2025 Totals: Debut Albums

A Debut is a first album by an individual as leader or first named credit. Groups should not be considered, although we might accept a first group album if no member of the group has a previous album as leader, first named credit, or member of some other group. That said, we allow some degree of discretion to critics to ignore especially obscure disqualifying albums. It is hard to define this boundary line definitively, but at a minimum, any artist who has received any votes in an earlier poll is no longer eligible to be considered under Debut. Votes for clearly ineligible artists are routinely rejected. On the other hand, if an artist is eligible, and releases more than one record in the year, we allow any new album from that year (i.e., we don't sort albums by release date within the year).

Critics were asked to designate any albums from their New Albums list that should be counted here. They were also asked to list up to 3 additional albums to count here. The lists are in the order provided, but there is no point system, so we only count votes.

The listings are sorted by votes (at the end of the line). The arrow at the end of the line will route you to a page listing all of the critics who voted for the album. Some entries may have footnotes. There is also a Notes section at the bottom of the page.

1. Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) 23 →
2. Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) 17 →
3. Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) 14 →
4. Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) 14 →
5. Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) 9 →
6. Lex Korten, Canopy (Sounderscore) 6 →
7. Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music) 5 →
8. Caelan Cardello, Chapter One (Jazz Bird) 4 →
9. Milena Casado, Reflection of Another Self (Candid) 4 →
10. Leandro Cardenas, Against the Jazz Police (577) 3 →
Juan Chiavassa, Fourth Generation (Whirlwind) 3 →
11. Laura Ann Singh, Mean Reds (Out of Your Head) 3 →
12. Inés Velasco, A Flash of Cobalt Blue (self-released) 3 →
14. Nat Adderley Jr., Took So Long (NAJ) 2 →
15. Nils Agnas, Köper Sig Ur En Kris (Moserobie) 2 →
16. Leon Anderson, Live at Snug Harbor (Outside In Music) 2 →
17. Jason Charos, Opening Statement (Hollistic MusicWorks) 2 →
18. Christopher Dammann, Sextet (Out of Your Head) 2 →
19. Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk) 2 →
20. Erez Dessel, Pro Fake No Reject (Corbett vs. Dempsey) 2 →
Jimmy Farace, Hours Fly, Flowers Die (Shifting Paradigm) 2 →
21. Heat On [Lily Finnegan], Heat On (Cuneiform) 2 →
22. Adrian Galante, Introducing Adrian Galante (Zoho) 2 →
23. Nanami Haruta, The Vibe (Origin) 2 →
24. Paul Hecht, Pyrography (Ears & Eyes) 2 →
25. Tyler Henderson, Love Endures (Cellar Music) 2 →
26. Rico Jones, Bloodlines (Giant Step Arts) 2 →
27. Ami Taf Ra, The Prophet and the Madman (Brainfeeder) 2 →
28. Milan Verbist Trio, Time Change (Origin) 2 →
29. Jeff Walton, Pack Animals (Jules) 2 →
Elia Aregger Trio, Live (Unit) 1 →
30. Luciana Bass, Desatornillándonos (Relative Pitch '24) 1 →
31. Believe, Spirits of the Dead Are Watching (Relative Pitch) 1 →
32. Bloomers, Cyclism (Relative Pitch) 1 →
33. David Bode, Good Hang (1718) 1 →
34. Nicola Caminiti, Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait (self-released '24) 1 →
35. Laura Cocks, FATHM (Relative Pitch/Out of Your Head) 1 →
36. Stephen Davis Unit, The Gleaming World (577) 1 →
37. Emma Dayhuff, Innovations & Lineage: The Chicago Project (Division 81) 1 →
38. Harvey Diamond & John Lentz, How Strange the Road Should Be So Easy (Orchard of Pomegranates) 1 →
Jakob Dreyer, Roots and Things (Fresh Sound New Talent) 1 →
39. Pete Fucinaro, Little Window (Concrete) 1 →
40. Sarah Hanahan, Among Giants (Blue Engine '24) 1 →
41. Colin Hancock's Jazz Hounds & Catherine Russell, Cat & the Hounds (Turtle Bay) 1 →
42. Emma Hedrick, Newcomer (Pathways to Jazz) 1 →
43. Heirloom, Familiar Beginnings (Shifting Paradigm) 1 →
44. History Dog, Root Systems (Otherly Love) 1 →
45. Ineza, Ibuka (Ineza Music) 1 →
46. Alfie Jackson Sextet, The Peacocks (JackoJazz) 1 →
47. Kim Jung Jae, Shamanism (Relative Pitch) 1 →
Chloe Kim, Ratsnake (Kou) 1 →
48. Knats, Knats (Gearbox) 1 →
49. Kovász, Fermentum (BMC) 1 →
50. Alice Leggett, Bird Song (Zennez) 1 →
51. Lucía, Lucía (La Reserve) 1 →
52. Sara Magnúsdóttir, A Place to Bloom (self-released) 1 →
53. Evan Main - Walter Stinson - Steven Crammer, Prawntail (Endectomorph Music) 1 →
54. Alex McLaughlin, A Brand New State (self-released) 1 →
55. Tony Miceli, Nico's Dream (SteepleChase) 1 →
56. Not Normal, Modærn Qualitet (SauaJazz) 1 →
Petra Onderuf Quartet, An Odd Time of Day (Kaipati) 1 →
57. Juan Perea, Lightkeeper (Zoho) 1 →
58. Henry Plotnick, Tributaries (Tidebloom) 1 →
59. Rubén Reinaldo, Fusión Olivica (Free Code Jazz) 1 →
60. Nicolò Ricci, Schiacciasette (Dox) 1 →
61. Rafaëlle Rinaudo - Raphaël Quenehen - Simon Winsé, Spin & Spells (Gigantonium) 1 →
62. Perceptions Trio [Charley Rose - Silvan Joray - Paulo Almeida], The Wicked Crew (Sense) 1 →
63. Mateusz Rybicki, Apokalypsis (Audio Cave) 1 →
64. Dabin Ryu, Trio! (Endectomorph Music) 1 →
65. Sverre Sæbo Quintet, If, However, You Have Not Lost Your Self Control (SauaJazz) 1 →
Sarter Kit, What I Am and What I Am Not (Squama) 1 →
66. Henry Scamurra, Urban Forum (self-released) 1 →
67. Chris Smith, Jazz Grunge (Cellar Live) 1 →
68. David Sneider, Introducing (Cellar Music) 1 →
69. Sonic Chambers Quartet, Kiss of the Earth (577) 1 →
70. Things of This Nature, Things of This Nature (Mahakala Music) 1 →
71. Rolf Thofte Quintet, Martha's Dance (April) 1 →
72. Maxine Troglauer, Hymn (Fun in the Church) 1 →
73. Voodoo Children Orchestra, Kindness Disarms (UnderPool) 1 →
74. Andrew Wilcox, Dear Mr. Hill (Truth Revolution '24) 1 →
Lingyuan Yang, Cursed Month (Chaospace) 1 →
75. James Zito, Zito's Jump (James Zito Music) 1 →
76. Justin Zitt, Frigo (Unit) 1 →

Total albums receiving votes: 83. Of these, 4 were initially released in 2024 (4.8%), and 79 in 2025. This is up from 3.3% in 2024.

This category was optional. 74 critics (44.3%, up from 43.5% in 2024) did not vote in this category, so 93 critics did vote. Of those, 35 (37.6%) voted for 1 album, 16 (17.2%) voted for 2 albums, 41 (44.0%) voted for 3 albums, 0 (0.0%) voted for 4 albums, 1 (0.1%) voted for 5 albums..

Notes

Debut albums that received votes in 2024 as well as 2025. These are numbered by their position in 2024. In both years, all votes are counted equally:

2. Sarah Hanahan, Among Giants (Blue Engine '24) 16 + 1 = 17
30. Andrew Wilcox, Dear Mr. Hill (Truth Revolution '24) 1 + 1 = 2

The other '24 releases received no votes in 2025.

• Luciana Bass, Desatornillándonos (Relative Pitch '24) 1
• Nicola Caminiti, Vivid Tales of a Blurry Self-Portrait (self-released '24) 1

If an album received votes in the previous year, and received more votes this year, the two years' totals were added together. This applied to:

• None.