The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025
Ballots 2025 [3]
Ken Dryden (New York City Jazz Record, Hot House, Timeless Jazz [WUTC-FM])
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
- Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note) →
- Alan Broadbent, Threads of Time (Savant) →
- Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room (Smoke Sessions) →
- Jim McNeely, Primal Colors (Challenge) →
- Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, Rio Fantasia (Sunnyside) →
- Eric Alexander, Chicago to New York (Cellar Music Group) →
- Michael Dease, Flow (Posi-Tone) →
- Joe Lovano, Homage (ECM) →
- Mark Masters Ensemble, Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Bill Evans, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (1959-61, Craft) →
- Yusef Lateef, Golden Flower: Live in Sweden (1967-72, Elemental Music) →
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions (1953-58, Mosaic) →
VOCAL
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Marianne Solivan, Break's Over (Imani) →
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
LATIN
- Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, Rio Fantasia (Sunnyside) →
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Chris Potter - Eric Harland - Larry Grenadier, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (5Passion) →
- Poncho Sanchez & His Latin Jazz Band, Live at the Belly Up Tavern (Regime Music Group) →
- Eddie Daniels, To Milton With Love (Resonance) →
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Melvin Gibbs, Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 (2006-25, Hausu Mountain) →
- Mulatu Astatke, Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Etienne Charles, Gullah Roots (Culture Shock) →
- Tim Berne - Tom Rainey - Gregg Belisle-Chi, Yikes Too (Screwgun/Out of Your Head) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Marshall Allen, New Dawn (Mexican Summer) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Dave Douglas, Alloy (Greenleaf Music) →
- The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Mulatu Astatke, Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut) →
- Etienne Charles, Gullah Roots (Culture Shock) →
DEBUT
John Ephland (DownBeat, All About Jazz)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- JD Allen, Love Letters (The Ballad Sessions) (Savant) →
- Omer Avital, New York Now & Then (Zamzama) →
- Bob Bralove & Patti Weiss, Acoustic Conversations (BLove Music '24) →
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Jakob Dreyer, Roots and Things (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
- Dave Liebman - Billy Hart - Adam Rudolph, Beingness (Meta) →
- Zack Lober, So We Could Live (Zennez) →
- John O'Gallagher - Ben Monder - Andrew Cyrille - Billy Hart, Ancestral (Whirlwind) →
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Chet Baker, Five From '65: The Quintet Summer Sessions (New Land) →
- John Coltrane, A Love Supreme [60th Anniversary Edition] (1964, Impulse!) →
- Chick Corea, Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 (1971, ECM) →
- Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, The Old Country: More From the Deer Head Inn (1992, ECM '24) →
- McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note '24) →
VOCAL
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Julia Úlehla and Dálava, Understories (Pi) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Luciana Souza, Twenty-Four Short Musical Episodes (Sunnyside '24) →
DEBUT
- Jakob Dreyer, Roots and Things (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Alexander Hawkins & Taylor Ho Bynum, A Near Permanent State of Wonder (RogueArt) →
- Talk Show, Miss America (We Jazz) →
- Dan Rosenboom, Coordinates (Orenda) →
- Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Will Mason Quartet, Hemlocks, Peacocks (New Focus) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- The Necks, Disquiet (Northern Spy) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Kim Jung Jae, Shamanism (Relative Pitch) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Marco Eneidi Quintet, Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (2004, Balance Point Acoustics) →
- Snakeoil, Snakeoil OK (2013, Screwgun) →
VOCAL
- Lena Bloch & Kyoko Kitamura, Marina (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
- Ingrid Laubrock, Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- David Virelles, Igbó Alákorin (The Singer's Grove) III (El Tivoli Productions) →
DEBUT
- Leandro Cardenas, Against the Jazz Police (577) →
Steve Erickson (ArtsFuse)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Chicago Underground Duo, Hyperglyph (International Anthem) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Mulatu Astatke, Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Makaya McCraven, Off the Record (International Anthem) →
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
- Theon Cross, Affirmations: Live at the Blue Note New York (New Soil) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Griot Galaxy, Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms) →
- Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
Steve Feeney (ArtsFuse, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Jason Kao Hwang, Myths of Origin (True Sound) →
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
- Billy Mohler, The Eternal (Contagious Music) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound: Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music) →
- Oliver Lake, Live From Studio Rivbea 1975 & 1976 (NoBusiness) →
VOCAL
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
- Sheila Jordan With Roni Ben-Hur & Harvie S, Portrait Now (Dot Time) →
- Ingrid Laubrock, Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic) →
LATIN
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
- Aruán Ortiz, Créole Renaissance (Intakt) →
- Poncho Sanchez & His Latin Jazz Band, Live at the Belly Up Tavern (Regime Music Group) →
DEBUT
- Milena Casado, Reflection of Another Self (Candid) →
Gary Finney (WQLN NPR [Erie, PA], Jazz Buffalo)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Benjamin Lackner, Spindrift (ECM) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
- Out Of/Into [Joel Ross - Gerald Clayton - Kendrick Scott - Matt Brewer- Immanuel Wilkins], Motion II (Blue Note) →
- Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →
- James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
VOCAL
- Kurt Elling & Christian Sands, Wildflowers Vol. 3 (Big Shoulders) →
- Ledisi, For Dinah (Candid) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
LATIN
- Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Caelan Cardello, Chapter One (Jazz Bird) →
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
Phil Freeman (Stereogum, The Wire, DownBeat, Burning Ambulance)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Kamasi Washington, Lazarus [Adult Swim Original Series Soundtrack] (Milan/Sony Music) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Jeremy Pelt, Woven (HighNote) →
- Nicole Glover, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
- Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu) →
- Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
Note: Also see The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2025 (Stereogum)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity, Great Intentions (Action Jazz) →
- Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Donny McCaslin, Lullaby for the Lost (Edition) →
- Mats Gustafsson - Ken Vandermark - Tomeka Reid - Chad Taylor, Pivot (Silkheart) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
LATIN
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
- Henry Plotnick, Tributaries (Tidebloom) →
Note: Debut vote for Trio of Bloom rejected.
Pat Frisco (WHFR-FM [Dearborn, MI])
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Earscratcher, Otoliths (Aerophonic) →
- Joe Fonda & Bass of Operation (Fundacja Słuchaj '24) →
- Mats Gustafsson - Ken Vandermark - Tomeka Reid - Chad Taylor, Pivot (Silkheart) →
- Jason Kao Hwang, Myths of Origin (True Sound) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Eunhye Jeong & Michael Bisio, Morning Bells Whistle Bright (ESP-Disk) →
- Sylvain Kassap - Steve Swell - Benjamin Duboc - Chad Taylor, Edges (RogueArt) →
- Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
- Herb Robertson - Christopher Dell - Christian Ramond - Klaus Kugel, Blue Transient (Nemu) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Marco Eneidi Quintet, Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (2004, Balance Point Acoustics) →
- Shamek Farrah, First Impressions (1974, Strata-East) →
- Michael Gregory Jackson, Frequency Equilibrium Koan (1977, Moved-by-Sound) →
- James Newton Quartet, Live in Willisau Switzerland 1983 (Rhythm 'n' Flow) →
- Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
Jon Garelick (Arts Fuse, Boston Globe)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Lina Allemano Four, The Diptychs (Lumo) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions (1953-58, Mosaic) →
- Miles Davis, Miles '55: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) →
VOCAL
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) →
- Kris Adams & Peter Perfido, Away (Jazzbird) →
LATIN
DEBUT
- History Dog, Root Systems (Otherly Love) →
Note: Also see the author's section in The Best Jazz Albums of 2025
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
- Joy Guidry, Five Prayers (Jaid) →
- Kelsey Mines & Erin Rogers, Scratching at the Surface (Relative Pitch) →
- The Necks, Disquiet (Northern Spy) →
- Sun & Rain, Waterfall (Out of Your Head) →
- Rafael Toral, Traveling Light (Drag City) →
- Kalia Vandever, Another View (Northern View) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Griot Galaxy, Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms) →
- Green Cosmos, Abendmusiken (1981-82, Frederiksberg) →
- William Hooker, A Time Within: Live at the New York Jazz Museum, January 14, 1977 (Valley of Search) →
- Yusuf Mumin, Journey to the Ancient (We Want Sounds) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Natural Information Society, Perseverance Flow (Eremite) →
- Tim Berne - Tom Rainey - Gregg Belisle-Chi, Yikes Too (Screwgun/Out of Your Head) →
- Ed Palermo Big Band, Prog vs Fusion: A War of the Ages (Sky Cat) →
- Amir ElSaffar, New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām) →
- Mark Kirschenmann, Tonics: 7 Melodies for Trumpet With Bamboo Mouthpipe (Infrequent Seams) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Ingebrigt Håker Flaten's (Exit) Knarr, Drops (Sonic Transmissions) →
- Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp, Realism (ESP-Disk) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Frank Zappa, Cheaper Than Cheep (1974, Zappa/UMe) →
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Roland Kirk Quartet, Domino: Live at Radio Bremen TV-Studios 1963 (1963, MIG) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (1973, Strata East/Mack Avenue) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
VOCAL
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
LATIN
DEBUT
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Roger Glenn, My Latin Heart (Patois) →
- Alex McLaughlin, A Brand New State (self-released) →
- Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- John Santos Sextet & Friends, Horizontes (Machete) →
- Kevin Sun, Quartets (Endectomorph Music '24) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
- The Waitiki 7, Exotica Reborn: In Studio and Live at House Without a Key (Waitiki International) →
- WDR Big Band, Bluegrass (MCG Jazz) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Doug Beavers, Titanes Del Trombón [Remastered] (2015, Circle 9) →
- Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
VOCAL
- Camila Meza, Portal (GroundUP Music) →
- Lili Maljic, The Nearness of You: In Loving Memory of Jim Rotondi (Pacific Coast Jazz) →
- Gino Amato, Latin Crossroads 2 (Ovation) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- John Santos Sextet & Friends, Horizontes (Machete) →
- Rachel Therrien Latin Jazz Project, Mi Hogar II (self-released) →
- Alex "Apolo" Ayala & the Bámbula Project, Afro Puerto Rican Jazz (PMC/Miel Music) →
- Edward Simon, Venezuela Latin American Songbook Vol. 2 (ArtistShare) →
DEBUT
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
Kurt Gottschalk (New York City Jazz Record, The Wire, WKCR)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Brandon Lopez, Nada Sagrada (Relative Pitch) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Alex Paxton, Delicious (New Amsterdam) →
- Potsa Lotsa XL, Amoeba's Dance (Trouble in the East) →
- PRAED Orchestra!, The Dictionary of Lost Meanings (Discrepant) →
- Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
- Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi) →
- Wolf Eyes X Anthony Braxton, Live at Pioneer Works, 26 October 2023 (ESP-Disk) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Derek Bailey - Paul Lovens - Jon Rose, Podewil (1992, The Jon Rose Archive) →
- Dave Burrell & Sam Woodyard, The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness) →
- Ella Fitzgerald, The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum (1967, Verve) →
- Fred Frith & Shelley Burgon, The Life and Behavior (2002-05, Relative Pitch) →
- Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
VOCAL
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Saadet Türköz & Anaïs Tuerlinckx, Le Chant Des Noiseuses (ScatterArchive) →
- Adrian Younge, Something About April III (Jazz Is Dead) →
LATIN
DEBUT
- Laura Ann Singh, Mean Reds (Out of Your Head) →
- Christopher Dammann, Sextet (Out of Your Head) →
David A. Graham (The Atlantic)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
- The Westerlies, Paradise (Westerlies) →
- Chad Taylor Quintet, Smoke Shifter (Otherly Love) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Etienne Charles, Gullah Roots (Culture Shock) →
- Luca Curcio, La BOMBA (Boomslang) →
- Enemy, Fiend (Edition) →
- Zé Ibarra, Afim (Mr. Bongo) →
- Joe Lovano, Homage (ECM) →
- Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet, Live Spirit 1 (WMQ) →
- Hanna Paulsberg Concept & Elin Rosseland, Himmel Over Hav (Grappa) →
- Louis Sclavis, India (Yolk) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Rufus Wainwright With the Pacific Jazz Orchestra, I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Wainwright Does Weill (Thirty Tigers) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Russ Johnson - Christian Weber - Dieter Ulrich, To Walk on Eggshells (2009, Ezz-Thetics) →
- Steve Lacy Three, Live Lugano 1984 First Visit (Ezz-Thetics) →
- Mickey Finn, Antiruggine (2012, Hora) →
- John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →
- John Taylor, Tramonto (2002, ECM) →
VOCAL
- Silvia Bolognesi & Eric Mingus, Is That Jazz? (Fonterossa) →
- Esinam & Sibusile Xaba, Healing Voices (W.E.R.F.) →
- Dominique Fils-Aimé, Live at the Montreal International Jazz Festival (Ensoul) →
LATIN
- Roxana Amed, Todos Los Fuegos (Sony) →
- Ryan Keberle & Collectiv Do Brasil, Choro Das Aguas (Alternate Side) →
- Sabeth Perez, Searching for Beauty (Rogue Tone) →
DEBUT
- Emma Dayhuff, Innovations & Lineage: The Chicago Project (Division 81) →
- Lex Korten, Canopy (Sounderscore) →
- Nicolò Ricci, Schiacciasette (Dox) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- John O'Gallagher - Ben Monder - Andrew Cyrille - Billy Hart, Ancestral (Whirlwind) →
- Stephane Wrembel, Django New Orleans II: Hors Série (Water Is Life) →
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
- Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu) →
- Christian McBride Big Band, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 (Mack Avenue) →
- Johnny Iguana, At Delmark: Chicago-Style Solo Piano (Delmark) →
- Jim Witzel, Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans (Joplin & Sweeney) →
- Mike Freeman Zonavibe, Circles in a Yellow Room (VOF) →
- Seth MacFarlane, Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements (Verve) →
- Carrie Jackson, Jersey Bounce (Arabesque Jazz) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Bill Evans, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (1959-61, Craft) →
- Ray Barretto Y Su Orquesta, Celia · Ray · Adalberto: Tremendo Trio! (1983, Craft) →
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
VOCAL
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
- Seth MacFarlane, Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements (Verve) →
- Carrie Jackson, Jersey Bounce (Arabesque Jazz) →
- Deborah Silver & The Count Basie Orchestra, Basie Rocks! (Green Hill) →
LATIN
- Ray Barretto Y Su Orquesta, Celia · Ray · Adalberto: Tremendo Trio! (1983, Craft) →
- Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos (Rimas Entertainment) →
- Fuerza Regida, 111xpantia (Rancho Humilde/Street Mob/Sony Music Latin) →
DEBUT
- Adrian Galante, Introducing Adrian Galante (Zoho) →
- Juan Perea, Lightkeeper (Zoho) →
- Perceptions Trio [Charley Rose - Silvan Joray - Paulo Almeida], The Wicked Crew (Sense) →
Note: Perceptions Trio is not strictly a debut album (Rose and Joray have previous, but were not well known).
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Let the Spirit Out: Live at "Mu" London (Spiritmuse) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Brandee Younger, Gadabout Season (Impulse!) →
- Kenny Wheeler Legacy, Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores (Greenleaf Music) →
- Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →
- Sasha Berliner, Fantôme (Outside In Music) →
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Hearts & Minds, Illuminescence (Astral Spirits) →
- Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Jessica Williams, Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-1987 (Pre-Echo Press) →
- Mal Waldron, Candy Girl (1975, Strut) →
- Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
- Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
VOCAL
- Sophie Dunér & Steve Beck, Stockhausen: Tierkreis/Schwartz: The Neon Pterodactyl (Urlicht) →
- Fred Moten & Brandon López, Revision (TAO Forms) →
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
LATIN
- Rita Donte, Ritual (Ansonia) →
- Raul Monsalve Y Los Forajidos, SOL (Olindo) →
- Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra, A Centennial Salute to Tito & Tito (Truth Revolution) →
DEBUT
- Laura Ann Singh, Mean Reds (Out of Your Head) →
- Milena Casado, Reflection of Another Self (Candid) →
- Sonic Chambers Quartet, Kiss of the Earth (577) →
Jason Gross (Perfect Sound Forever, New York City Jazz Record, Rock & Roll Globe)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Bees in the Bonnet (Rune Grammofon) →
- Stephane Wrembel, Django New Orleans II: Hors Série (Water Is Life) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Art Hirahara, Peace Unknown (Posi-Tone) →
- Theon Cross, Affirmations: Live at the Blue Note New York (New Soil) →
- Kenny Wheeler Legacy, Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores (Greenleaf Music) →
- George Brown, Jazz in Paris (Astana Music) →
- Tom Smith, A Year in the Life (Tom Smith) →
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Chris Potter - Eric Harland - Larry Grenadier, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (5Passion) →
- Nicole McCabe, A Song to Sing (Colorfield) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Sam Rivers, A New Conception (1966, Blue Note) →
- Hank Mobley, Roll Call (1960, Blue Note) →
- Wes Montgomery With the Wynton Kelly Trio, Smokin' in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1966, Resonance) →
- Nina Simone, Let It All Out: Selected Singles 1961-1978 (Ace) →
- Scandinavian Art Ensemble With Tomasz Stanko, The Copenhagen Session Vol. 2 (2016, April) →
VOCAL
- Brigitte Beraha's Lucid Dreamers, Teasing Reflections (Let Me Out) →
- Sandra-Mae Lux, Seasons in Jazz (ECN Music) →
- Kokoroko, Tuff Times Never Last (Brownswood) →
LATIN
- Salsa de la Bahia Vol. 3: A Collection of SF Bay Area Salsa and Latin Jazz: Renegade Queens (1991-2025, Patois) →
- Tomás Martin López, Right Here (self-released) →
DEBUT
- Alex McLaughlin, A Brand New State (self-released) →
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
- Chris Smith, Jazz Grunge (Cellar Live) →
Note: Latin vote for Foto Rodríguez Y Charanga La Única, Homenaje a Pupi Legarreta (TTH) couldn't be verified, so voter took it off list.