Out To Lunch!
by Eric Dolphy

Album
Out To Lunch! by Eric Dolphy
Year: 1964
Release date: 1964-08-00
Overall rank: 898th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 398 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1964 (5th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 1960s (99th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (898th)

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Eric Dolphy bestography

Out To Lunch! is ranked as the best album by Eric Dolphy.

Eric Dolphy album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (898th)
Out To Lunch! Lower ranked (6,740th) »
At The Five Spot, Vol. 1

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Out To Lunch! track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Hat And Beard
Average Rating: 83 (68 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
Something Sweet, Something Tender
Average Rating: 79 (59 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Gazzelloni
Average Rating: 78 (61 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Out To Lunch
Average Rating: 79 (60 votes)Comments: View 0
5.
Straight Up And Down
Average Rating: 79 (59 votes)Comments: View 0

Out To Lunch! rankings

Out To Lunch! rankings summary
Overall rank: 898th | 1960s rank: 99th | 1964 rank: 5th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)

Out To Lunch! collection

Out To Lunch! ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 398 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 398 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
55/100
 !		06/14/2026 16:24 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,75848/100
 
95/100
 !		06/10/2026 17:22 covecove  Ratings distribution  6,70074/100
 
80/100
 !		05/13/2026 22:56 BurndenAce  Ratings distribution  1,32276/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.4/100, a mean average of 78.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.5.


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Out To Lunch! favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 62 members

Sandrof1969
Exist-en-ciel
Iglou2981
slatsheit
colabunga
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Out To Lunch! forum mentions

This album has been referenced 78 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Amirkhosro () 1. by (1965) 2. by (1967) 3. by by (1970) 5. (2002) 6. by (1959) 7. (1966) 8. by by (1976) 10. by by (1968) 12. by (1959) 13. by (1959) 14. (1977) 16. by (1998) 18. by by (1989) 20. by (1998) 21. by (1962) 23. by (1980) 24. by…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 07/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5361): By deadhouse
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1970) 2. by by (1965) 4. (1980) 5. by by (1967) 7. by (1959) 8. by by (1985) 10. by (1967) 12. by (1971) 13. by (1959) 14. by (1970) 15. by (1968) 16. by by (1979) 19. by (1966) 20. by (1969) 21. by (1960) 22. by (1959) 23. by…”
View forum post →

From neilgee 08/23/2025 11:54 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

Out To Lunch! comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 13 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
65/100
From 10/14/2022 11:26 | #290454
I'm not a big fan of experimental jazz, but this one was not too bad, and this guy definitely had talent.
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Rating:  
55/100
From 07/13/2022 09:42 | #287356 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
There is some interesting experimentation on this album but I don't think it completely comes together and it struggles with remaining consistent. There are some great moments of instrumentation on here and a few of the compositions are fantastic. I do also enjoy the way he switches the leading instrument multiple times throughout the record as it keeps the music fresh and demonstrates the quality Dolphy has on each one. My favourite is probably the bass clarinet on Something Sweet, Something Tender. However, the album can feel confused at times and like there is too much going on so it clouds the sound they are going for. Furthermore, a few of the backing instrumentalists aren't fantastic and they do give some poor performances. I think that is best displayed on the title track with it sounding a bit chaotic. Overall, there is some great stuff to find on here but that cannot be maintained for the whole release and I think the record is really carried by Eric Dolphy. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 1
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Rating:  
85/100
From 05/02/2022 08:52 | #284866
Very original and eternal. (Edited)
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Reply
From 12/14/2020 18:37 | #262700
50/100

Best track: Something Sweet
Worst track: Hat and Beard
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
Rating:  
85/100
From 11/29/2020 16:25 | #261640
Fantástico! Mto da vanguarda paulistana veio daqui!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
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Best Albums of  1964
1. A Hard Day's Night by The Beatles
2. Getz/Gilberto by Stan Getz & João Gilberto
3. The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan
4. Beatles For Sale by The Beatles
5. Out To Lunch! by Eric Dolphy
6. Another Side Of Bob Dylan by Bob Dylan
7. Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica by The Ronettes
8. Ain't That Good News by Sam Cooke
9. Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes
10. Kinks by The Kinks