 1983.

	Billboard	CashBox	Radio & Records
1	Two of a Kind Earl Klugh & Bob James	Two of a Kind Earl Klugh & Bob James	Two of a Kind Earl Klugh & Bob James
2	Incognito Spyro Gyra	Casino Lights Various Artists	The Best is Yet to Come Grover Washington, Jr.
3	Offramp Pat Metheny Group	The Best is Yet to Come Grover Washington, Jr.	Incognito Spyro Gyra
4	Casino Lights Various Artists	Rit/2 Lee Ritenour	Home Again Stanley Turrentine
5	As We Speak David Sanborn	Incognito Spyro Gyra	Casino Lights Various Artists
6	Rit/2 Lee Ritenour	Offramp Pat Metheny Group	Chance Encounter Ramsey Lewis
7	We are One Pieces of a Dream	Tour de Force - Live Al DiMeola	Touch the Feeling Stix Hooper
8	Tour de Force - Live Al DiMeola	As We Speak David Sanborn	Kenny G Kenny G
9	Touchstone Chick Corea	Learning to Love Rodney Franklin	Rit/2 Lee Ritenour
10	Kenny G Kenny G	Home Again Stanley Turrentine	Learning to Love Rodney Franklin

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Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

1. Two of a Kind (30 pts)
2. Incognito (23 pts)
3. Casino Lights (22 pts)
4. The Best is Yet to Come (17 pts)
5. Rit/2 (14 pts)
6. Offramp (13 pts)
7. As We Speak (9 pts)
8. Home Again (8 pts)
9. Tour de Force - Live (7 pts)
10. Chance Encounter (5 pts)
11. (tie) We are One, Kenny G, and Touch the Feeling (4 pts)
14. Learning to Love (3 pts)
15. Touchstone (2 pts)

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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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:

MFD Not-So-Random Five #12

In which I select five songs from 1976-1985 based on an arbitrary theme. (Not to be confused with this blog's Random Five feature, a different exercise in arbitrariness). Today's theme: songs that include the word "snow" in the title.

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1. "I Sit in the Snow" by Andy Partridge (1980, Virgin)
   This cut is an experimental reconstruction of XTC music that I'll just call "interesting" and leave it at that. But I'll be doggone if it doesn't kinda grow on you by the end.


2. "Snowbird Fantasy" by Bob James (1980, Tappan Zee)
   The lead track from James' "H" album, it starts off in a New Age vein, but eventually settles into a Latin-flavored groove with a mess of horn licks. Reminds me Earl Klugh's stuff from that time period, except the acoustic guitar solo comes from Bruce Dunlap. It's about 90 seconds too long, but I can't say I don't like it.
   


3. "Rider in the Snow" by The Cult (1984, Beggar's Banquet)
   A deep cut from the group's debut album. Not fully formed with their own thing, we're nonetheless treated to the characteristic sounds of Ian Asbury's voice and Billy Duffy's guitar doing it's best U2 imitation. The lyrics are shite.  


4. "Snowblind" by Styx (1981, A&M)
   One of the edgier cuts on Paradise Theater, this tune about cocaine addiction gives us a tasty guitar solo from James Young. As a 14 year old knucklehead in 1981, I didn't know from cocaine and thought this song was about actual snow blindness (photokeratitis), so there ya go.


5. "Snow Girl" by Haircut 100 (1982, Arista)
   Fantastic track from one of my all-time favorite albums, Pelican West. Nick Heyward writes one in the vein of the early Beatles. I could listen to this feelgood tune all day long and just might.

MFD Not-So-Random Five #1

In which I select five songs from 1976-1985 based on an arbitrary theme. (Not to be confused with this blog's Random Five feature, another exercise in arbitrariness). Today's theme: Song titles that are girls' names.

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1. "Sara" by Starship (1985, Grunt/RCA)
   Starship's mid-80's oeuvre has been widely criticized, but with three #1 hits over the span of three years, somebody must have liked the tunes at the time. I think "Sara" is the best of Starship's output. I don't like the way the over-echoed drums are pushed to the front of the mix and there's not much to the verse, but the guitar solo is pretty good and there's something about the flatted chord in the chorus that gets me every time. Bonus points for featuring Rebecca De Mornay in the otherwise poor video.


2. "Joanna" by Kool & The Gang (1983, Polygram)
   In the late fall/early winter of 1983, I was briefly interested a girl named JoAnn. She was a couple of years younger than me and, in her father's opinion, too young to go on a "car date" so that relationship never got off the ground. Other than the similar names, the girl and the song have nothing to do with each other. However, I'm always reminded of JoAnn when I hear this tune. (A few years later DeBarge did something similar with "Who's Holding Donna Now"). I can't think of any K&TG song I dislike. The trombone solo, the sappy lyrics, the constant eight note electric piano motif - it all works for me.


3. "Alison" by Elvis Costello (1977, Stiff)
   If this isn't the best tune Costello ever penned, it's certainly in the discussion. I didn't hear it until about 5 years after its original release and that was perfect timing for me as I wouldn't have understood it at age 11 but the angst certainly was on the mark for me as a 16 year old in love with anything in a skirt. I love the noodling guitar, the classic chorus melody, and the fade out for the last minute of the cut. My aim is true.


4. "Angela" by Bob James (1978, Tappan Zee)
   To my knowledge, this was my introduction to Bob James as this tune was used as the theme music to the TV sitcom Taxi. It's a nice enough melody but the good stuff didn't even make the TV theme version. I could do without the recorder, but there's a tasty electric piano solo by James and a sublime guitar solo by Eric Gale that's the highlight of the cut for me.


5. "Jeanette" by The English Beat (1982, I.R.S.)
   The second single release from the Special Beat Service album, this peaked at #45 in the UK and didn't make any mark here in the US. But as a young boy growing up on the coastal plains of Texas, the whole album was just what I needed. Love the accordion parts over the ska beat, then they throw in Saxa on the saxophone over some background vocals and I can't resist some chair dancing. Good stuff. I can easily listen to Special Beat Service all the way through then hit the repeat button. In fact, it placed at #7 on my list of the Top 82 Albums of 1982.