The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025

Ballots 2025 [5]

George Kanzler (Hot House, New York City Jazz Record)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. 3 Cohens & WDR Big Band, Interaction (Anzic) →
  2. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  3. Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music) →
  4. Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant) →
  5. John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →
  6. Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
  7. Dayna Stephens, Monk'D (Contagious Music) →
  8. Steve Nelson - Joris Teepe - Eric Ineke, A Common Language (Daybreak) →
  9. Michael Dease, City Life: Music of Greg Hill (Origin) →
  10. Eric Scott Reed, Out Late (Smoke Sessions) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
  2. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  3. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
  4. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
  5. Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Dropped excess Vocal votes: Champian Fulton & Klas Lindquist, At Home (Turtle Bay); Allan Harris, The Poetry of Jazz (Blue Llama); Latin votes: The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective, Cortadito (JGB Music); Eddie Daniels, To Milton With Love (Resonance)

Fred Kaplan (Slate, Tracking Angle)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  2. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  3. Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
  4. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
  5. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  6. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  7. David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
  8. Dave Douglas, Alloy (Greenleaf Music) →
  9. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
  10. Jason Moran - Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Ole Morten Vagan, Go to Your North (Yes) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: See also The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2025

Yoshi Kato (DownBeat, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Classical Voice)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  2. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  3. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
  4. Sasha Berliner, Fantôme (Outside In Music) →
  5. Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) →
  6. Jeong Lim Yang, Synchronicity (Sunnyside) →
  7. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
  8. John O'Gallagher - Ben Monder - Andrew Cyrille - Billy Hart, Ancestral (Whirlwind) →
  9. Sarah Wilson, Incandescence (Brass Tonic) →
  10. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
  2. Kenny Burrell With Art Blakey, On View at the Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters (1959, Blue Note) →
  3. Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, At the Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings (1992, ECM) →
  4. Albert Ayler With Don Cherry, Europe 1964 (ORG Music) →
  5. Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (1973, Strata East/Mack Avenue) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Glenn Kenny (Some Came Running, RogerEbert.com, New York Times)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. أحمد [Ahmed], Giant Beauty (Fönstret '24) →
  2. Billy Hart Quartet, Just (ECM) →
  3. Alan Niblock - John Butcher - Mark Sanders, Tectonic Plates (577) →
  4. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  5. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  6. Ava Mendoza - Gabby Fluke-Mogul - Carolina Pérez, Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance) →
  7. Larry Stabbins & Mark Sanders, Cup & Ring (Discus Music) →
  8. John Butcher/John Edwards, This Is Not Speculation (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  9. James McKain, Damon Smith & Weasel Walter, . . . Seeing the Way the Mole Tunnels . . . (Balance Point Acoustics/International School of Evidence) →
  10. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Larry Stabbins - Keith Tippett - Louis Moholo-Moholo, Live in Foggia (1985, Ogun) →
  2. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
  3. Derek Bailey & John Stevens, The Duke of Wellington (1989, Confront) →
  4. Joseph Holbrooke, Last Live 2001: In Memoriam Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley (Tzadik) →
  5. Mujician, In Concerts (1993-2010, Jazz in Britain) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

James Koblin (The Necessary Blues, WVKR 91.3FM [Vassar College])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  2. Pat Thomas, Hikmah (TAO Forms) →
  3. Jason Moran - Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Ole Morten Vagan, Go to Your North (Yes) →
  4. Paul Rogers, Peace and Happiness (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  5. Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
  6. John Dikeman - Sun-Mi Hong - Aaron Lumley - Marta Warelis, Old Adam on Turtle Island (Relative Pitch) →
  7. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  8. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  9. Jakob Bro - Wadada Leo Smith - Marilyn Crispell - Andrew Cyrille, The Montclair Session (Loveland Music) →
  10. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Dave Burrell & Sam Woodyard, The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness) →
  2. Snakeoil, In Lieu Of (2012, Screwgun) →
  3. Jessica Williams, Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-1987 (Pre-Echo Press) →
  4. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  5. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: See also TNB 2025 Top 50 New Jazz and Experimental Albums of the Year

Elzy Kolb (freelance)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  2. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  3. Alchemy Sound Project & Sumi Tonooka, Under the Surface (ARC) →
  4. Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
  5. The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Sarah Wilson, Incandescence (Brass Tonic) →
  7. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
  8. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  9. Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu) →
  10. Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quintet, Sound Remains (Whirlwind) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (1973, Strata East/Mack Avenue) →
  2. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  3. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  4. Clifford Jordan, Glass Bead Games (1973, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  5. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Stuart Kremsky (Mr. Stu's Record Room)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

David Kunian (Offbeat, WWOZ-FM [New Orleans], New Orleans Jazz Museum, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Art Lange (freelance)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  2. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  3. Thelonious Monk, Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Tim Larsen (Jazz Views)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  2. Satoko Fujii GEN, Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra) →
  3. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
  4. Paul Hecht, Pyrography (Ears & Eyes) →
  5. Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds & Catherine Russell, Cat & the Hounds (Turtle Bay) →
  6. Paul Marinaro, Mood Ellington (Origin) →
  7. Petra Onderuf Quartet, An Odd Time of Day (Kaipati) →
  8. Shuteen Erdenebaatar & Nils Kugelmann, Under the Same Stars (Motéma Music) →
  9. John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument, Points in Time (See Tao) →
  10. Jim Witzel, Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans (Joplin & Sweeney) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →
  3. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
  4. Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Will Layman (PopMatters, Big Butter & Egg Man)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  2. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  3. Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
  4. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  5. Peter Evans/Being & Becoming, Ars Ludicra (More Is More) →
  6. Matt Mitchell, Sacrosancticity (Obliquity) →
  7. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  8. Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) →
  9. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  10. John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  2. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  3. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: See also The Best Jazz of 2025

Devin Leonard (Bloomberg Businessweek)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mark Turner, We Raise Them to Lift Their Heads (Loveland Music) →
  2. Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
  3. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  4. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  5. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  6. Al Foster, Live at Smoke (Smoke Sessions) →
  7. Kurt Rosenwinkel + Orquestra Jazz De Matosinhos, Our Secret World: Live at Cara (Bandit Digital Media Services) →
  8. Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
  9. Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
  10. Out Of/Into [Joel Ross - Gerald Clayton - Kendrick Scott - Matt Brewer- Immanuel Wilkins], Motion II (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
  2. David Binney, Grains of Light (2009-13, Mythology) →
  3. Bill Evans, Further Ahead: Live in Finland 1964-1969 (Elemental Music) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Lance Liddle (Bebop Spoken Here)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
  2. Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu) →
  3. Simon Spillett, Up in Town (Mister PC) →
  4. The Birdland Big Band, Storybook: The Music of Mark Miller (Birdland) →
  5. Dayna Stephens, Hopium (Contagious Music) →
  6. Spike Wilner Trio Contrafactus, The Children & the Warlock (Cellar Music) →
  7. Kandace Springs, Lady in Satin (SRP) →
  8. Noah Preminger, Ballads (Chill Tone) →
  9. Gareth Lockrane Big Band, Box of Tricks (Whirlwind) →
  10. Nigel Price Organ Trio, It's On! (self-released) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Nancy Harrow, Wild Women Don't Have the Blues (1960, Candid) →
  2. The Charlie Watts Orchestra, Live Fulham Town Hall (1986, BMG) →
  3. Louis Stewart, I Thought About You (1977, Livia) →
  4. Ted Brown, Just You, Just Me (2013, New Artists) →
  5. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Extra Vocal vote dropped for Tessa Souter, Treasures and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music)

Mark Lomanno (JazzTimes, The Rhythm of Study, University of Miami)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  2. Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz) →
  3. Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
  4. Ternion Q Expanded [Anne Mette Iversen], Marbles (Brooklyn Jazz Underground) →
  5. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  6. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  7. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  8. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  9. Dayna Stephens, Hopium (Contagious Music) →
  10. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Chick Corea - Christian McBride - Brian Blade, Trilogy 3 (2020, Candid) →
  2. James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
  3. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
  4. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
  5. Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps, Music Inc. (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Suzanne Lorge (DownBeat, New York City Jazz Record)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Béla Fleck - Edmar Castañeda - Antonio Sanchez, BEATrio (Thirty Tigers) →
  2. Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
  3. The Westerlies, Paradise (Westerlies) →
  4. Jon Batiste, Beethoven Blues (Verve '24) →
  5. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  6. Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) →
  7. Chick Corea - Christian McBride - Brian Blade, Trilogy 3 (2020, Candid) →
  8. Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note) →
  9. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  10. Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Chick Corea, Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 (1971, ECM) →
  2. Charlie Parker, Bird in Kansas City (1941-51, Verve '24) →
  3. Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, The Old Country: More From the Deer Head Inn (1992, ECM '24) →
  4. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  5. Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Brad Luen (Semipop Life)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  2. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  3. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  4. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
  5. Anthony Joseph, Rowing Up River to Get Our Names Back (Heavenly Sweetness) →
  6. Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →
  7. James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
  8. Silt Remembrance Ensemble [Luke Stewart], The Order (Cuneiform) →
  9. Rodrigo Amado, The Bridge: Further Beyond (Trost) →
  10. Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Ibex Band, Stereo Instrumental Music (1976, Muzikawi) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see 45 favorite albums of my 2025

Phillip Lutz (DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Kevin Lynch (The Shepherd Express, Culture Currents (Vernaculars Speak))

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mike Holober & the Gotham Jazz Orchestra, This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters (Palmetto '24) →
  2. Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound: Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music) →
  3. Ensemble C, Every Journey (Adhyâropa) →
  4. Alchemy Sound Project & Sumi Tonooka, Under the Surface (ARC) →
  5. Ben Goldberg - Todd Sickafoose - Scott Amendola, Here to There (Secret Hatch '24) →
  6. Fred Hersch & Rondi Charleston, Suspended in Time: A Song Cycle (Resilience Music Alliance) →
  7. Adegoke Steve Colson & Iqua Colson With Andrew Cyrille & Mark Helias, Glow: Music for Trio . . . Add Voice (Silver Sphinx) →
  8. Peter Lenz, Breathe: Music for Large Ensembles (GamsbART '24) →
  9. Michika Fukumori, Eternity and a Day (Summit) →
  10. Phil Haynes & Free Country, Liberty Now! (1996-2025, Corner Store Jazz) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones: Live at the Village Vanguard (2024, BCM+D '24) →
  2. The Charlie Rouse Band, Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition (1977, Resonance) →
  3. James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Jim Macnie (DownBeat, Lament for a Straight Line)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Snakeoil, In Lieu Of (2012, Screwgun) →
  2. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  3. Cecil McBee, Mutima (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Peter Margasak (Nowhere Street, The Wire, Bandcamp Daily, DownBeat, Chamber Music)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Natural Information Society, Perseverance Flow (Eremite) →
  2. Anna Högberg Attack, Ensamseglaren (Fönstret) →
  3. Jeong Lim Yang, Synchronicity (Sunnyside) →
  4. The Necks, Disquiet (Northern Spy) →
  5. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  6. Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz) →
  7. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  8. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  9. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  10. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
  2. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  3. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
  4. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
  5. Roland Keijser Kvartett, Öppet 03/Tre (1968-69, Caprice) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT