Best Albums of the 1950s

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Listed below are the best albums of the 1950s as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 1 hour ago).

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1950s decade summaryThe best artists of the 1950s were Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus, Elvis Presley, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, The Dave Brubeck Quartet and Duke Ellington.

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Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

"So, this album. I have a bit of a strange relationship with this album, I first listened to it a year or so ago, and it was my first jazz album ever. Needless to say, I was a bit confused. Not because of the music, since that isn't really that abstract or anything, no, I was confused about why th...""So, this album. I have a bit of a strange relationship with this album, I first listened to it a year or so ago, and it was my first jazz album ever. Needless to say, I was a bit confused. Not because of the music, since that isn't really that abstract or anything, no, I was confused about why this album got so much praise as it did, Since it really didn't seem to sound that different to other jazz to me. I remember thinking that I just hadn't heard enough jazz to fully appreciate it (which is probably still the case). So, I rated the album 85/100 thinking that people probably know what their talking about when they say this album's great, and I should just believe them, even though I didn't see the same thing in this album. Okay, cut to a few months later, and I have listened to the thing three times. While it was still not grabbing me like it was grabbing other people, I did appreciate the cool & calm nature of the album. (which made it great for doing homework, but I digress) Well, soon after that, I thought I needed to listen to some more jazz, since it was by far the genre I had heard the least from (aside from maybe country). So, I started with the classics: John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, and even Miles Davis's very own In a Silent Way, and I realised that I really liked these albums, (even going as far as puuting The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady in my top 100), and while listening to these albums, I started liking Kind of Blue less and less. "How could people say this is the best jazz album, when these other ones are clearly better?" I thought to myself. I guess it's good to not have opinions like everyone else, but I would would love to see what so many of you see in this album. Maybe I need to listen to it some more times, or listen to some more jazz before and after this album came out, and I'll appriciate the influence and relavency this album has, or maybe I'm looking to deep into it, and I just don't like an album as much as other people do. The wierdest thing is, I really do expect me doing a complete 180 and loving this album in a couple of months, I mean, it happened before with albums like funeral, which is now in my top 10. I will probably post another comment if I start really liking the album, and I'll say how much of an idiot I was for not seeing the pure genius in this album, but for now, it's a fine album, but not exceptionally great in my opinion." [+] Reply

goeie-oko | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +13 votes (13 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

1,661 charts

Rank Score:

21,496

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

"Charles Mingus is a pretty cool dude, played a mean bass. This album's sweet as candy mangoes, every track is a dang standard as far as this guy is concerned. An entirely different monster than Black Saint, but just as good in its own ways. If "Haitian Fight Song" happened to be tagged onto the e..." [+] Reply

- weedygonsalez | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (8 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

662 charts

Rank Score:

6,825

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

233

Average Rating:

84 (730 votes)

Comments:

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

"The music is only part of the package. "Theoretically it is as if Joe Morello's three beats had ceased to be the basic pulse, and had become triplets in a slow 4-beat blues -- though with Eugene Wright's 1-in-a-bar bass as the constant link between piano and drums. The listener who keeps abreast ...""The music is only part of the package. "Theoretically it is as if Joe Morello's three beats had ceased to be the basic pulse, and had become triplets in a slow 4-beat blues -- though with Eugene Wright's 1-in-a-bar bass as the constant link between piano and drums. The listener who keeps abreast of the cross-rhythms here can congratulate themself on sharing with the Brubeck Quartet an enlightened rhythmic sense." That's a quote from the original liner notes, that particular excerpt talking about the tune Kathy's Waltz. But it's the tone--intellectual, technical--that I want to point out. The experience of this album for the original listeners was inseparable from the liner notes, which taught listeners what they should be paying attention to--the time and meter within each song. Each track's metric approach was described, some more precisely than others but all of the descriptions talking about meter, eg for the first track it's "Blue Rondo à la Turk plunges straight into the most jazz-remote time signature, 9/8 - grouped not in the usual form (3-3-3) but in 2-2-2-3." It's inviting the listener to count along and participate in the intellectual side of music, the technical side. In other words, it's not just saying "trust us, this is very technical, and you'd be impressed if you could understand." It's saying, "here's some technical information that you actually can understand and listen along with." And it promises the reward that you'll be able to "congratulate yourself" for your "enlightened" understanding. Jazz liner notes were like this, verbose and intellectual, and sometimes they became hits along with the music on the vinyl. Like Kind Of Blue with its notes by Bill Evans, this album's liner notes were a huge part of the crossover appeal. It's no criticism of the music to point out the plain fact that for both albums, take away the liner notes, and they aren't crossover hits, no way. It's non-jazz listeners being instructed by the liner notes how to listen, and feeling clever and "enlightened" when they do so. To get what this album was understood to be, you really do need to read the original liner notes (they're online) while listening, like 100% of the original listeners did. " [+] Reply

- | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

663 charts

Rank Score:

6,371

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

"A cab drive through New Orleans and the radio is playing some empowering tunes recreated by a magician." Reply

HazeyTwilight | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

601 charts

Rank Score:

5,485

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

306

Average Rating:

84 (667 votes)

Comments:

Elvis Presley

"I thought The Clash made their cover like that to book end the era of Rock n' Roll, srating with Elvis playing his guitar and ending with Paul Simonon smashing his." Reply

- Big A2 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1956

Appears in:

606 charts

Rank Score:

5,002

Rank in 1956:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

338

Average Rating:

79 (781 votes)

Comments:

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

"if you ever do LSD, listen to this album. even though the lyrics are depressing, the mood it creates is a wonderful air of chill nostalgia. i can only compare it to a 3 year old on christmas morning" Reply

- Fox John | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +10 votes (10 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1955

Appears in:

505 charts

Rank Score:

4,618

Rank in 1955:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

361

Average Rating:

80 (650 votes)

Comments:

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

"This album makes me feel more punk rock than any punk rock album. Little Richard was so in your face, but also had soul and quality music. For a 50s album to have so many solid songs... hard to come by. By far one of my favorite albums." Reply

RoundTheBend | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1957

Appears in:

442 charts

Rank Score:

4,199

Rank in 1957:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

396

Average Rating:

79 (503 votes)

Comments:

The Shape Of Jazz To Come

Ornette Coleman

"One of the greatest jazz albums ever. The shape of jazz to come, is quirky, challenging, and still sounds totally fresh after all these years. The album has a musical theme running through it's playing time that gives you a sense of familiarity as the music shifts from one place to another. A bea..." [+] Reply

- garycottier | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

442 charts

Rank Score:

3,794

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

Average Rating:

Comments:

"Great Album. My only beef with Chuck Berry is he often starts his songs off the same, but other than that, his guitar playing brought the guitar to the forefront more than anyone else. Almost no filler on this album. Key tracks- Carol, Maybellene, Johnny B. Goode, Roll Over Beethoven. I also like..." [+] Reply

RoundTheBend | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (5 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1959

Appears in:

384 charts

Rank Score:

3,548

Rank in 1959:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

477

Average Rating:

80 (341 votes)

Comments:

10.

Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

"This album was such a great addition to add to my jazz collection, but I don't understand some of the low ratings it's gotten." Reply

- mikeyskywalker | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1958

Appears in:

397 charts

Rank Score:

3,485

Rank in 1958:

Rank in 1950s:

Overall Rank:

485

Average Rating:

84 (378 votes)

Comments:

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 1 of 100

Best Albums of the 1950s composition

Year	Albums	%

1950	47	5%
1951	41	4%
1952	57	6%
1953	60	6%
1954	73	7%
1955	92	9%
1956	116	12%
1957	152	15%
1958	173	17%
1959	189	19%

Artist	Albums	%

Billie Holiday	18	2%
Miles Davis	16	2%
Various Artists	16	2%
Frank Sinatra	16	2%
Sonny Rollins	15	2%
Ella Fitzgerald	13	1%
Sarah Vaughan	11	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%

	789	79%
	34	3%
	33	3%
	23	2%
	16	2%
	12	1%
	10	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	943	94%
Yes	57	6%

Live?	Albums	%
No	964	96%
Yes	36	4%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	975	98%
Yes	25	3%

« View best albums of the 1940sView best albums of the 1960s »

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