Out To Lunch!
by Eric Dolphy
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Eric Dolphy bestography
Out To Lunch! is ranked as the best album by Eric Dolphy.
(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 Out To Lunch! on YouTube
Out To Lunch! track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Out To Lunch! rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 8 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  slatsheit | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 66/100 | 35 |
| 2026 | PapaShiz86 | Top 20 Music Albums of 1964 | 1/20 | 5 |
| 2026 | Juneof44 | Top 50 Music Albums of 1964 | 47/50 | 0 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 57 Music Albums of 1964 | 1/57 | 5 |
| 2026 | Weepingguitarman | Top 23 Music Albums of 1964 | 8/23 | 3 |
| 2026 | Steppenwolf666 | Pt3 Most expensive records sold on Discogs website | 25/100 | - |
| 2026 |  RockyRaccoon | Jazz #101-200 | 18/100 | - |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1960s | 66/100 | 7 |
| 2026 |  ExTeaSea | Top 25 Music Albums of 1964 | 8/25 | 4 |
| 2026 | RockyRaccoon | Top 38 Music Albums of 1964 | 8/38 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 356 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,927 | |||
Out To Lunch! collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 144 members
Out To Lunch! 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).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 398 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 06/14/2026 16:24 |  DommeDamian | 7,794 | 48/100 |
| ! | 06/10/2026 17:22 |  covecove | 6,717 | 74/100 |
| ! | 05/13/2026 22:56 | BurndenAce | 1,334 | 76/100 |
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 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.
Out To Lunch! favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 61 members
Out To Lunch! forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5431): By Amirkhosro BestEverAlbums 07/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5361): By deadhouse
neilgee 08/23/2025 11:54 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)Out To Lunch! comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
This record's really the epitome of hard-bop, even as it stretches the boundaries of the genre into something approaching true avant-garde while still often keeping the boundaries of familiar jazz, resulting in a crucial listen. (Edited)
Possibly the greatest jazz album of all time
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)
Fischman TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/09/2019 03:02 | #229356 | TOP COMMENT
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Seminal jazz/sax album. Excellent composition and playing. Music marvelously has one foot in each world: traditional and progressive, and really pulls out off. (Edited)
JulianR TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/01/2018 20:54 | #209875 | TOP COMMENT
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Definitely ot what I was expecting, but an interesting listen nonetheless. I thought this was some sort of hard-bop album, but its quite the avante-garde/free jazz record instead. I'm not really digging the vibraphone sound right now, but I'm sure it will grow on me (Edited)
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