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 [7]

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

Terry Perkins (DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. 3 Cohens & WDR Big Band, Interaction (Anzic) →
  2. The Westerlies, Paradise (Westerlies) →
  3. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  4. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  5. Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
  6. Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
  7. Mark Turner, We Raise Them to Lift Their Heads (Loveland Music) →
  8. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
  9. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
  10. Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Chris Potter - Eric Harland - Larry Grenadier, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (5Passion) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Lawrence Peryer (The Tonearm)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Sergio Piccirilli (El Intruso)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Amir ElSaffar, New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām) →
  2. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  3. Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Camila Nebbia - Marilyn Crispell - Lesley Mok, A Reflection Distorts Over Water (Relative Pitch) →
  5. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  6. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  7. Amirtha Kidambi's Elder Ones, Live in Vilnius (Fern Flower) →
  8. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  9. Peter Evans/Being & Becoming, Ars Ludicra (More Is More) →
  10. Rodrigo Amado, The Bridge: Further Beyond (Trost) →

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. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
  4. Thelonious Monk, With Sonny Rollins 1953 to 1957 Revisited (Ezz-Thetics) →
  5. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Steve Pick (Steve Pick's Writing Place)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

John Pietaro (New York City Jazz Record, johnpietaro.com)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
  2. Italian Surf Academy, Ennio Morricone Is Dissolving (41st Parallel) →
  3. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  4. Three Layer Cake, Sounds the Color of Grounds (Otherly Love) →
  5. Mac Gollehon & the Hispanic Mechanics, Pistoleros (World Funk Orchestra) →
  6. Fred Moten & Brandon López, Revision (TAO Forms) →
  7. Moor Mother, The Great Bailout (Anti- '24) →
  8. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
  9. Gwen Laster New Muse 4tet, Keepers of the Flame (Muffymarie Music) →
  10. Ed Palermo Big Band, Prog vs Fusion: A War of the Ages (Sky Cat) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Allen Ginsberg, The Complete Songs of Innocence and Experience (1970-71, Omnivore) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Dan Polletta (JazzNEO Ideastream Public Media)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Peter Quinn (Jazzwise, The Arts Desk)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
  2. Christian McBride Big Band, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 (Mack Avenue) →
  3. Georgia Mancio & Alan Broadbent, A Story Left Untold (Roomspin) →
  4. Tereza Catarov, Koren (PKmusik) →
  5. Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
  6. Fini Bearman, Last Night of the World (Pastiche) →
  7. Emma Smith, Bitter Orange (La Reserve) →
  8. Olivia Trummer, Like Water (Warner Music Italy) →
  9. Snowpoet, Heartstrings (Edition) →
  10. Ledisi, For Dinah (Candid) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Himself (1957, Craft) →
  2. Miles Davis, Walkin' (1954, Craft) →
  3. Ella Fitzgerald, The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum (1967, Verve) →
  4. Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
  5. Bill Evans, Moon Beams (1962, Craft) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see: Peter Quinn's Album of the Year 2025: Cécile McLorin Salvant - Oh Snap

Derk Richardson (The Absolute Sound)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
  2. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  3. Natsuki Tamura & Satoko Fujii, Ki (Libra) →
  4. Sarah Wilson, Incandescence (Brass Tonic) →
  5. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  6. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  7. Anouar Brahem, After the Last Sky (ECM) →
  8. Matthew Shipp, The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe Music) →
  9. Steve Tibbetts, Close (ECM) →
  10. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
  2. Miles Davis, Agharta (1975, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab) →
  3. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  4. Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  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

Britt Robson (Minnpost, Bandcamp)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
  2. Damon Locks, List of Demands (International Anthem) →
  3. Amir ElSaffar, New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām) →
  4. Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Chris Potter - Eric Harland - Larry Grenadier, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy's Club (5Passion) →
  5. Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
  7. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  8. Carl Allen, Tippin' (Cellar) →
  9. Cyrus Chestnut, Rhythm, Melody and Harmony (HighNote) →
  10. David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
  2. McCoy Tyner & Joe Henderson, Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966, Blue Note '24) →
  3. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  4. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
  5. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Akira Saito (JazzTokyo, Jaz.in, Music Magazine, Jazz Right Now)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Bret Saunders (Denver Post, KBCO-FM [Denver])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  2. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  3. Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
  4. Billy Hart Quartet, Just (ECM) →
  5. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  6. Pat Thomas, Hikmah (TAO Forms) →
  7. Mark Masters Ensemble, Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) →
  8. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
  9. Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
  10. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  2. Sun Ra, Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (1970, Strut) →
  3. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  4. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
  5. Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Rich Scheinin (SFJAZZ)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
  2. JD Allen, Love Letters (The Ballad Sessions) (Savant) →
  3. Omar Sosa, Sendas (Ota) →
  4. Ben Solomon, Duet Etudes (Vireo Music Publishing) →
  5. Brandee Younger, Gadabout Season (Impulse!) →
  6. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
  7. Aaron Parks, By All Means!! (Blue Note) →
  8. Brandon Sanders, Lasting Impression (Savant) →
  9. Charles Owens Trio, The Music Tells Us (La Reserve '24) →
  10. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
  2. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  3. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  4. Charles Owens Quartet, The Last Late Nights (2003, La Reserve) →
  5. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Sarah Schmidt (Jazz Director, WRFL-FM [Lexington, KY])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Martin Schray (Free Jazz Collective)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →
  2. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  3. Joe McPhee, I'm Just Say'n (Smalltown Supersound) →
  4. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  5. PainKiller, The Great God Pan (Tzadik) →
  6. Earscratcher, Otoliths (Aerophonic) →
  7. Sophie Agnel & John Butcher, Rare (Les Disques Victo) →
  8. Wheelhouse, House and Home (Aerophonic) →
  9. Ryan Ebaugh - Matt Crane - Cameron Presley, Detergent (ScatterArchive) →
  10. Mats Gustafsson - Ken Vandermark - Tomeka Reid - Chad Taylor, Pivot (Silkheart) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Mike Shanley (New York City Jazz Record, JazzTimes, Shanley on Music)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  2. Chad Taylor Quintet, Smoke Shifter (Otherly Love) →
  3. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  4. Tim Berne - Tom Rainey - Gregg Belisle-Chi, Yikes Too (Screwgun/Out of Your Head) →
  5. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  6. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  7. Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
  8. Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi) →
  9. James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
  10. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Thelonious Monk, Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside) →
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) →
  3. Art Pepper, Geneva 1980 (Omnivore) →
  4. Charlie Rouse, Two Is One (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  5. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

John Sharpe (The New York City Jazz Record, Point of Departure, All About Jazz, Jazz Podium)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Adam Shatz (London Review of Books)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  2. The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
  3. Chad Taylor Quintet, Smoke Shifter (Otherly Love) →
  4. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  5. Olie Brice, All It Was (West Hill) →
  6. Alexander Hawkins, Song Unconditional (Intakt) →
  7. Eric McPherson, Double Bass Quartet (Giant Step Arts) →
  8. Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
  9. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  10. Ned Rothenberg, Looms & Legends (Pyroclastic) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Pharoah Sanders, The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings (1980-87, Mosaic) →
  2. Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →
  3. Sun Ra, Uncharted Passages: New York Piano Soliloquies 1977-79 (Modern Marmonic) →
  4. Thelonious Monk, Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Rob Shepherd (PostGenre Media)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
  2. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  3. Charles Lloyd, Figure in Blue (Blue Note) →
  4. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  5. Theon Cross, Affirmations: Live at the Blue Note New York (New Soil) →
  6. James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
  7. For Living Lovers, Natural Name (Sunnyside) →
  8. Amir ElSaffar & Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch, Inner Spaces (Ornithology/Maqām) →
  9. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  10. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
  2. Sun Ra, Uncharted Passages: New York Piano Soliloquies 1977-79 (Modern Marmonic) →
  3. Carlos Garnett, Cosmos Nucleus (1976, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  4. Spiritual Jazz 18: Behind the Iron Curtain: Esoteric, Modal, and Progressive Jazz From Central and Eastern Europe (1962-1988) (Jazzman) →
  5. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Hank Shteamer (New York Times, Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
  2. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
  3. Jacob Garchik, Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) →
  4. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
  5. Kassa Overall, Cream (Warp) →
  6. Billy Hart Quartet, Just (ECM) →
  7. Brandee Younger, Gadabout Season (Impulse!) →
  8. Chicago Underground Duo, Hyperglyph (International Anthem) →
  9. Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room (Smoke Sessions) →
  10. Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  2. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
  3. Rashied Ali Quintet Featuring Frank Lowe, Sidewalks in Motion (2001, Survival) →
  4. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) →
  5. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

Note: Also see Best Jazz Albums of 2025 [New York Times] and Best of 2025: Jazz (on record) [Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches]

João Esteves da Silva (jazz.pt, Bandcamp Daily, Free Jazz Blog)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Masabumi Kikuchi, Hanamichi: The Final Studio Recording Vol. II (2013, Red Hook) →

VOCAL

LATIN

DEBUT

 

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