The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025
Past Polls Index
New Albums Rara Avis Vocal Latin Debut
Critics
Abreu - BrownleeBuskirk - DrouotDryden - GrossHale - KaminsKanzler - MargasakMedrano - ParnellPerkins - SilvaSlim - WeissWest - Yokoi

Ballots 2025 [6]

Prev[Abreu - Brownlee] · [Buskirk - Drouot] · [Dryden - Gross] · [Hale - Kamins] · [Kanzler - Margasak] · [Medrano - Parnell] · [Perkins - Silva] · [Slim - Weiss] · [West - Yokoi]Next

Paul Medrano (Best of Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see Best Jazz Albums of 2025

Allen Michie (The Arts Fuse)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Omar Thomas Large Ensemble, Griot Songs (Omar Thomas Music) →
  2. Kenny Wheeler Legacy, Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores (Greenleaf Music) →
  3. Jake Hertzog, Ozark Concerto (Zoho) →
  4. Marius Neset, Cabaret (ACT Music) →
  5. Jeremy Pelt, Woven (HighNote) →
  6. Mark Masters Ensemble, Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) →
  7. John Patitucci, Spirit Fall (Edition) →
  8. Sharel Cassity, Gratitude (Sunnyside) →
  9. Gerald Clayton, Ones & Twos (Blue Note) →
  10. Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Michel Petrucciani Trio, Jazz Club Montmartre (1988, Storyville '24) →
  2. Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
  3. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  4. Chick Corea - Christian McBride - Brian Blade, Trilogy 3 (2020, Candid) →
  5. Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Milo Miles (The Arts Fuse, Miles to Go)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Bill Milkowski (DownBeat, Absolute Sound)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
  2. Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
  3. John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →
  4. Joshua Redman, Words Fall Short (Blue Note) →
  5. Dave Douglas, Alloy (Greenleaf Music) →
  6. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  7. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  8. Carl Allen, Tippin' (Cellar) →
  9. Shakti, Mind Explosion: 50th Anniversary Tour Live (Abstract Logix) →
  10. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
  3. Joni Mitchell, Joni's Jazz (1968-2023, Rhino) →
  4. Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Side Up (1957, Verve Vault Series) →
  5. Oscar Peterson, Around the World (1969-81, Mack Avenue/Two Lions) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Roz Milner (Dusted, Milner on Music)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  2. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  3. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  4. James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
  5. Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  7. Matthew Shipp, The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe Music) →
  8. Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi) →
  9. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  10. Out Of/Into [Joel Ross - Gerald Clayton - Kendrick Scott - Matt Brewer- Immanuel Wilkins], Motion II (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  2. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  3. Jessica Williams, Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-1987 (Pre-Echo Press) →
  4. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  5. Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (The Village) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ralph A. Miriello (Notes on Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  2. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
  3. Béla Fleck - Edmar Castañeda - Antonio Sanchez, BEATrio (Thirty Tigers) →
  4. Joe Lovano, Homage (ECM) →
  5. Sinne Eeg & Jacob Christoffersen, Shikiori (Stunt) →
  6. Wolfgang Muthspiel - Scott Colley - Brian Blade, Tokyo (ECM) →
  7. John Ellis, Heroes (Blue Room Music) →
  8. John Patitucci, Spirit Fall (Edition) →
  9. Alex Sipiagin, Reverberations (Criss Cross Jazz) →
  10. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. George Colligan, Live at the Jazz Standard (2014, Whirlwind) →
  2. Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, The Old Country: More From the Deer Head Inn (1992, ECM '24) →
  3. The Charlie Rouse Band, Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition (1977, Resonance) →
  4. John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →
  5. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Rick Mitchell (Jazz in the New Millennium [book/radio program])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
  2. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  3. Joshua Redman, Words Fall Short (Blue Note) →
  4. Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
  5. Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note) →
  6. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  7. David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
  8. Mike Clark, Itai Doshin (Wide Hive) →
  9. Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
  10. Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room (Smoke Sessions) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Ryan Truesdell Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound: Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Chris Monsen (Musikkmagasinet [Klassekampen], Jazznytt, Chris Monsen's Listening Booth)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  2. Christer Bothén 3, L'Invisible (Thanatosis) →
  3. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  4. Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity, Great Intentions (Action Jazz) →
  5. Silt Remembrance Ensemble [Luke Stewart], The Order (Cuneiform) →
  6. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  7. Zanussi 3, A Keen Beast (Sauajazz) →
  8. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  9. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
  10. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  2. Griot Galaxy, Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms) →
  3. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
  4. Jimmy Lyons, Live From Studio Rivbea: 1974 & 1976 (NoBusiness) →
  5. John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see Year end picks: the best albums of 2025.

John Frederick Moore (Jazziz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Amir ElSaffar, New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām) →
  2. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  3. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  4. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  5. Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones, Live in Vilnius (Fern Flower) →
  6. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
  7. Damon Locks, List of Demands (International Anthem) →
  8. Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
  9. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  10. Jason Moran - Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Ole Morten Vagan, Go to Your North (Yes) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  2. Strata-East: The Legacy Begins (1968-75, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  3. Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  4. Kenny Drew Trio, Kenny Drew Trio (1956, Craft) →
  5. Masabumi Kikuchi, Hanamichi: The Final Studio Recording Vol. II (2013, Red Hook) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Allen Morrison (DownBeat, JazzTimes)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Greg Morton (Substack, GMort On Record)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
  2. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  3. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  4. Sinsuke Fujieda Group, Fukushima (SoFa) →
  5. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  6. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
  7. Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk) →
  8. Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz) →
  9. Alexander Hawkins, Song Unconditional (Intakt) →
  10. Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Bees in the Bonnet (Rune Grammofon) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Stuart Nicholson (Jazzwise)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
  2. Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, We Insist 2025! (Candid) →
  3. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  4. Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM) →
  5. Shakti, Mind Explosion: 50th Anniversary Tour Live (Abstract Logix) →
  6. Florian Arbenz - Michael Arbenz - Ron Carter, The Alpine Session: Arbenz Vs. Arbenz Meets Ron Carter (Hammer) →
  7. Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) →
  8. Michael Wollny Trio, Living Ghosts (ACT Music) →
  9. Scott Hamilton, Looking Back (Stunt '24) →
  10. Jasper Høiby, Fellow Creatures: We Must Fight (Edition) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Miles Davis Quintet, Miles in France 1963 & 1964 [The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8] (Columbia/Legacy '24) →
  2. Keith Jarrett - Gary Peacock - Paul Motian, At the Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings (1992, ECM) →
  3. John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →
  4. Terry Gibbs Dream Band, Vol. 7: The Lost Tapes, 1959 (Whaling City Sound '24) →
  5. Al Jarreau & NDR Big Band, Ellington (2016, ACT Music '24) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Fotis Nikolakopoulos (Free Jazz Collective)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Almufaraka, Master of Disorder (Circum-Disc/Tour De Bras '24) →
  2. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
  3. Jean-Luc Guionnet, L'Épaisseur De L'Air Live (Potlatch) →
  4. Ben Bennett, Answers (Lobby Art) →
  5. Ivo Perelman & Tyshawn Sorey, Parallel Aesthetics (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  6. Signe Emmeluth - Ingebrigt Håker Flaten - Axel Filip, Hyperboreal Trio (Relative Pitch) →
  7. John Butcher/John Edwards, This Is Not Speculation (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  8. Kai Fagaschinski, Aerodynamics (Ni Vu Ni Connu) →
  9. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  10. Sven-Åke Johansson - Pierre Borel - Seymour Wright - Joel Grip, Two Days at Café Oto (Otoroku) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Ansamblul Hyperion, Conducerea Muzicală: Iancu Dumitrescu (1980, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Ivana Ng (DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Tim Niland (Bluesky)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
  2. Dave Rempis - Jason Adasiewicz - Chris Corsano, Dial Up (Aerophonic) →
  3. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  4. Dave Rempis - Russ Johnson - Jakob Heinemann - Jeremy Cunningham, Embers and Ash (Aerophonic) →
  5. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
  6. Tomas Fujiwara, Dream Up (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Yuhan Su, Over the Moons (Endectomorph Music) →
  8. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  9. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  10. Brom, Чёрная голова [Black Head] (Addicted Label) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Snakeoil, In Lieu Of (2012, Screwgun) →
  2. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
  3. Paul Bley Trio, Floater & Syndrome: The Upright Piano Sessions Revisited (1962-63, Ezz-Thetics) →
  4. Charles Tolliver's Music Inc, Live at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival (1972, Strata-East) →
  5. Joe Henderson, Our Thing to In 'n Out Revisited (1963-64, Ezz-Thetics) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see: 2025 Reset.

Piotr Orlov (Dada Strain, ArtForum, Pitchfork)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Dan Ouellette (DownBeat, Stereophile, QWEST.TV, Jazz & Beyond Intel, The Landfill Chronicles)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, Spin (Ronin Rhythm '24) →
  2. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  3. Wadada Leo Smith & Sylvie Courvoisier, Angel Falls (Intakt) →
  4. Amir ElSaffar, New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām) →
  5. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  6. Steve Tibbetts, Close (ECM) →
  7. Tommaso Perazzo - Marcello Cardillo - Buster Williams, Portrait of a Moment (Red) →
  8. Chano Dominguez & Ethan Margolis, The Blues Around Us (Unifying Sounds) →
  9. Ensemble C, Every Journey (Adhyâropa) →
  10. Anouar Brahem, After the Last Sky (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Ballot says "top 10 albums in no order," but not alphabetized so counted as ranked.

Phil Overeem (Living to Listen)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
  2. Peter Brötzmann - Jason Adasiewicz - Steve Noble - John Edwards, The Quartet: Cafe Oto, London, February, 10 & 11, 2023 (Otoroku) →
  3. Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz) →
  4. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  5. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  6. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  7. Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk) →
  8. William Hooker, Jubilation (ORG Music) →
  9. Otherlands Trio [Stephan Crump - Darius Jones - Eric McPherson], Star Mountain (Intakt) →
  10. Joe Chambers - Kevin Diehl - Chad Taylor, Onilu (Eremite) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →
  3. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
  4. Marco Eneidi Quintet, Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (2004, Balance Point Acoustics) →
  5. Shamek Farrah & Sonelius Smith, The World of the Children (1976, Strata-East) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: See also It Will Not End Here: My 25 Favorite Records of 2025 (if you don't give me any more time to think about it)

Ted Panken (DownBeat, Jazziz, JazzTimes)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Barron, Sunset to Dawn (1973, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  2. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
  3. Chick Corea, Piano Improvisations Vol. 1 (1971, ECM) →
  4. Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions (1953-57, Mosaic '24) →
  5. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Annie Parnell (Nashville Scene, FLOOD)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
  2. Alabaster DePlume, A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole (International Anthem) →
  3. Brandee Younger, Gadabout Season (Impulse!) →
  4. Patrick Shiroishi, Forgetting Is Violent (American Dream) →
  5. Brad Mehldau, Ride Into the Sun (Nonesuch) →
  6. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  7. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
  8. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  9. Brigitte Beraha's Lucid Dreamers, Teasing Reflections (Let Me Out) →
  10. Harold López-Nussa, Nueva Timba (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Amanda Whiting, The Liminality of Her [Deluxe Edition] (2024, First Word) →
  2. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
  3. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme [Monophonic Edition] (1964, Impulse!) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

 

Prev[Abreu - Brownlee] · [Buskirk - Drouot] · [Dryden - Gross] · [Hale - Kamins] · [Kanzler - Margasak] · [Medrano - Parnell] · [Perkins - Silva] · [Slim - Weiss] · [West - Yokoi]Next