The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025

Ballots 2025 [4]

James Hale (DownBeat, SoundStageNetwork.com)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt)
  2. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
  3. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia)
  4. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi)
  5. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)
  6. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note)
  7. John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM)
  8. Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt)
  9. Kneebody, Reach (GroundUP Music)
  10. Jane Ira Bloom, Songs in Space (Outline)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance)
  2. Joe Henderson, Multiple (1973, Craft)
  3. Joe Pass, Virtuoso (1973, Craft)
  4. Michel Petrucciani Trio, Jazz Club Montmartre (1988, Storyville '24)
  5. Jaki Byard, Blues for Smoke (1960, Candid)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Eyal Hareuveni (Free Jazz Collective, Salt Peanuts, Percorsi Musicali)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Sophie Agnel, Song (Relative Pitch)
  2. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku)
  3. El Infierno Musical, II (Klanggalerie)
  4. Anna Högberg Attack, Ensamseglaren (Fönstret)
  5. Rodrigo Amado, The Bridge: Further Beyond (Trost)
  6. Lava Quartet, Ethereal Chant (Fundacja Słuchaj)
  7. Izumi Kimura & Gerry Hemingway, How the Dust Falls (Auricle)
  8. Tim Berne - Tom Rainey - Gregg Belisle-Chi, Yikes Too (Screwgun/Out of Your Head)
  9. Paal Nilssen-Love Circus With the Ex Guitars, Turn Thy Loose (PNL)
  10. The Ex, If Your Mirror Breaks (Ex)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Fred Frith and the Gravity Band (2014, Klanggalerie)
  2. Peter Brötzmann - Jason Adasiewicz - Steve Noble - John Edwards, The Quartet: Cafe Oto, London, February, 10 & 11, 2023 (Otoroku)
  3. Mujician, In Concerts (1993-2010, Jazz in Britain)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Chris Heim (KMUW-FM [Wichita, KS])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ron Blake, Scratch Band (7Ten33 Productions)
  2. JD Allen, Love Letters (The Ballad Sessions) (Savant)
  3. Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM)
  4. Thomas Fonnesbæk, In Rome (Storyville '24)
  5. Ted Piltzecker, Peace Vibes (OA2)
  6. Ben Sidran, Are We There Yet (Bonsai/Nardis)
  7. Mike Freeman Zonavibe, Circles in a Yellow Room (VOF)
  8. Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant)
  9. Nanami Haruta, The Vibe (Origin)
  10. Wild Iris Brass Band, Way Up (Ear Up)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Ike Quebec, The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions (1959-62, Blue Note)
  2. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance)
  3. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Tad Hendrickson (freelance)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)
  2. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic)
  3. Marshall Allen, New Dawn (Mexican Summer)
  4. Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love)
  5. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook)
  6. Chicago Underground Duo, Hyperglyph (International Anthem)
  7. Anouar Brahem, After the Last Sky (ECM)
  8. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)
  9. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi)
  10. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Jaimie Branch, Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise [IA11 Edition] (2019, International Anthem)
  2. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue)
  3. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Andrey Henkin (JazzTimes, Stereophile, Jazzwise, Jazz Passings)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Angles 11, Tell Them It's the Sound of Freedom (Fundacja Sluchaj)
  2. Mats Gustafsson - Ken Vandermark - Tomeka Reid - Chad Taylor, Pivot (Silkheart)
  3. Kim Jung Jae, Shamanism (Relative Pitch)
  4. Littorina Saxophone Quartet, Leaking Pipes (NoBusiness)
  5. Eric McPherson, Double Bass Quartet (Giant Step Arts)
  6. Ava Mendoza - Gabby Fluke-Mogul - Carolina Pérez, Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance)
  7. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia)
  8. Ben Stapp, Uzmic Ro'Samg (577)
  9. Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi)
  10. John Zorn & Dave Lombardo, Memories, Dreams, and Reflections (Tzadik)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Dave Burrell & Sam Woodyard, The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness)
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance)
  3. James Newton Quartet, Live in Willisau Switzerland 1983 (Rhythm 'n' Flow)
  4. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt)
  5. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Dylan Hicks (NR MINT)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue)
  2. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Geoffrey Himes (JazzTimes, Chamber Music)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note)
  2. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia)
  3. Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Chris Potter - Eric Harland - Larry Grenadier, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (5Passion)
  4. Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi)
  5. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi)
  6. Lucian Ban - John Surman - Mat Maneri, Cantica Profana (Sunnyside)
  7. Ron Blake, Scratch Band (7Ten33 Productions)
  8. Billy Hart Quartet, Just (ECM)
  9. Joe Lovano, Homage (ECM)
  10. Baltimore Jazz Collective, Baltimore Jazz Collective (Stricker Street)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Thelonious Monk, Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside)
  2. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note)
  3. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance)
  4. Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM)
  5. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note '24)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Rob Hoff (WQLN NPR [Erie, PA], WETF [South Bend, IN], JazzErie)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt)
  2. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch)
  3. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music)
  4. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook)
  5. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi)
  6. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
  7. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)
  8. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic)
  9. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic)
  10. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue)
  2. Charlie Parker, Bird in Kansas City (1941-51, Verve '24)
  3. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance)
  4. Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound: Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music)
  5. George Colligan, Live at the Jazz Standard (2014, Whirlwind)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Larry Hollis (Cadence)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Billy Hart, Multidirectional (Smoke Sessions)
  2. Todd Herbert, Captain Hubs (TH Productions)
  3. Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room (Smoke Sessions)
  4. Eric Alexander, Like Sugar (Cellar Live)
  5. Al Foster, Live at Smoke (Smoke Sessions)
  6. Joe Magnarelli, Concord (SteepleChase)
  7. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note)
  8. Sharel Cassity, Gratitude (Sunnyside)
  9. George Coleman, George Coleman With Strings (HighNote)
  10. Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet, Turn It Up!: Live at the Sidedoor (2004-24, Cellar Music)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Chet Baker, Five From '65: The Quintet Summer Sessions (New Land)
  2. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note)
  3. Roland Kirk Quartet, Domino: Live at Radio Bremen TV-Studios 1963 (1963, MIG)
  4. Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler)
  5. Alts 'N Outs: The Other Side of Blue Note (1958-64, Blue Note)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Mark Holston (Latino, Jazziz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Alan Broadbent, Threads of Time (Savant)
  2. Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound: Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music)
  3. Cyrus Chestnut, Rhythm, Melody and Harmony (HighNote)
  4. Mike Clark, Itai Doshin (Wide Hive)
  5. JD Allen, Love Letters (The Ballad Sessions) (Savant)
  6. The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, Mixed Bag (Summit)
  7. Eddie Daniels, To Milton With Love (Resonance)
  8. Lafayette Harris Jr., All in Good Time (Savant)
  9. Seth MacFarlane, Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements (Verve)
  10. Thom Rotella, Right Time Left (HighNote)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Emily Remler, Cookin' at the Queens: Live in Las Vegas 1984 & 1988 (Resonance '24)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

C. Andrew Hovan (All About Jazz, DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room (Smoke Sessions)
  2. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork)
  3. Brandee Younger, Gadabout Season (Impulse!)
  4. Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note)
  5. Jimmy Greene, As We Are Now (Greene Music Works)
  6. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note)
  7. Dave Stryker, Stryker With Strings Goes to the Movies (Strikezone)
  8. Gregory Groover Jr., Old Knew (Criss Cross Jazz)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Bill Evans, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (1959-61, Craft)
  2. Pharoah Sanders, The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings (1980-87, Mosaic)
  3. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note)
  4. Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, The Old Country: More From the Deer Head Inn (1992, ECM '24)
  5. Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Uncounted excess picks for Rara Avis: Sonny Criss, Sonny's Dream (Birth of the New Cool) (1968, Craft); Ken McIntyre & Eric Dolphy, Looking Ahead (1961, Craft); Nathan Davis, Happy Girl (MPS)

Tom Hull (Tom Hull - On the Web, Notes on Everyday Life)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)
  2. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music)
  3. Archer, Sudden Dusk (Aerophonic)
  4. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi)
  5. Sheila Jordan With Roni Ben-Hur & Harvie S, Portrait Now (Dot Time)
  6. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)
  7. Rodrigo Amado, The Bridge: Further Beyond (Trost)
  8. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite)
  9. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku)
  10. Motian & More, Gratitude (Phonogram Unit)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin)
  2. Jimmy Lyons, Live From Studio Rivbea: 1974 & 1976 (NoBusiness)
  3. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance)
  4. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance)
  5. Griot Galaxy, Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see The Best Jazz Albums of 2025

Peter Hum (The Ottawa Citizen)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams)
  2. Billy Hart, Multidirectional (Smoke Sessions)
  3. Al Foster, Live at Smoke (Smoke Sessions)
  4. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork)
  5. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music)
  6. Johnathan Blake, My Life Matters (Blue Note)
  7. Joe Lovano, Homage (ECM)
  8. Aaron Parks, By All Means!! (Blue Note)
  9. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM)
  10. Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Thelonious Monk, Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside)
  2. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance)
  3. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance)
  4. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Jim Hynes (Glide, PostGenre, Making a Scene!)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch)
  2. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic)
  3. Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu)
  4. Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts)
  5. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook)
  6. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM)
  7. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)
  8. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)
  9. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
  10. Aaron Parks, By All Means!! (Blue Note)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds)
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance)
  3. Carlos Garnett, Cosmos Nucleus (1976, Muse/Time Traveler)
  4. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Strasbourg 82 (Gearbox)
  5. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Willard Jenkins (The Independent Ear, DownBeat, DC Jazz Festival, Ain't But a Few of Us)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note '24)
  2. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: O'Farrill album not explicitly listed under Latin Jazz.

Martin Johnson (NPR Fresh Air, Wall Street Journal)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)
  2. Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity)
  3. Chicago Underground Duo, Hyperglyph (International Anthem)
  4. Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi)
  5. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic)
  6. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
  7. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia)
  8. Brandee Younger, Gadabout Season (Impulse!)
  9. Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head)
  10. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Sanford Josephson (Jersey Jazz Magazine)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Matthieu Jouan (Citizen Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Brìghde Chaimbeul, Sunwise (Tak:til)
  2. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic)
  3. Lagon Nwar, Lagon Nwar (AirFono)
  4. Signe Emmeluth - Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Axel Filip, Hyperboreal Trio (Relative Pitch)
  5. Bruno Angelini - Sakina Abdou - Angelika Niescier, Lotus Flowers (Abalone)
  6. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM)
  7. Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz)
  8. Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head)
  9. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
  10. Ronny Graupe's Szelest, Newfoundland Tristesse (BMC)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance)
  2. Charles Mingus, Mingus at Monterey (1964, Candid)
  3. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ammar Kalia (The Guardian, The Observer, DownBeat, Jazzwise)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Laura Jurd, Rites & Revelations (New Soil)
  2. Wojtek Mazolewski, Solo (WMQ/NoPaper)
  3. Makaya McCraven, Off the Record (International Anthem)
  4. Enji, Sonor (Squama)
  5. Emma Rawicz, Inkyra (ACT Music)
  6. Sarathy Korwar, There Is Beauty, There Already (Otherland)
  7. Fergus McCreadie, The Shieling (Edition)
  8. Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories)
  9. L'Antidote, L'Antidote (Ponderosa Music)
  10. Pino Palladino & Blake Mills, That Wasn't a Dream (Impulse!)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Don Cherry & Latif Khan, Music/Sangam (1978, Heavenly Sweetness)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Richard B. Kamins (Step Tempest)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts)
  2. Kenny Wheeler Legacy, Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores (Greenleaf Music)
  3. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note)
  4. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music)
  5. The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head)
  6. Joe Chambers - Kevin Diehl - Chad Taylor, Onilu (Eremite)
  7. Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music)
  8. Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork)
  9. Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head)
  10. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue)
  2. Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside)
  3. The Dave Robbins Big Band, Happy Faces (1963-65, Cellar Music)
  4. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance)
  5. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT