The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025
Ballots 2025 [5]
George Kanzler (Hot House, New York City Jazz Record)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- 3 Cohens & WDR Big Band, Interaction (Anzic) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music) →
- Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant) →
- John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
- Dayna Stephens, Monk'D (Contagious Music) →
- Steve Nelson - Joris Teepe - Eric Ineke, A Common Language (Daybreak) →
- Michael Dease, City Life: Music of Greg Hill (Origin) →
- Eric Scott Reed, Out Late (Smoke Sessions) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- 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) →
- Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →
VOCAL
- Paul Marinaro, Mood Ellington (Origin) →
- Rebecca Kilgore, A Little Taste: A Tribute to Dave Frishberg (Cherry Pie Music '24) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet, El Muki (Saponegro) →
- Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra, A Centennial Salute to Tito & Tito (Truth Revolution) →
DEBUT
- Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
- Caelan Cardello, Chapter One (Jazz Bird) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
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)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
- Dave Douglas, Alloy (Greenleaf Music) →
- Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
- Jason Moran - Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Ole Morten Vagan, Go to Your North (Yes) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
LATIN
- Ryan Keberle & Collectiv Do Brasil, Choro Das Aguas (Alternate Side) →
DEBUT
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
Note: See also The 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2025
Yoshi Kato (DownBeat, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Classical Voice)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Sasha Berliner, Fantôme (Outside In Music) →
- Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) →
- Jeong Lim Yang, Synchronicity (Sunnyside) →
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- John O'Gallagher - Ben Monder - Andrew Cyrille - Billy Hart, Ancestral (Whirlwind) →
- Sarah Wilson, Incandescence (Brass Tonic) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
- Kenny Burrell With Art Blakey, On View at the Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters (1959, Blue Note) →
- Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, At the Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings (1992, ECM) →
- Albert Ayler With Don Cherry, Europe 1964 (ORG Music) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (1973, Strata East/Mack Avenue) →
VOCAL
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
- Ola Onabulé & Nicolas Meier, Proof of Life (Rugged Ram) →
LATIN
- Etienne Charles, Gullah Roots (Culture Shock) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Paquito D'Rivera & Madrid-New York Connection Band, La Fleur De Cayenne (Sunnyside) →
DEBUT
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
- Adrian Galante, Introducing Adrian Galante (Zoho) →
- Milan Verbist Trio, Time Change (Origin) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- أحمد [Ahmed], Giant Beauty (Fönstret '24) →
- Billy Hart Quartet, Just (ECM) →
- Alan Niblock - John Butcher - Mark Sanders, Tectonic Plates (577) →
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
- Ava Mendoza - Gabby Fluke-Mogul - Carolina Pérez, Mama Killa (Burning Ambulance) →
- Larry Stabbins & Mark Sanders, Cup & Ring (Discus Music) →
- John Butcher/John Edwards, This Is Not Speculation (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
- James McKain, Damon Smith & Weasel Walter, . . . Seeing the Way the Mole Tunnels . . . (Balance Point Acoustics/International School of Evidence) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Larry Stabbins - Keith Tippett - Louis Moholo-Moholo, Live in Foggia (1985, Ogun) →
- Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
- Derek Bailey & John Stevens, The Duke of Wellington (1989, Confront) →
- Joseph Holbrooke, Last Live 2001: In Memoriam Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley (Tzadik) →
- Mujician, In Concerts (1993-2010, Jazz in Britain) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Pat Thomas, Hikmah (TAO Forms) →
- Jason Moran - Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Ole Morten Vagan, Go to Your North (Yes) →
- Paul Rogers, Peace and Happiness (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
- John Dikeman - Sun-Mi Hong - Aaron Lumley - Marta Warelis, Old Adam on Turtle Island (Relative Pitch) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Jakob Bro - Wadada Leo Smith - Marilyn Crispell - Andrew Cyrille, The Montclair Session (Loveland Music) →
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Dave Burrell & Sam Woodyard, The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness) →
- Snakeoil, In Lieu Of (2012, Screwgun) →
- Jessica Williams, Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-1987 (Pre-Echo Press) →
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
VOCAL
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
- Jason Moran - Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Ole Morten Vagan, Go to Your North (Yes) →
- Lex Korten, Canopy (Sounderscore) →
LATIN
DEBUT
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
- Kim Jung Jae, Shamanism (Relative Pitch) →
- Lex Korten, Canopy (Sounderscore) →
Note: See also TNB 2025 Top 50 New Jazz and Experimental Albums of the Year
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Alchemy Sound Project & Sumi Tonooka, Under the Surface (ARC) →
- Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
- The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
- Sarah Wilson, Incandescence (Brass Tonic) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu) →
- Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quintet, Sound Remains (Whirlwind) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (1973, Strata East/Mack Avenue) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Clifford Jordan, Glass Bead Games (1973, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
- Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Dawn (Stretch) →
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Theo Bleckmann, Love and Anger (Sunnyside) →
LATIN
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Dino Saluzzi, El Viejo Caminante (ECM) →
DEBUT
- Inés Velasco, A Flash of Cobalt Blue (self-released) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
- Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio, Dream a Dream (Libra) →
- Nicole Glover, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant) →
- Eunhye Jeong & Michael Bisio, Morning Bells Whistle Bright (ESP-Disk) →
- Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp, Realism (ESP-Disk) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
- PlainsPeak, Someone to Someone (Irabbagast) →
- Pat Thomas, Hikmah (TAO Forms) →
- Sarah Wilson, Incandescence (Brass Tonic) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
- Marco Eneidi Quintet, Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (2004, Balance Point Acoustics) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
David Kunian (Offbeat, WWOZ-FM [New Orleans], New Orleans Jazz Museum, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Archer, Sudden Dusk (Aerophonic) →
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Nicole Glover, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
- Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
- Kyle Roussel, Church of New Orleans (self-released) →
- Brad Walker, A Sliver of Catharsis (self-released) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
- McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note '24) →
- Bennie Maupin, The Jewel in the Lotus (1974, ECM) →
- King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Centennial (1923, Archeophone '24) →
- Sun Ra, Hidden Fire (1988, Strut) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
- David Bode, Good Hang (1718) →
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Lucian Ban - John Surman - Mat Maneri, The Athenaeum Concert (Sunnyside) →
- Silke Eberhard Trio, Being-a-Ning (Intakt) →
- ICP Orchestra, Happy Birthday → Naar Zee Z.O.Z. (ICP) →
- Mark Masters Ensemble, Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) →
- Max Nagl Quintett, Phasolny (Rude Noises) →
- Camila Nebbia - Marilyn Crispell - Lesley Mok, A Reflection Distorts Over Water (Relative Pitch) →
- Oakland Reductionist Orchestra, West and East Baying (Queen Bee) →
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
- Giancarlo Schiaffini & Daniel Studer, Breeze (Linae Occultae) →
- Ken Vandermark, Snapshots: Complete (Kilogram '23) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Thelonious Monk, Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Satoko Fujii GEN, Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra) →
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- Paul Hecht, Pyrography (Ears & Eyes) →
- Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds & Catherine Russell, Cat & the Hounds (Turtle Bay) →
- Paul Marinaro, Mood Ellington (Origin) →
- Petra Onderuf Quartet, An Odd Time of Day (Kaipati) →
- Shuteen Erdenebaatar & Nils Kugelmann, Under the Same Stars (Motéma Music) →
- John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument, Points in Time (See Tao) →
- Jim Witzel, Very Early: Remembering Bill Evans (Joplin & Sweeney) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- 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) →
- Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →
VOCAL
- Paul Marinaro, Mood Ellington (Origin) →
- Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds & Catherine Russell, Cat & the Hounds (Turtle Bay) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
LATIN
- Catina DeLuna & Otmar Ruiz, Lado B Brazilian Project 2 (Sunnyside) →
- Alex "Apolo" Ayala & the Bámbula Project, Afro Puerto Rican Jazz (PMC/Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Petra Onderuf Quartet, An Odd Time of Day (Kaipati) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Peter Evans/Being & Becoming, Ars Ludicra (More Is More) →
- Matt Mitchell, Sacrosancticity (Obliquity) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
- Camila Meza, Portal (GroundUP Music) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Lex Korten, Canopy (Sounderscore) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
Note: See also The Best Jazz of 2025
Devin Leonard (Bloomberg Businessweek)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Mark Turner, We Raise Them to Lift Their Heads (Loveland Music) →
- Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Al Foster, Live at Smoke (Smoke Sessions) →
- Kurt Rosenwinkel + Orquestra Jazz De Matosinhos, Our Secret World: Live at Cara (Bandit Digital Media Services) →
- Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
- Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
- Out Of/Into [Joel Ross - Gerald Clayton - Kendrick Scott - Matt Brewer- Immanuel Wilkins], Motion II (Blue Note) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- David Binney, Grains of Light (2009-13, Mythology) →
- Bill Evans, Further Ahead: Live in Finland 1964-1969 (Elemental Music) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- Jaleel Shaw, Painter of the Invisible (Changu) →
- Simon Spillett, Up in Town (Mister PC) →
- The Birdland Big Band, Storybook: The Music of Mark Miller (Birdland) →
- Dayna Stephens, Hopium (Contagious Music) →
- Spike Wilner Trio Contrafactus, The Children & the Warlock (Cellar Music) →
- Kandace Springs, Lady in Satin (SRP) →
- Noah Preminger, Ballads (Chill Tone) →
- Gareth Lockrane Big Band, Box of Tricks (Whirlwind) →
- Nigel Price Organ Trio, It's On! (self-released) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Nancy Harrow, Wild Women Don't Have the Blues (1960, Candid) →
- The Charlie Watts Orchestra, Live Fulham Town Hall (1986, BMG) →
- Louis Stewart, I Thought About You (1977, Livia) →
- Ted Brown, Just You, Just Me (2013, New Artists) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
VOCAL
- Kandace Springs, Lady in Satin (SRP) →
- Shout Section Big Band + Tatum Langley, Tatum's Swingin' Session!!! (self-released) →
- Emma Smith, Bitter Orange (La Reserve) →
- Georgia Mancio & Alan Broadbent, A Story Left Untold (Roomspin) →
LATIN
- Catina DeLuna & Otmar Ruiz, Lado B Brazilian Project 2 (Sunnyside) →
- Wild Iris Brass Band, Way Up (Ear Up) →
- Antonio Adolfo, Carnaval: The Songs Were So Beautiful (AAM Music) →
DEBUT
Note: Extra Vocal vote dropped for Tessa Souter, Treasures and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Ternion Q Expanded [Anne Mette Iversen], Marbles (Brooklyn Jazz Underground) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Dayna Stephens, Hopium (Contagious Music) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Chick Corea - Christian McBride - Brian Blade, Trilogy 3 (2020, Candid) →
- James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
- Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
- Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps, Music Inc. (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
VOCAL
- Theo Bleckmann, Love and Anger (Sunnyside) →
- Brian Byrne, She Must Go (Timberlake) →
- Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Dawn (Stretch) →
LATIN
- Paquito D'Rivera & Madrid-New York Connection Band, La Fleur De Cayenne (Sunnyside) →
- Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra, A Centennial Salute to Tito & Tito (Truth Revolution) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Leon Anderson, Live at Snug Harbor (Outside In Music) →
- Leandro Cardenas, Against the Jazz Police (577) →
- Evan Main - Walter Stinson - Steven Crammer, Prawntail (Endectomorph Music) →
Suzanne Lorge (DownBeat, New York City Jazz Record)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Béla Fleck - Edmar Castañeda - Antonio Sanchez, BEATrio (Thirty Tigers) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- The Westerlies, Paradise (Westerlies) →
- Jon Batiste, Beethoven Blues (Verve '24) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) →
- Chick Corea - Christian McBride - Brian Blade, Trilogy 3 (2020, Candid) →
- Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Chick Corea, Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 (1971, ECM) →
- Charlie Parker, Bird in Kansas City (1941-51, Verve '24) →
- Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, The Old Country: More From the Deer Head Inn (1992, ECM '24) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
- Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →
VOCAL
- Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) →
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
- Juan Chiavassa, Fourth Generation (Whirlwind) →
- Milan Verbist Trio, Time Change (Origin) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
- Anthony Joseph, Rowing Up River to Get Our Names Back (Heavenly Sweetness) →
- Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →
- James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
- Silt Remembrance Ensemble [Luke Stewart], The Order (Cuneiform) →
- Rodrigo Amado, The Bridge: Further Beyond (Trost) →
- Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Ibex Band, Stereo Instrumental Music (1976, Muzikawi) →
VOCAL
- Maria Muldaur, One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey (Nola Blue) →
LATIN
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk) →
Note: Also see 45 favorite albums of my 2025
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quintet, Sound Remains (Whirlwind) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Gary Bartz & NTU, The Eternal Tenure of Sound: Damage Control (OYO) →
- Johnathan Blake, My Life Matters (Blue Note) →
- Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
- Aaron Parks, By All Means!! (Blue Note) →
- Alchemy Sound Project & Sumi Tonooka, Under the Surface (ARC) →
- Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- John Coltrane, The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (Impulse!) →
- Bill Evans, Moon Beams (1962, Craft) →
- Lee Morgan, The Procrastinator (1967, Blue Note) →
- Wayne Shorter, Introducing Wayne Shorter (1960, Craft) →
- Tony Williams, Civilization (1986, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
- Kurt Elling & Joey Calderazzo, Wildflowers Vol. 2 (Edition '24) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Claudia Solal & Benjamin Moussay, Punk Moon (Jazzdor) →
LATIN
- Paquito D'Rivera & Madrid-New York Connection Band, La Fleur De Cayenne (Sunnyside) →
- Manuel Valera New Cuban Express, Rise Again Vol. 2 (Mavo) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Mike Holober & the Gotham Jazz Orchestra, This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters (Palmetto '24) →
- Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound: Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music) →
- Ensemble C, Every Journey (Adhyâropa) →
- Alchemy Sound Project & Sumi Tonooka, Under the Surface (ARC) →
- Ben Goldberg - Todd Sickafoose - Scott Amendola, Here to There (Secret Hatch '24) →
- Fred Hersch & Rondi Charleston, Suspended in Time: A Song Cycle (Resilience Music Alliance) →
- Adegoke Steve Colson & Iqua Colson With Andrew Cyrille & Mark Helias, Glow: Music for Trio . . . Add Voice (Silver Sphinx) →
- Peter Lenz, Breathe: Music for Large Ensembles (GamsbART '24) →
- Michika Fukumori, Eternity and a Day (Summit) →
- Phil Haynes & Free Country, Liberty Now! (1996-2025, Corner Store Jazz) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Centennial: The Music of Thad Jones: Live at the Village Vanguard (2024, BCM+D '24) →
- The Charlie Rouse Band, Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition (1977, Resonance) →
- James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
VOCAL
- Fred Hersch & Rondi Charleston, Suspended in Time: A Song Cycle (Resilience Music Alliance) →
- Ben Sidran, Are We There Yet (Bonsai/Nardis) →
- Lorraine Feather, The Green World (Relation) →
LATIN
- Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jazz Is Dead 24: Dom Salvador (Jazz Is Dead) →
- Samantha Schmutz & Adrian Younge, Samantha & Adrian (Linear Labs) →
- Roger Glenn, My Latin Heart (Patois) →
DEBUT
- Nicola Caminiti, Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait (self-released '24) →
- Heirloom, Familiar Beginnings (Shifting Paradigm) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Carl Allen, Tippin' (Cellar) →
- Gregg Belisle-Chi, Slow Crawl: Performing the Music of Tim Berne (Intakt) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Carmen Staaf, Sounding Line (Sunnyside) →
- David Torn, Peace Upon You (self-released) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Snakeoil, In Lieu Of (2012, Screwgun) →
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Cecil McBee, Mutima (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
VOCAL
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
LATIN
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
Peter Margasak (Nowhere Street, The Wire, Bandcamp Daily, DownBeat, Chamber Music)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Natural Information Society, Perseverance Flow (Eremite) →
- Anna Högberg Attack, Ensamseglaren (Fönstret) →
- Jeong Lim Yang, Synchronicity (Sunnyside) →
- The Necks, Disquiet (Northern Spy) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
- The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
- Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
- Roland Keijser Kvartett, Öppet 03/Tre (1968-69, Caprice) →
VOCAL
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Fred Moten & Brandon López, Revision (TAO Forms) →
LATIN
DEBUT
- Not Normal, Modærn Qualitet (SauaJazz) →
- Erez Dessel, Pro Fake No Reject (Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
- Dabin Ryu, Trio! (Endectomorph Music) →