Pithecanthropus Erectus (studio album)
by Charles Mingus
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Charles Mingus bestography
Pithecanthropus Erectus is ranked 3rd best out of 53 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 91 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 12,938.
(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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Pithecanthropus Erectus track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Pithecanthropus Erectus rankings
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Pithecanthropus Erectus 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 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 278 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 35 hours ago | Araldo | 1,469 | 80/100 |
| ! | 08/22/2025 14:06 |  an-outlaw | 525 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/20/2025 01:52 | martintho | 4,696 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/19/2025 22:58 | TastyandTemptin | 2,909 | 72/100 |
| ! | 07/07/2025 09:35 |  djnizzi | 2,857 | 80/100 |
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 79.8/100, a mean average of 78.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.3.
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Pithecanthropus Erectus comments
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An excellent album, and certainly ahead of its time. The playing, at times, is prescient of the soon-to-be-arriving Avant-garde Jazz Movement. The playing is somewhere between Hard Bob and Pre-Avant-Garde. Although its middle two pieces do not match the sweeping creativity and performances of the bookend works, the album is still an essential listen for any fan of Jazz. 9/10!
Cant go wrong with Mingus
A more experimental release from Mingus that leads to some highly interesting moments but also some parts that sound a little scattered. Starting with the highs we have the fantastic 1st and 3rd tracks which are the best on the record. They are so energetic and exciting to listen to with both of them having outstanding performances on them. All the performers seem to come together perfectly on those two songs as they just sound so cohesive and free flowing. However, I do find track 2 to be quite dull and it is missing the flare of the other two songs I previously mentioned. Then there is Love Chant which has some genius moments that sound amazing to the ears but it isn't maintained for the 15 minutes of the song and they do lose their way around the middle section of the record. Overall, some interesting and engaging work present on here and it is definitely worth exploring but this isn't amongst his best work.
Very good experimental jazz album, very innovative.
This is really the Mingus chaos record, which works for some but not everyone. I like it, though.
Larcx13 10/22/2020 09:46 | #259561
Better than Clown. Some interesting stuff on here. Sometimes sounds all over the place which can be either amazing or off-putting.
VictorVale 02/18/2020 15:01 | #247948
Um passo além do bibop!!
I like how varied and wild this thing is, it's like no other jazz record of the time. Impressive experimentation in a genre that at the time I think wasn't very fond to it.
RoundTheBend 01/29/2016 00:49 | #158025
Pushing the boundaries and I like it. Jazz isn't really my thing, but I like how they did things different in this... blowing whistles and the such.
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