The 20th Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2025 Mid-Year
Past Polls Index
New Albums Rara Avis
Critics
Acquaro - CollinsConsidine - GeikenGottschalk - KennyKoblin - NilandOrlov - SteinSullivan - Yokoi

Ballots 2025 Mid-Year [2]

Prev[Acquaro - Collins] · [Considine - Geiken] · [Gottschalk - Kenny] · [Koblin - Niland] · [Orlov - Stein] · [Sullivan - Yokoi]Next

J.D. Considine (DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →
  2. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  3. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  4. Anouar Brahem, After the Last Sky (ECM) →
  5. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  6. Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) →
  7. Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
  8. John Patitucci, Spirit Fall (Edition) →
  9. Emi Makabe, Echo (Sunnyside) →
  10. Ingrid Laubrock, Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. The Piano Choir, Handscapes (1972, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  2. Keith Jarrett, New Vienna (2016, ECM) →
  3. Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Snakeoil OK (2013, Screwgun) →
  4. Charles Brackeen, Rhythm X (1968, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  5. Steve Lacy - Roswell Rudd - Kent Carter - Beaver Harris, Trickles (1976, Black Saint) →

Mark Corroto (All About Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Michael Coyle (WRCU [Colgate University])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
  2. Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) →
  3. Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Eric St-Laurent, El Choclo (Kazenmuzik) →
  5. Remedy [Thomas Heberer - Joe Fonda - Joe Hertenstein], Hipp Hipp Hooray: Celebrating the Centennial of Jutta Hipp (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  6. Charlie Ballantine, East by Midwest (Origin) →
  7. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  8. Kazzrie Jaxen & Don Messina, The Dance (New Artists) →
  9. Ed Palermo Big Band, Prog vs Fusion: A War of the Agea (Sky Cat) →
  10. Kevin Sun, Lofi at Lowlands (Endectomorph Music) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

David Cristol (Free Jazz Collective, Citizen Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons, Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop) →
  2. Marshall Allen, New Dawn (Mexican Summer) →
  3. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  4. Pasquale Mirra & Hamid Drake, Lhasa (Parco Della Musica) →
  5. Evan Parker & Jean-Marc Foussat, Insolence (Nashazphone) →
  6. Marina Džukljev - Christian Weber - Michael Griener, Industrielsalon (Trouble in the East) →
  7. José Lencastre & Flak, Cloudy Skies (Phonogram Unit) →
  8. Carlos "Zingaro" - Flo Stoffner - Fred Lonberg-Holm - João Madeira, Na Parede (4DaRecord) →
  9. Bruno Parrinha - Carlos "Zingaro" - Fred Lonberg-Holm - João Madeira, Enleiro (4DaRecord) →
  10. Olie Brice, All It Was (West Hill) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Sun Ra, Uncharted Passages: New York Piano Soliloquies 1977-79 (Modern Marmonic) →
  2. Sun Ra, Stray Voltage (1970s-80s, Modern Harmonic) →
  3. Dave Burrell & Sam Woodyard, The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness) →

Raul da Gama (JazzdaGama, Toronto Cultural Media (Latin Jazz Network, World Music Report, That Canadian Magazine), The WholeNote, Hot House Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Anthony Braxton, Trillium X (PMP) →
  2. Ayelet Rose Gottlieb & Dream Keepers, Dust (Corne de Brume) →
  3. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  4. Morley, Follow the Sound (self-released '24) →
  5. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  6. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) →
  7. Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
  8. Christer Bothén 3, L'Invisible (Thanatosis) →
  9. Ryan Truesdell, Gil Evans Project Live at Jazz Standard, Vol. 2 (2014, Outside In Music) →
  10. Tim Berne - Tom Rainey - Gregg Belisle-Chi, Yikes Too (Screwgun/Out of Your Head) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  2. James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin) →
  3. Thelonious Monk, With Sonny Rollins 1953 to 1957 Revisited (Ezz-Thetics) →
  4. Joe Pass, Virtuoso (1973, Craft) →
  5. Wes Montgomery, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960, Craft) →

Jos Demol (Jazz'halo)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Renaud Garcia-Fons, Blue Maqam (Sound Surveyor Music '24) →
  2. Joe Fonda Quartet, Eyes on the Horizon (Long Song '24) →
  3. Eclectic Maybe Band, Cosmic Light Clusters (Discus Music) →
  4. Jef Neve & Teus Nobel, Esho Funi (Blue Keys Productions) →
  5. Anneleen Boehme, Eunoia (W.E.R.F.) →
  6. Brad Shepik, Human Activity: Dream of the Possible (Shifting Paradigm '24) →
  7. New Origin, The Poet's Walk (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  8. TGB, Room 4 (Clean Feed '24) →
  9. Carlos Barretto, Solo: Lonely Dog (self-released '24) →
  10. Alexandre Frazão Quinteto, Quintesséncia (self-released '24) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  2. Soft Machine, Floating World Live [Remastered] (1975, MoonJune) →
  3. Soft Machine, Drop [Remastered] (1971, MoonJune) →
  4. Soft Works, Abracadabra (2002, MoonJune) →

Laurence Donohue-Greene (The New York City Jazz Record)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  2. Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
  3. Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
  4. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  5. Pitch, Rhythm and Consciousness, Sextet (Reva) →
  6. Noah Preminger, Ballads (Chill Tone) →
  7. Stefan Schultze - Peter Ehwald - Tom Rainey, Public Radio (Jazzwerkstatt) →
  8. Eva Novoa, Novoa - Kamaguchi - Cleaver Trio Volume 2 (577) →
  9. Larry Ochs - Joe Morris - Charles Downs, Every Day → All the Way (ESP-Disk) →
  10. Sophie Agnel & John Butcher, Rare (Les Disques Victo) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
  2. Ellery Eskelin, Trio New York About (or On) First Visit (2011-13, Ezz-Thetics) →
  3. Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside) →
  4. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  5. Ella Fitzgerald, The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum (1967, Verve) →

Ken Dryden (New York City Jazz Record, Hot House, Timeless Jazz [WUTC-FM])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Alan Broadbent, Threads of Time (Savant) →
  2. Fred Hersch, The Surrounding Green (ECM) →
  3. Artemis, Arboresque (Blue Note) →
  4. Denny Zeitlin, With a Song in My Heart (Sunnyside) →
  5. Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, Rio Fantasia (Sunnyside) →
  6. Eric Alexander, Chicago to New York (Cellar Music Group) →
  7. Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room (Smoke Sessions) →
  8. Yotam Silberstein, Standards Vol. 2 (Jojo) →
  9. Mark Masters Ensemble, Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) →
  10. Anaïs Reno, Lady of the Lavender Mist (Club44) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  2. Gerry Mulligan, Nocturne (1992, Red) →
  3. Jaki Byard, Blues for Smoke (1960, Candid) →
  4. Marian McPartland, At the Peninsula Library 1972 (Liberation Hall) →
  5. Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions (1953-58, Mosaic) →

Chuck Eddy (Napster, Eliminated for Reasons of Space)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Maruja, Tír Na Nóg (Music for Nations) →
  2. Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
  3. Marshall Allen, New Dawn (Mexican Summer) →
  4. James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-) →
  5. Salin, Rammana (Salin) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

John Ephland (DownBeat, All About Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Lee Rice Epstein (Free Jazz Collective, But does it swing?)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Jon Irabagon, Server Farm (Irabbagast) →
  2. Ra Bishop [Avreeayl Ra & Jeb Bishop], Of the Essence (Amalgam) →
  3. The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Sloth Racket, Ten Years of Live Sloths (Luminous Label) →
  5. Juno 3 [Han-earl Park - Lara Jones - Pat Thomas], Proxemics (Buster and Friends) →
  6. Satoko Fujii GEN, Altitude 1100 Meters (Libra) →
  7. Matt Mitchell, Sacrosancticity (Obliquity) →
  8. Will Mason Quartet, Hemlocks, Peacocks (New Focus) →
  9. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  10. Michael Sarian, Esquina (Greenleaf Music) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) →
  2. Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Snakeoil OK (2013, Screwgun) →
  3. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) →
  4. Steve Lacy Three, Live Lugano 1984 First Visit (Ezz-Thetics) →
  5. Manfred Schoof Ochestra, European Echoes (1969, FMP) →

Steve Feeney (ArtsFuse)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  2. Luke Stewart Silt Rembrance Ensemble, The Order (Cuneiform) →
  3. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
  4. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  5. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  6. The Hemphill Stringtet, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

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

Gary Finney (WQLN NPR [Erie, PA], Jazz Buffalo)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Note: Voter offered Debut votes for: Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note); Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (self-released)

Phil Freeman (Burning Ambulance, DownBeat, Stereogum, The Wire)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Isaiah Collier - William Hooker - William Parker, The Ancients (Eremite) →
  2. Kamasi Washington, Lazarus (Sony Music) →
  3. Jeremy Pelt, Woven (HighNote) →
  4. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  5. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  6. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  7. Matthew Shipp, The Cosmic Piano (Cantaloupe Music) →
  8. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  9. Yazz Ahmed, A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) →
  10. Wolf Eyes X Anthony Braxton, Live at Pioneer Works, 26 October 2023 (ESP-Disk) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Peter Brötzmann - Jason Adasiewicz - Steve Noble - John Edwards, The Quartet: Cafe Oto, London, February, 10 & 11, 2023 (Otoroku) →
  2. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  3. Rashied Ali & Leroy Jenkins, Swift Are the Winds of Life [Expanded Edition] (1975, Survival) →
  4. Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (The Village) →

Filipe Freitas (JazzTrail)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) →
  2. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  3. Ches Smith, Clone Row (Otherly Love) →
  4. Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
  5. Hanging Hearts, Where's Your Head At (Ropeadope) →
  6. Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Frank Carlberg, Dream Machine (Red Piano) →
  8. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
  9. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  10. Arve Henriksen - Trygve Seim - Andmers Jormin - Markku Ounaskari, Arcanum (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Pat Frisco (WHFR-FM [Dearborn, MI])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Myra Melford, Splash (Intakt) →
  2. Joe Fonda & Bass of Operation (Fundacja Słuchaj '24) →
  3. Rob Brown, Walkabout (Mahakala Music) →
  4. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) →
  5. Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) →
  6. Spindrift [Frank Paul Schubert - Dieter Manderscheid - Martin Blume], Trio Studies (Jazz Haus Musik) →
  7. David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade (Impulse!) →
  8. Stephen Davis Unit, The Gleaming World (577) →
  9. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) →
  10. Michael Bisio, NuMBq (Mahakala Music) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Michael Gregory Jackson, Frequency Equilibrium Koan (1977, Moved-by-Sound) →
  2. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) →
  3. Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps, Music Inc. (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  4. Jimmy Lyons, Live From Studio Rivbea: 1974 & 1976 (NoBusiness) →
  5. John Surman, Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969, Cuneiform) →

Jon Garelick (Arts Fuse, Boston Globe)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) →
  2. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) →
  3. Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging (Blue Note) →
  4. Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
  5. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  6. History Dog, Root Systems (Otherly Love) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  2. Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions (1953-58, Mosaic) →

Ana Gavrilovska (Uncut, Maggot Brain, Aquarium Drunkard)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Richard Gehr (Relix)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Mark Kirschenmann, Tonics: 7 Melodies for Trumpet With Bamboo Mouthpipe (Infrequent Seams) →
  2. Tim Berne - Tom Rainey - Gregg Belisle-Chi, Yikes Too (Screwgun/Out of Your Head) →
  3. Sons of Ra, Standard Deviation (Free Electric Sound) →
  4. Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp, Realism (ESP-Disk) →
  5. Marty Ehrlich Trio Exaltation, This Time (Sunnyside) →
  6. Dan Weiss Quartet, Unclassified Affections (Pi) →
  7. The Quantum Blues Quartet, Quantum Blues (Ropeadope) →
  8. Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) →
  9. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) →
  10. Ayumi Ishito, Roboquarians Vol. 2 (577) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Frank Zappa, Cheaper Than Cheep (1974, Zappa/UMe) →
  2. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  3. Bennie Maupin, The Jewel in the Lotus (1974, ECM) →
  4. Sun Ra, Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (1970, Strut) →
  5. Ray Russell Quartet, The Complete Spontaneous Event: Live 1967-1969 (Jazz in Britain) →

Brooks Geiken (Arts Fuse, LatinJazzNet)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) →
  2. John Santos Sextet & Friends, Horizontes (Machete) →
  3. Rachel Therrien Latin Jazz Project, Mi Hogar II (self-released) →
  4. Alex "Apolo" Ayala & the Bámbula Project, Afro Puerto Rican Jazz (PMC/Miel Music) →
  5. Albita & Chucho Valdés, Masters of Our Roots (InnerCat Entertainment) →
  6. Unity Quartet [Helio Alves - Guilherme Monteiro - Gili Lopes - Alex Kautz], Samba of Sorts (Sunnyside) →
  7. Adam O'Farrill, For These Streets (Out of Your Head) →
  8. Camila Meza, Portal (GroundUP Music) →
  9. Entre Amigos, Magpie: The Music of Joe Clark (Entre Amigos) →
  10. Alex McLaughlin, A Brand New State (self-released) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Clifford Jordan, Glass Bead Games (1973, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  2. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) →
  3. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) →
  4. Billy Harper, Capra Black (1973, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →
  5. Music Inc. [Charles Tolliver - Stanley Cowell - Cecil McBee - Jimmy Hopps], Live at Slugs' Volume I & II (1970, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) →

 

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