The Clown
by Charles Mingus
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Charles Mingus bestography
The Clown is ranked 7th best out of 54 albums by Charles Mingus on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Charles Mingus is The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady which is ranked number 92 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 12,148.
(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 Clown on YouTube
The Clown 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 Clown rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 27 Music Albums of the 1950s | 8/27 | 15 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 80 Music Albums of 1957 | 17/80 | 4 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Top 14 Music Albums of the 1950s | 3/14 | 17 |
| 2026 | downandout | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 50/100 | 10 |
| 2026 |  baystateoftheart | Top 20 Music Albums of 1957 | 2/20 | 5 |
| 2026 |  Hayden | Top 94 Music Albums of 1957 | 11/94 | 4 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 9 Music Albums of 1957 | 2/9 | 4 |
| 2026 | mostlymor | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 23/100 | 16 |
| 2026 | Tamthebam | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1950s | 77/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | bonnequestion | Best albums from '55 to '64 | 9/40 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 127 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 704 | |||
The Clown collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 35 members
The Clown 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 139 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/18/2026 00:02 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 05/08/2026 01:18 | Hayden | 7,955 | 72/100 |
| ! | 01/26/2026 19:59 | BurndenAce | 1,339 | 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 78.6/100, a mean average of 77.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.
The Clown favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 15 members
The Clown forum mentions
Jboy56 01/09/2022 17:13 in What album are you listening to right now? baystateoftheart 07/28/2018 03:04 in Human Canon Ball Relaunched: A Trip Through TimeThe Clown comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Solid Mingus set with the highlight being the bizarre and ultimately depressing narrated title track. A cynical look into the underbelly of late 50's society or a bitter metaphor for his own experience?
This version suffers from the lack of the last two tracks, which were omitted for a stupid reason (because people said Mingus couldnt swing). Together at Noon was easily one of the most badass jazz tracks ever. (Edited)
Larcx13 10/22/2020 09:44 | #259560 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Decent. Not up to par witg Mingus Ah Um but good enough to grant at least 1 or 2 full listens. Maybe skip the dialogue at the end the 2nd time around.
Really good album, one of Mingus' better ones. Haitian Fight Song is the best song on the album.
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