The Shape Of Jazz To Come
by Ornette Coleman
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Ornette Coleman bestography
The Shape Of Jazz To Come is ranked as the best album by Ornette Coleman.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to The Shape Of Jazz To Come on YouTube
The Shape Of Jazz To Come track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
The Shape Of Jazz To Come rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Top 73 Music Albums of 1959 | 24/73 | 3 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 32 Music Albums of 1959 | 10/32 | 4 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 37 Music Albums of the 1950s | 17/37 | 11 |
| 2026 |  xo66 | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 62/100 | 36 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Favorite Albums 400-301 | 6/100 | - |
| 2026 | Jakor | Top 50 Music Albums of the 1950s | 22/50 | 12 |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 43 Music Albums of 1959 | 1/43 | 5 |
| 2026 | covecove | All That Jazz... | 8/100 | - |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 6/100 | 19 |
| 2026 | Rivera | Jazz | 23/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 445 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 3,836 | |||
The Shape Of Jazz To Come collection
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The Shape Of Jazz To Come ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
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Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 518 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/22/2026 18:53 | Chorongo | 49 | 90/100 |
| ! | 08/29/2026 23:22 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 08/26/2026 17:05 | ecocruzr | 214 | 69/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.8/100, a mean average of 80.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.3.
The Shape Of Jazz To Come favourites
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The Shape Of Jazz To Come forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro BestEverAlbums 07/29/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5388): By pjerske BestEverAlbums 07/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5361): By deadhouseThe Shape Of Jazz To Come comments
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One of the greatest jazz albums ever. The shape of jazz to come, is quirky, challenging, and still sounds totally fresh after all these years. The album has a musical theme running through it's playing time that gives you a sense of familiarity as the music shifts from one place to another. A beautiful and courageous jazz album that is utterly timeless.
Mechalodon 08/26/2017 17:15 | #196770 | TOP COMMENT
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Those geese most be having a very interesting conversation
It's too bad I don't speak goose
poppmusic TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/14/2015 06:57 | #136752 | TOP COMMENT
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It's cool to hear the musicians kind of chasing each other's musical ideas, but there's not enough substance here for me to love it.
If every song was Lonely Woman, I would love this. But it gets kinda.. Too "free" for my tastes after that.
This albums importance is evident throughout the whole record and the influence it will have on future jazz releases is apparent. The performances are very strong as well with Coleman leading the line on his sax and really setting a very high level for the other performers. This is best evidenced on Peace which is one of my favourite cuts on the album. I do find the random nature to be more effective on some songs than others and it can get a bit repetitive near the end. I think some of the songs could be built on a little more as well and there is times when there isn't a lot going on. However, the album does have to be praised for its experimentation and all round musical quality. This is because the performers really hold nothing back and you can see that with every listen. Overall, this is a jazz album I have wrestled with for a long time and I still find myself thinking that it is very enjoyable and very good but it isn't up there with the all time jazz classics for me. (Edited)
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