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

---

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

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:

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

Music ads for 1980 releases

MFD Random Five #47

In which I shuffle through some music files and listen to the first five songs from the years 1976-85 that randomly pop up.

---

1. "Miss Me Blind" by Culture Club (1984, Epic)
   The song that made me a Culture Club fan and still my favorite CC tune. Tasty vocal harmonies, easy to dance to, fuzzy guitar solo that has a nice shape followed by that hooky break about 3:15 in. 


2. "Soft Touch" by Doc Severinsen (1977, Columbia)
   I wrote about Severinsen's 1977 Brand New Thing album back in 2014. Here's what I wrote about this tune then: "A beautiful ballad played flawlessly by Severinsen.  Richard Tee's accompaniment is perfect: adding stuff where he should, laying back when he should.  Doc's solos focus on melody over technique and that's just what is called for here."


3. "Carrie" by Cliff Richard (1980, EMI)
   A minor US hit for Richard (it peaked at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100). This minor key pop-rocker doesn't do much for me.


4. "I Told U So" by David Sanborn (1982, Warner Bros.)
   And my day just got better tenfold. This lead track from the excellent Backstreet album immediately relaxes me and puts me in a better mood. How good is it? Well, after this shuffle is finished, I'll probably spin the whole album at least once (well, maybe not track 3). 


5. "Windpower" by Thomas Dolby (1982, EMI)
   Great song from a favorite album. Released as a single in Europe, this thing is definitely unique synthpop - Morse code intro, relentless synth toms, atypical song structure, out-of-place horn licks, flute obligato, and hooks a'plenty. The album mix shuffled around today, but there's also a 6 minute "Extended Play" version which is wonderful jumble to the above song elements.

David Sanborn on the Pop Charts

Alto saxophonist David Sanborn is a respected smooth jazzer in his own right (just check out 1982's Backstreet), but he was also all over the pop charts in various solos.  Here's a few off the top of my head; I'm sure I'll have to come back and augment this list. Please let me know if you can think of a guest Sanborn solo not listed here.

Linda Ronstadt - "Ooh Baby Baby" (1978)
Carly Simon - "You Belong To Me" (1978)
Pure Prairie League - "Let Me Love You Tonight" (1980)
James Last Band - "The Seduction" (1980)
Eagles - "The Sad Cafe" (1980)
Kenny Loggins - "Heart to Heart" (1982)

and, if you want to expand our parameters of 1976-85 a bit:
David Bowie - "Young Americans" (1975)
James Taylor - "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" (1975)

and a deep album cut from The King of Comedy soundtrack
Donald Fagen - "The Finer Things" (1982)

Update: Faithful listener Dirk Digglinator suggests the following (as long as we're expanding our parameters):
Esther Phillips - "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" (1975)
Regina - "Baby Love" (1986)