The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025
Ballots 2025 [8]
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Jon Batiste, Beethoven Blues (Verve '24) →
- Lafayette Gilchrist & New Volcanoes, Move With Love (Morphius) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Jon Irabagon & Peter Brendler, Two-Part Inventions (Irabbagast) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Billy Lester Trio, High Standards (Ultra Sound) →
- Mark Masters Ensemble, Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! (Capri) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Joe Policastro Trio, Mending Wall (JeruJazz) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Billy Harper, Capra Black (1973, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Phil Haynes & Free Country, Liberty Now! (1996-2025, Corner Store Jazz) →
- Pharoah Sanders, The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings (1980-87, Mosaic) →
- Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps, Music Inc. (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
VOCAL
- Jazzmeia Horn, Messages (Empress Legacy '24) →
- Alfie Jackson Sextet, The Peacocks (JackoJazz) →
- Kazzrie Jaxen & Don Messina, The Dance (New Artists) →
LATIN
DEBUT
- Alfie Jackson Sextet, The Peacocks (JackoJazz) →
Stewart Smith (The Wire, We Jazz, Bandcamp Daily, The Quietus)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Sophie Agnel, Learning (Otoroku) →
- أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- @xcrswx, Moodboard (Feedback Moves) →
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Pat Thomas, Hikmah (TAO Forms) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Alexander Hawkins, Song Unconditional (Intakt) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
- Larry Stabbins - Keith Tippett - Louis Moholo-Moholo, Live in Foggia (1985, Ogun) →
- The Alien Territory Archives: A Collection of Experimental and Irrelevant Music From 1970s San Diego (1968-81, Nyahh) →
- Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
VOCAL
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Ingrid Laubrock, Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic) →
- Maggie Nicols & Geoff Eales, Beautiful Love (33 Jazz) →
LATIN
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Fred Moten & Brandon López, Revision (TAO Forms) →
DEBUT
- Laura Cocks, FATHM (Relative Pitch/Out of Your Head) →
Note: Rejected Debut votes: Ishmael Ali, Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper (Amalgam '26): 2026 release; X Ray Hextet (Reading Group '24): group includes Pat Thomas and Seymour Wright (among others).
Thomas Staudter (The (Croton) Gazette, The New York City Jazz Record, DownBeat)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note) →
- Jason Kao Hwang, Myths of Origin (True Sound) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- John Patitucci, Spirit Fall (Edition) →
- Noah Preminger, Ballads (Chill Tone) →
- Scheen Jazzorkester & Fredrik Ljungkvist, Framåt! (Grong) →
- Pat Thomas, Hikmah (TAO Forms) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →
- Pharoah Sanders, The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings (1980-87, Mosaic) →
- John Taylor, Close to Mars (2006, CAM Jazz) →
- Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
VOCAL
- Nnenna Freelon, Beneath the Skin (Origin) →
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
LATIN
- Salsa de la Bahia Vol. 3: A Collection of SF Bay Area Salsa and Latin Jazz: Renegade Queens (1991-2025, Patois) →
- Camille Bertault, Voz E Vocês (Sunnyside) →
- Manuel Valera New Cuban Express, Rise Again Vol. 2 (Mavo) →
DEBUT
- Nat Adderley Jr., Took So Long (NAJ) →
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
- Lucía, Lucía (La Reserve) →
Jeffrey St. Clair (Counterpunch: Sound Grammar)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
- Anouar Brahem, After the Last Sky (ECM) →
- James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
- Marshall Allen, New Dawn (Mexican Summer) →
- David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
- John Patitucci, Spirit Fall (Edition) →
- Kalia Vandever, Another View (Northern View) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Pharoah Sanders, Love Is Here: The Complete Paris 1975 ORTF Recordings (Transcendence Sounds) →
- Blackbyrds, City Life (1975, Craft/Jazz Dispensary) →
- Dexter Gordon, Landslide (1961-62, Blue Note) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
Ariella Stok (New York City Jazz Record)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Zeena Parkins, Modesty of the Magic Thing (Tzadik) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
- Matthew Shipp, The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe Music) →
- Ned Rothenberg, Looms & Legends (Pyroclastic) →
- Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Wolf Eyes X Anthony Braxton, Live at Pioneer Works, 26 October 2023 (ESP-Disk) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
Mark Stryker (The Best of the Best: Jazz From Detroit [Magic Circle Productions], Jazz From Detroit [University of Michigan Press])
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- JD Allen, Love Letters (The Ballad Sessions) (Savant) →
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- Al Foster, Live at Smoke (Smoke Sessions) →
- Nicole Glover, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant) →
- Pasquale Grasso, Solo Be-Bop! (Sony Masterworks) →
- Danny Grissett, Travelogue (Savant) →
- Billy Hart, Multidirectional (Smoke Sessions) →
- The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
- Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant) →
- Jim McNeely, Primal Colors (Challenge) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus at Monterey (1964, Candid) →
- Oscar Moore, The Enchanting Guitar of Oscar Moore: The 1945-1965 Years (Fresh Sound) →
- Ike Quebec, The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions (1959-62, Blue Note) →
- Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions (1953-57, Mosaic '24) →
VOCAL
- Dena DeRose, Mellow Tones (HighNote) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
Mark Sullivan (All About Jazz)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Joshua Redman, Words Fall Short (Blue Note) →
- Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
- Anouar Brahem, After the Last Sky (ECM) →
- Wolfgang Muthspiel - Scott Colley - Brian Blade, Tokyo (ECM) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Bees in the Bonnet (Rune Grammofon) →
- Kaisa's Machine, Moving Parts (Greenleaf Music) →
- Aaron Parks, By All Means!! (Blue Note) →
- Believers [Brad Shepik/Sam Minaie/John Hadfield], Hard Believer (Shifting Paradigm) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Bill Evans, In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (1970, Elemental Music '24) →
- 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) →
- John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →
- The Charlie Rouse Band, Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition (1977, Resonance) →
VOCAL
LATIN
- Brian Lynch, 7X7BY7 (Holistic MusicWorks '24) →
- Harold López-Nussa, Nueva Timba (Blue Note) →
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Rachel Eckroth & John Hadfield, Speaking in Tongues (Adhyâropa) →
- Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
- Damon Locks, List of Demands (International Anthem) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra, Jorden Vi Ärvde (Thanatosis) →
- Tarun Balani, ڪڏهن ملنداسين Kadahin Milandaasin (Berthold) →
- Raul Monsalve Y Los Forajidos, SOL (Olindo) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
- Emi Makabe, Echo (Sunnyside) →
- Doideca, Sketches (Underpool) →
- Marion Rampal, Song for Abbey (Les Rivières Souterraines) →
LATIN
- Raul Monsalve Y Los Forajidos, SOL (Olindo) →
- Juan Pastor's Chinchano, Memorias (Calligram) →
- Rachel Therrien Latin Jazz Project, Mi Hogar II (self-released) →
DEBUT
- Sarter Kit, What I Am and What I Am Not (Squama) →
John Szwed (Gagosian Quarterly, Wire)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Joshua Redman, Words Fall Short (Blue Note) →
- Arve Henriksen - Trygve Seim - Anders Jormin - Markku Ounaskari, Arcanum (ECM) →
- Masabumi Kikuchi, Hanamichi: The Final Studio Recording Vol. II (2013, Red Hook) →
- The Necks, Disquiet (Northern Spy) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Charlie Parker, Bird in Kansas City (1941-51, Verve '24) →
- Pharoah Sanders, Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (1973, Strata East/Mack Avenue) →
- Tomasz Stanko Quartet, September Night (2004, ECM '24) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Hamid Drake & Pat Thomas, A Mountain Sees a Mountain (Old Heaven Books) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Peter Brötzmann - Jason Adasiewicz - Steve Noble - John Edwards, The Quartet: Cafe Oto, London, February, 10 & 11, 2023 (Otoroku) →
- أحمد [Ahmed], سماع [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku) →
- Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
- Pierre Dørge & Kirk Knuffke, Songs for Mbizo: Johnny Lives Forever (SteepleChase) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Mats Gustafsson - Ken Vandermark - Tomeka Reid - Chad Taylor, Pivot (Silkheart) →
- John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Billy Harper, Trying to Make Heaven My Home (1979, MPS/Ultravybe) →
- Ray Russell Quartet, The Complete Spontaneous Event: Live 1967-1969 (Jazz in Britain '24) →
- The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
- Sun Ra, Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (1970, Strut) →
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
VOCAL
- Lena Bloch & Kyoko Kitamura, Marina (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
- Sheila Jordan With Roni Ben-Hur & Harvie S, Portrait Now (Dot Time) →
LATIN
- Aruán Ortiz, Créole Renaissance (Intakt) →
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
DEBUT
- Tony Miceli, Nico's Dream (SteepleChase) →
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
Neil Tesser (KSDS-FM, Jazziz)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Gustavo Cortiñas, The Crisis Knows No Borders (Desafio Candente) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio, Dream a Dream (Libra) →
- Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, We Insist 2025! (Candid) →
- Pierre Dørge New Jungle Orchestra, Jazzhus Montmartre Live (SteepleChase) →
- Ivo Perelman - Nate Wooley - Matt Moran - Mark Helias - Tom Rainey, A Modicum of the Blues (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
- PlainsPeak, Someone to Someone (Irabbagast) →
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- 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) →
- James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
- Sun Ra, Uncharted Passages: New York Piano Soliloquies 1977-79 (Modern Marmonic) →
- Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Strasbourg 82 (Gearbox) →
VOCAL
- Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, We Insist 2025! (Candid) →
- Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
LATIN
- Renee Rosnes, Crossing Paths (Smoke Sessions '24) →
- 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) →
DEBUT
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Jimmy Farace, Hours Fly, Flowers Die (Shifting Paradigm) →
- David Sneider, Introducing (Cellar Music) →
Michael Toland (The Big Takeover, The Austin Chronicle)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Matthew Shipp, The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe Music) →
- Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet, Situation (PlayOn) →
- James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
- Kalia Vandever, Another View (Northern View) →
- John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM) →
- Mark Turner, Reflections On: The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Stephen McCraven, Wooley the Newt (1979, Moved-by-Sound) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
Michael Ullman (Fanfare, Arts Fuse)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Carl Allen, Tippin' (Cellar) →
- Wadada Leo Smith & Sylvie Courvoisier, Angel Falls (Intakt) →
- Sullivan Fortner, Southern Nights (Artwork) →
- Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
- Nicholas Payton, Triune (Smoke Sessions) →
- Joshua Redman, Words Fall Short (Blue Note) →
- Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra, Strange Strings (1967, Cosmic Myth '24) →
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- Immanuel Wilkins, Blues Blood (Blue Note '24) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
- Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) →
LATIN
- Aruán Ortiz, Créole Renaissance (Intakt) →
- Marta Sanchez Trio, Perpetual Void (Intakt '24) →
DEBUT
Note: Rejected votes out of eligibility band: New Jazz vote for Kris Dais and the Lutoslawski Quartet, The Solastalgia Suite (Pyroclastic '26); Vocal vote Gretchen Parlato & Lionel Loueke, Lean In (Edition '23).
George Varga (San Diego Union-Tribune and Tribune News Service, JazzTimes)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Xhosa Cole, On a Modern Genius, Vol. 1 (Stoney Lane) →
- Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
- Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
- Joshua White, Flora and Fauna: 9 Preludes for Solo Piano (Orenda) →
- Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Miles Davis, Miles '55: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) →
- Bill Evans, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (1959-61, Craft) →
- Frank Zappa, Cheaper Than Cheep (1974, Zappa/UMe) →
- Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Joni Mitchell, Joni's Jazz (1968-2023, Rhino) →
VOCAL
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Theo Bleckmann, Love and Anger (Sunnyside) →
- Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) →
LATIN
- Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) →
- Los Cinco Cardones, El Quinto Cardón (Some Other Planet) →
- Mon Laferte, Femme Fatale (Sony Music Latin) →
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) →
- Camila Nebbia - Marilyn Crispell - Lesley Mok, A Reflection Distorts Over Water (Relative Pitch) →
- Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
- Wadada Leo Smith & Sylvie Courvoisier, Angel Falls (Intakt) →
- John Zorn & Dave Lombardo, Memories, Dreams, and Reflections (Tzadik) →
- Satoko Fujii GEN, Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Pharoah Sanders, The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings (1980-87, Mosaic) →
- John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Oliver Lake, Live From Studio Rivbea 1975 & 1976 (NoBusiness) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
Note: Also see TOP 10: Álbuns Imperdíveis de 2025
Philip Watson (Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Journal of Music)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
- Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Arve Henriksen - Trygve Seim - Anders Jormin - Markku Ounaskari, Arcanum (ECM) →
- Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic) →
- Simon Jermyn, Obsany (Elastic) →
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Clifford Jordan, Glass Bead Games (1973, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
- Andrew Hill, Grass Roots (1968, Blue Note) →
- A New Awakening: Adventures in British Jazz 1966-1971 (Strawberry) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) →
- Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, We Insist 2025! (Candid) →
- Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) →
LATIN
- Harold López-Nussa, Nueva Timba (Blue Note) →
- 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) →
- Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) →
- Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)
- Bruno Angelini - Sakina Abdou - Angelika Niescier, Lotus Flowers (Abalone) →
- The Attic & Eve Risser, La Grande Crue (NoBusiness '24) →
- Antonio Borghini & Banquet of Consequences, Resta Chi Va (We Insist!) →
- Michel Doneda & Thierry Waziniak, Le Chemin Du Jour (Intrication '24) →
- Floros Floridis - Matthias Bauer - Joe Hertenstein, Temporal Driftness (Evil Rabbit '24) →
- Fred Frith & Mariá Portugal, Matter (Intakt) →
- The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
- Potsa Lotsa XL, Amoeba's Dance (Trouble in the East) →
- Kenny Wheeler Legacy, Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores (Greenleaf Music) →
- Carlos "Zingaro" - Bruno Parrinha - Fred Lonberg-Holm - João Madeira, Enleio (4DaRecord) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)
- Derek Bailey & John Stevens, The Duke of Wellington (1989, Confront) →
- Dave Burrell & Sam Woodyard, The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness) →
- Don Ellis, How Time Passes to Essence Revisited (1960-62, Ezz-Thetics '24) →
- Khan Jamal, Give the Vibes Some (1974, Souffle Continu) →
- Daunik Lazro - Tristan Honsinger - Jean-Jacques Avenel, True & Whole Tones in Rhythms (Dunois · 9 Mai 1982) (Fou '24) →
VOCAL
- Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) →
LATIN
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Camila Nebbia - Kit Downes - Andrew Lisle, Exhaust (Relative Pitch) →
- Hery Paz, Fisuras (Porta-Jazz/Carimbo) →
DEBUT
- Bloomers, Cyclism (Relative Pitch) →
- Kovász, Fermentum (BMC) →
- Rafaëlle Rinaudo - Raphaël Quenehen - Simon Winsé, Spin & Spells (Gigantonium) →
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Wadada Leo Smith & Sylvie Courvoisier, Angel Falls (Intakt) →
- Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
- Joe McPhee & Strings, We Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (RogueArt) →
- Ivo Perelman & Nate Wooley, Polarity 4 (Burning Ambulance) →
- Mats Gustafsson - Ken Vandermark - Tomeka Reid - Chad Taylor, Pivot (Silkheart) →
- Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
- Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi) →
- Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Roy Brooks, The Free Slave (1970, Muse/Time Traveler) →
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
- Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
- Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) →
VOCAL
- Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Dawn (Stretch) →
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Nancy Kelly, Be Cool (Origin) →
LATIN
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
- Irving Flores Afro-Cuban Sextet, Armando Mi Conga (Amor De Flores Productions) →
- Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico [Live at Town Hall] (Tiger Turn) →
- Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet, Cuba and Beyond (InnerJazz '24) →
DEBUT
- Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
- Inés Velasco, A Flash of Cobalt Blue (self-released) →
- Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) →
Jason Weiss (The Wire, Le Ventre et l'Oreille)
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Webber/Morris Big Band, Unseparate (Out of Your Head) →
- The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
- Lena Bloch & Kyoko Kitamura, Marina (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
- Claude Tchamitchian Quartet, Vortice (Emouvance) →
- GPS, Directions + Destinations (577) →
- Antonio Borghini & Banquet of Consequences, Resta Chi Va (We Insist!) →
- Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
- Etienne Brunet, Ear Asphyxia (self-released) →
- Flyways, Mutualism (Daily Music) →
- Bec & Ongles [François de Larrard & Mathieu Bec], Zanzibar (Mazeto Square) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra, Après La Marée Noire: Vers Une Musique Bretonne Nouvelle (1979, Souffle Continu) →
- Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra, Vol. 4: Jo Maka (1977, Souffle Continu) →
- Khan Jamal, Give the Vibes Some (1974, Souffle Continu) →
- Kristen Noguès & John Surman, Diriaou (1998, Souffle Continu) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
VOCAL
- Lena Bloch & Kyoko Kitamura, Marina (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
- Flyways, Mutualism (Daily Music) →
LATIN
DEBUT
NEW JAZZ ALBUMS
- Raphaël Pannier Quartet, Live in Saint Louis, Senegal (Miel Music) →
- Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
- Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio, Dream a Dream (Libra) →
- Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) →
- Wadada Leo Smith & Sylvie Courvoisier, Angel Falls (Intakt) →
- Alister Spence Trio, Gather (Alister Spence Music) →
- Henry Threadgill, Listen Ship (Pi) →
- Spinifex, Maxximus (Trytone) →
- Marty Ehrlich Trio Exaltation, This Time (Sunnyside) →
- PlainsPeak, Someone to Someone (Irabbagast) →
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
- Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
- Ellery Eskelin, Trio New York About (or On) First Visit (2011-13, Ezz-Thetics) →
- 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) →
- Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT