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