The 21st Annual
Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll:
2026 Mid-Year
Past Polls Index
New Albums Rara Avis
Critics
Acquaro - CatarinoCebulski - FinneyFreeman - HoffHovan - LorraiLuen - PiccirilliPick - VargaWatson - Yokoi

Ballots 2026 Mid-Year [3]

Prev[Acquaro - Catarino] · [Cebulski - Finney] · [Freeman - Hoff] · [Hovan - Lorrai] · [Luen - Piccirilli] · [Pick - Varga] · [Watson - Yokoi]Next

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

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Jason Moran, Plays Duke Ellington (Yes) →
  2. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Omni (Intakt) →
  3. Nduduzo Makhathini, The Myth We Choose (Blue Note) →
  4. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  5. Jeremy Pelt, Our Community Will Not Be Erased (HighNote) →
  6. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  7. DoYeon Kim, Wellspring (TAO Forms) →
  8. Chris Potter, Alive With Ghosts Today (Edition) →
  9. Aaron Shaw, And So It Is (Leaving) →
  10. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. J Jazz Volume 5: Deep Modern Jazz From Japan 1970-1988 (BBE) →
  2. Joe Chambers, Double Exposure (1977, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  3. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  4. Charles Tyler Ensemble, Voyage From Jericho (1974, Frederiksberg) →
  5. Art Ensemble of Chicago, People in Sorrow (1969, Play Loud!) →

Filipe Freitas (JazzTrail)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  2. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Omni (Intakt) →
  3. Alexander Hawkins, No Nation but Imagination (Intakt) →
  4. Chris Potter, Alive With Ghosts Today (Edition) →
  5. Miles Okazaki, Boomtown (Pi) →
  6. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Jon Irabagon, Focus Out (Irrabagast) →
  8. Meg Okura & Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Isaiah (Adhyâropa) →
  9. Michael Formanek, New Digs (Intakt) →
  10. Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language Quartet, Wailers (European Echoes) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

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

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  2. Paul Dunmall Quartet, Afghan Women (RogueArt) →
  3. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  4. Last Dream of the Morning [John Butcher - John Edwards - Mark Sanders], Sharp Illusion (Fundacja Słuchaj '25) →
  5. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Omni (Intakt) →
  6. Dave Douglas, Transcend (Greenleaf Music) →
  7. Mike Khoury - Jason Kao Hwang - Ben Hall - Andrew Drury, Spite of Darkness (Entropy Stereo) →
  8. Camila Nebbia - Marilyn Crispell - Lesley Mok, A Reflection Distorts Over Water (Relative Pitch '25) →
  9. Håvard Wiik - Antonio Borghini - Tim Daisy, One Brief Cure (Relay) →
  10. Michael Formanek, New Digs (Intakt) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Daniel Carter - Sabir Mateen - William Parker - Lou Grassi, Keeping It in Context (1996, NoBusiness) →
  2. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  3. Julius Hemphill, Dogon A.D. (1972, New World) →
  4. Marty Ehrlich & Julius Hemphill, Circle the Heart (1982, Relative Pitch) →

Matteo Gabutti (4'33" Association)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ambrose Akinmusire & Mary Halvorson, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (Nonesuch) →
  2. Patricia Brennan & Sylvie Courvoisier, Talamanti (Antlia) →
  3. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, Deface the Currency (Impulse!) →
  4. Alden Hellmuth, Tether (Leiter) →
  5. SML, Spontaneous Music Live (International Anthem) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Jon Garelick (Arts Fuse, Boston Globe, Jazziz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Miles Davis, Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) →
  2. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →

Ana Gavrilovska (Uncut, Maggot Brain, Aquarium Drunkard)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Richard Gehr (Relix)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  2. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Happy Today (International Anthem/Nonesuch) →
  3. Julian Lage, Scenes From Above (Blue Note) →
  4. Eivind Opsvik - Elias Stemeseder - Will Graefe, The Setting (Loyal) →
  5. Triple Blind, Cold Walk (self-released) →
  6. Amalie Dahl's Dafnie Extended, Live at Moldejazz (Sonic Transmissions) →
  7. Marta Sanchez, For the Space You Left (Out of Your Head) →
  8. Adam Schatz, Civil Engineering Vol. 1 (Jealous Butcher) →
  9. Phillip Golub, Partisan Ship (Berthold) →
  10. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy, African Skies (1993, Listening Position '25) →
  2. Miles Davis, Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) →
  3. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  4. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance '25) →

Brooks Geiken (Arts Fuse, LatinJazzNet, Substack)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  2. Carlos Henríquez, Monk Con Clave (self-released) →
  3. Edward Simon, Venezuela: Latin American Songbook Vol. 2 (ArtistShare) →
  4. David Adewumi, The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) →
  5. Jonathan Suazo, Ricano Vol. 2: Fruto De Mi Corazón (Miel Music) →
  6. Entre Amigos, Joyful Foundation: The Music of Justin Copeland (Entre Amigos) →
  7. Stella Heath, For Billie (Matterhorn) →
  8. Dave Schumacher & Cubeye, Agua Con Gas (Cubeye Music) →
  9. Humberto Ramírez, Catalino: Canciones De Tite Curet Alonso (Nilpo Music '25) →
  10. Ray Obiedo, Slight Accent (Rhythmus) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  2. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  3. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  4. Buster Williams, Pinnacle (1975, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  5. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →

Kurt Gottschalk (New York City Jazz Record, JazzTimes, The Wire, WKCR)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  2. Ishmael Ali, Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper (Amalgam) →
  3. Kris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet, The Solastalgia Suite (Pyroclastic) →
  4. Experiments in Opera, Anthony Braxton Theater Improvisations (EiO) →
  5. Asher Gamedze, A Semblance: Of Return (Northern Spy) →
  6. Alexander Hawkins, No Nation but Imagination (Intakt) →
  7. Alex Paxton, Candyfolk Space Drum (Jonah) →
  8. Cécile McLorin Salvant, With Every Breath I Take (Nonesuch) →
  9. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  10. Marta Warelis, Still Life With Lemons (Relative Pitch) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

David A. Graham (The Atlantic)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Ludovico Granvassu (All About Jazz/All About Jazz Italia, Radio Free Brooklyn: Mondo Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Mike Greenblatt (, The Aquarian, Goldmine)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ben Markley Big Band, Tuesday Morning Feeling (OA2) →
  2. Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band, Treasury Volume 3 (Turtle Bay) →
  3. Álvaro Torres Trio, Mairena (Fresh Sound New Talent) →
  4. Stephan Thelen, Fractal Guitar 4 (MoonJune) →
  5. Steven Bernstein/Scotty Hard, ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance (Royal Potato Family) →
  6. Meg Okura & Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Isaiah (Adhyâropa) →
  7. Jesse Davis Quartet, Reflections (Cellar) →
  8. Matt Dwonszyk, Live at the Sidedoor (self-released) →
  9. Jim Robitaille Trio, Sonic (Whaling City Sound) →
  10. Paul Hecht, Pyrography II (Ears & Eyes) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Allen Toussaint, Songbook [Deluxe Edition] (2009, Craft) →
  2. Mal Waldron, Stardust & Starlight: At the Jazz Showcase (1979, Resonance) →
  3. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  4. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  5. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →

James Hale (DownBeat, SoundStageNetwork.com)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Micah Thomas, Lucid (Birdwatcher) →
  2. Hannah Marks, Feed the Fire (Endectomorph) →
  3. Maria Schneider Orchestra, American Crow (ArtistShare) →
  4. Ingrid Jensen, Landings (Newvelle) →
  5. Marta Sanchez, For the Space You Left (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Miles Okazaki, Boomtown (Pi) →
  7. Sam Barsh - Mark Guiliana - Keyon Harold, Straight08 (La Reserve) →
  8. Joe Lovano, Paramount Quartet (ECM) →
  9. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  10. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Carla Bley, Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (Moosicus) →
  2. Joe Henderson Quartets, Tetragon (1967-68, Craft) →
  3. Cecil Taylor New Unit, Words & Music: The Last Bandstand (2016, Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  4. Red Garland Quintet, Soul Junction (1957, Craft) →

Andrew Hamlin (The Tone Arm, JazzTimes)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. What You May Call It, Da Qi (MechaBenzaiten) →
  2. Ran Blake & Dominique Eade, Roots & Byways (Sunnyside) →
  3. Ron Carter & Yotam Silberstein, Duets (Jojo) →
  4. Charles Downs Quartet, Inner (ESP-Disk') →
  5. Entropic Hop, The Quest for the Normal Is the Death of the Self (ESP-Disk') →
  6. Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp, Realism (ESP-Disk '25) →
  7. Nikolett Pankovits, Red Dress (self-released) →
  8. Chuck Bergeron, Bass & Face: Duets With Ten Premier Vocalists (Summit) →
  9. Bill Frisell, In My Dreams (Blue Note) →
  10. Skúli Sverrisson & Bill Frisell, For All Your Flowers (Newvelle) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →
  2. Thelonious Monk, Alone in San Francisco (1959, Craft) →
  3. The Visitors [Earl & Carl Grubbs], Motherland (1975, Craft) →
  4. Yusef Lateef, Lost in Sound (1962, Good Time/Charlie Parker) →
  5. Satoko Fujii's Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra (2014, Libra) →

Eyal Hareuveni (Free Jazz Collective, Salt Peanuts, Percorsi Musicali)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Shelley Hirsch - Christian Weber - Alfred Vogel, Vanish (Boomslang) →
  2. Mariam Rezaei - Sakina Abdou - Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, 1984 [I IX VIII IV]: The Forward Process (Dropa Disc) →
  3. Columbia Icefield [Nate Wooley], A Silence Opens (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Marta Warelis, Still Life With Lemons (Relative Pitch) →
  5. Tom Raworth & Giancarlo Nino Locatelli, A Decent Run (We Insist!) →
  6. Quagmire & Christer Bothén, Rörane (Relative Pitch) →
  7. Magda Mayas, Chant (Unsounds) →
  8. Susana Santos Silva & Vasco Trilla, Mushin (Defkaz) →
  9. Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, Non Sonett (Aspen Edities) →
  10. Håkon Thelin, Echoes and Traces, Together (Peninsula Audio) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Tom Raworth & Peter Brötzmann, No Hard Feelings: For Steve Lacy (2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  2. Poing, Giants of Jazz (2001, Royal) →

Note: "no particular order"

George Harris (Jazz Weekly)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Joel Ross, Gospel Music (Blue Note) →
  2. The BLCK Madonna, Between the Lines (Downtown Music) →
  3. Snarky Puppy & Metropole Orkest, Somni (GroundUP Music '25) →
  4. Loren Schoenberg and His Jazz Orchestra, So Many Memories (Turtle Bay '25) →
  5. Michael Winograd, Plays Tanz! Live in New York City (Borscht Beat '25) →
  6. John Scofield & Dave Holland, Memories of Home (ECM '25) →
  7. Anna Kolchina, Reach for Tomorrow (OA2) →
  8. The Paul Carlon Trio, Between Us Three (TRRcollective) →
  9. Chuck Bergeron, Bass & Face: Duets With Ten Premier Vocalists (Summit) →
  10. Brian Dickinson & Penderecki String Quartet, October Songs (Cellar) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Herb Geller Quartet, Barcelona Session (1990, Fresh Sound '25) →
  2. Lester Young, Lester Leaps In: Live at Birdland 1951-1952 (Liberation Hall '25) →
  3. Classic V-Disc Big Band Jazz Sessions (1943-48, Mosaic) →
  4. Duke Ellington, Copenhagen 1964 (Storyville) →
  5. Freddie King, Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsations Concert (Elemental Music) →

Ron Hart (Rock and Roll Globe, Spin, Billboard, DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Flea, Honora (Nonesuch) →
  2. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  3. Mark Turner, Patternmaster (ECM) →
  4. Steven Bernstein/Scotty Hard, ResoNation Trio/Ultra Resonance (Royal Potato Family) →
  5. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, Deface the Currency (Impulse!) →
  6. Knats, A Great Day in Newcastle (Gearbox) →
  7. Judith Berkson, Thee They Thy (ECM) →
  8. Virginia MacDonald, In Search Of . . . (Cellar) →
  9. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  10. Fathers, Fathers (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Miles Davis, Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) →
  2. Mal Waldron, Stardust & Starlight: At the Jazz Showcase (1979, Resonance) →
  3. Vince Guaraldi and Bola Sete, From All Sides (1965, Craft) →
  4. Buster Williams, Pinnacle (1975, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  5. Medeski Martin & Wood, Tonic (1999, Blue Note) →

Andrey Henkin (JazzTimes, Stereophile, WeJazz, Jazz Passings)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Marilyn Crispell & Anders Jormin, Memento (ECM) →
  2. Peter Evans & Mike Pride, A Window, Basically (Relative Pitch '25) →
  3. Jon Irabagon, Raw Dog (Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  4. Myra Melford & Satoko Fujii, Katarahi (RogueArt) →
  5. Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns, Bitches Blues (Rune Grammofon) →
  6. Quagmire & Christer Bothén, Rörane (Relative Pitch) →
  7. Skerik, Skerik 061725 (Loosegroove) →
  8. Colin Stetson - Greg Fox - Trevor Dunn, Nethering (Envision) →
  9. Miroslav Vitous, Mountain Call (2003-10, ECM) →
  10. Zu, Ferrum Sidereum (House of Mythology) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  2. Carla Bley, Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (Moosicus) →
  3. Marion Brown, Live in Europe 1968 & 1972 (NoBusiness) →
  4. Marty Ehrlich & Julius Hemphill, Circle the Heart (1982, Relative Pitch) →
  5. Red Norvo, The Secret Session (1942, Dot Time) →

Geoffrey Himes (JazzTimes, Chamber Music, Hard Rain & Pink Cadillacs)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Miles Okazaki, Boomtown (Pi) →
  2. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  3. Bill Frisell, In My Dreams (Blue Note) →
  4. Harry Skoler, Echoes (Red Brick Hill) →
  5. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  6. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  8. Caleb Wheeler Curtis, Ritual (Chill Tone) →
  9. Matthew Stevens, Matthew Stevens (Candid) →
  10. Virginia MacDonald, In Search Of . . . (Cellar) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  2. Jimmy Scott, Falling in Love Is Wonderful (1963, Tangerine) →
  3. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  4. Art Pepper, Everything Happens to Me: 1959 Live at the Cellar (Omnivore) →
  5. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →

Rob Hoff (WQLN [Erie, PA], WETF [South Bend, IN], JazzErie)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  2. The Phoenix Trio, Tomorrow Is Today (Giant Step Arts) →
  3. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Joe Lovano, Paramount Quartet (ECM) →
  5. Michael Formanek, New Digs (Intakt) →
  6. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Happy Today (International Anthem/Nonesuch) →
  8. Dave Douglas, Transcend (Greenleaf Music) →
  9. Gregory Hutchinson, Kind of Now: The Pulse of Miles Davis (Warner) →
  10. Mark Turner, Patternmaster (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  2. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  3. Art Pepper, Everything Happens to Me: 1959 Live at the Cellar (Omnivore) →

 

Prev[Acquaro - Catarino] · [Cebulski - Finney] · [Freeman - Hoff] · [Hovan - Lorrai] · [Luen - Piccirilli] · [Pick - Varga] · [Watson - Yokoi]Next