Africa/Brass
by John Coltrane Quartet

Album
Africa/Brass by John Coltrane Quartet
Year: 1961
Release date: 1961-09-01
Overall rank: 2,384th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 135 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 5 albums of 1961 (5th)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (212th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,384th)

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John Coltrane Quartet bestography

Africa/Brass is ranked 6th best out of 90 albums by John Coltrane on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by John Coltrane is A Love Supreme which is ranked number 77 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 14,581.

John Coltrane Quartet album bestography « Higher ranked (1,063rd)
Ascension This album (2,384th)
Africa/Brass Lower ranked (2,393rd) »
Olé Coltrane

(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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Africa/Brass track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 83 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Africa
Average Rating: 83 (40 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
Greensleeves
Average Rating: 84 (43 votes)Comments: View 0
3.
Blues Minor
Average Rating: 81 (38 votes)Comments: View 0

Africa/Brass rankings

Africa/Brass rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,384th | 1960s rank: 212th | 1961 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: 1 hour ago)

Africa/Brass collection

Africa/Brass ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 135 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 135 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
100/100
 !		10/16/2026 04:18 AvalancheGrips  Ratings distribution  78884/100
 
95/100
 !		10/09/2026 08:19 pharoahstune  Ratings distribution  25579/100
 
70/100
 !		07/13/2026 14:41 Dingerbell  Ratings distribution  4,17963/100

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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 80.4/100, a mean average of 79.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.4.


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Africa/Brass favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 18 members

Exist-en-ciel
colabunga
Anti
Luncea
Cardboardfolder
babsfanatic87
Hyggevinyl
MaxStorm98
IanFrance
Timestarter

Africa/Brass forum mentions

This album has been referenced 16 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From stangetzaway 10/18/2022 22:21 in What album are you listening to right now?
“What album are you listening to right now?”
View topic (8 mentions) →

From Purplepash 11/18/2021 11:07 in You must listen to the album below you: canon edition
“This is a really good choice for me coming straight after the Ornette Coleman album. Right from the start it had my interest and this lead into the sort of exciting chaos that I like with a solid rhythm I could groove with keeping me grounded as the noisy flights of fancy were taking place. A…”
View topic (5 mentions) →

From kokkinos 06/20/2021 21:13 in I'm going back to the start
“Saying 1961 was a good year for John Coltrane would be a fair assessment. It must have been fairly shocking when this came out, he picks some well-known seemingly innocent tunes to work with and takes them to the next level. Also, unless I’m terribly mistaken it’s the first time Coltrane is playing…”
View post →

View all forum mentions

Africa/Brass comments

Showing all 5 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
90/100
From 04/22/2018 12:20 | #213406 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Very cool sound. I love the big band sound and experimentation on Africa and the rework of Greensleeves. Surprised how low this is on Coltrane's discography on this site tbh.
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Rating:  
75/100
From 12/30/2019 04:36 | #246072 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A Coltrane in search of its iconic sound with the magic quartet already.
Some simple horn arrangements packed with character to complement the quartet's performance.
Individually, this does't have Coltrane's most inspired soloist moments, Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner were still developing, but Jimmy Garrison was already there.
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/14/2024 15:34 | #301168 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Very creative and beautiful avant-garde jazz from one of the best musicians in this genre. (Edited)
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Rating:  
90/100
From 01/21/2024 14:33 | #301368 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Solid 9/10 with "Blues Minor" as the standout track. (Edited)
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Rating:  
70/100
From 10/18/2020 23:51 | #259412
70/100

Favourite track: Greensleeves
Worst track: Blues Minor (Edited)
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Best Albums of  1961
1. My Favorite Things by John Coltrane
2. King Of The Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson
3. Sunday At The Village Vanguard by Bill Evans Trio
4. Free Jazz by Ornette Coleman Double Quartet
5. Africa/Brass by John Coltrane Quartet
6. Olé Coltrane by John Coltrane
7. The Blues And The Abstract Truth by Oliver Nelson
8. Showcase by Patsy Cline
9. Two Steps From The Blues by Bobby Bland
10. Eastern Sounds by Yusef Lateef