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 [4]

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

C. Andrew Hovan (All About Jazz, DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Pat Metheny, Side-Eye III+ (Ubiquity Music) →
  2. Dave Stryker, Blue Fire: The Van Gelder Session (Strikezone) →
  3. Steve Swallow, Winter Songs (ECM) →
  4. Steve Wilson, Enduring Sonance (Smoke Sessions) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  2. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  3. Buster Williams, Pinnacle (1975, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  4. Bill Connors, Of Mist and Melting (1977, ECM) →
  5. Mick Goodrick, In Pas(s)ing (1978, ECM) →

Note: Dropped extra Rara Avis vote for Roger Glenn, Reachin' (1976, Craft).

Tom Hull (Tom Hull - On the Web, Notes on Everyday Life)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Meg Okura & Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Isaiah (Adhyâropa) →
  2. Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language Quartet, Wailers (European Echoes) →
  3. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  4. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  5. Anthony Joseph, The Ark (Heavenly Sweetness) →
  6. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Irreversible Entanglements, Future Present Past (Impulse!) →
  8. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  9. Mark Lomax II & the Urban Art Ensemble, The Unity Suite (CFG Multimedia) →
  10. Myra Melford & Satoko Fujii, Katarahi (RogueArt) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Art Pepper, Everything Happens to Me: 1959 Live at the Cellar (Omnivore) →
  2. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  3. The Lawrence Marable Quartet, Tenorman (1956, Jazz West/Blue Note) →
  4. Sunny Murray & Sabu Toyozumi, Sun's Blessings (1999, NoBusiness) →
  5. James Brandon Lewis & Lutosławski Quartet, These Are Soulful Days (2021, TAO Forms) →

Jim Hynes (Glide, PostGenre)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  2. Chris Potter, Alive With Ghosts Today (Edition) →
  3. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  4. Nduduzo Makhathini, The Myth We Choose (Blue Note) →
  5. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Gregory Hutchinson, Kind of Now: The Pulse of Miles Davis (Warner) →
  7. Ambrose Akinmusire & Mary Halvorson, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (Nonesuch) →
  8. Willy Rodriguez, In the Unknown (I Will Find You) (Sunnyside) →
  9. Emmet Cohen, Universal Truth (Mack Avenue) →
  10. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  2. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  3. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  4. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →
  5. Charles Tolliver All Stars, Right Now . . . and Then (1968, Strata-East) →

Martin Johnson (NPR Fresh Air, Wall Street Journal)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Jason Moran, Plays Duke Ellington (Yes) →
  2. Marta Sanchez, For the Space You Left (Out of Your Head) →
  3. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  4. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Omni (Intakt) →
  5. Cécile McLorin Salvant, With Every Breath I Take (Nonesuch) →
  6. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  7. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  8. Miles Okazaki, Boomtown (Pi) →
  9. Caroline Davis, Fallows (Ropeadope) →
  10. Kalia Vandever, Mana (International Anthem) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Sanford Josephson (Jersey Jazz Magazine)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Art Pepper, Everything Happens to Me: 1959 Live at the Cellar (Omnivore) →

Note: Rejected vote for Catherine Russell & Sean Mason, My Ideal: released in 2024.

Matthieu Jouan (Citizen Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  2. Nicolas Leirtrø's Action Now!, Entrance (Sauajazz) →
  3. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (Corbett vs. Dempsey '25) →
  4. Kaja Draksler Octet, Bare, Unfolding (Zavod Sploh/Clean Feed) →
  5. Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr, Fly (Sauajazz) →
  6. Camila Nebbia - Marilyn Crispell - Lesley Mok, A Reflection Distorts Over Water (Relative Pitch '25) →
  7. Craig Taborn - Nels Cline - Marcus Gilmore, Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic '25) →
  8. Flöjter, Brest Flow (Utech) →
  9. Clément Janinet - Arve Henriksen - Ambre Vuillermoz - Robert Lucaciu, Garden of Silences (BMC) →
  10. North Sea String Quartet, Zonar (Happy Seal) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance '25) →
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance '25) →
  3. Miles Davis, Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (Craft) →
  4. The Charlie Rouse Band, Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Edition (1977, Resonance '25) →
  5. Bill Evans, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (1959-61, Craft '25) →

Richard B. Kamins (Step Tempest Steps Out)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. David Adewumi, The Flame Beneath the Silence (Giant Step Arts) →
  2. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  3. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  4. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  5. Samuel Torres, Trio Libre (Blue Conga) →
  6. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Mike McGinnis - Carmen Staaf - Gui Duvignau - Hamir Atwal, ContraPunctus (Adhyâropa) →
  8. Anthony Branker & Other Ways of Knowing, Manifestations of a Diasporic Groove & Spirit (Origin) →
  9. Virginia MacDonald, In Search Of . . . (Cellar) →
  10. Michael Blake, Piccolos Before Rifles (Baby Tank) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →
  2. Ahmad Jamal, At the Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago (1976, Resonance) →

George Kanzler (Hot House, New York City Jazz Record)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ben Allison - Steve Cardenas - Ted Nash, Triological (Sunnyside) →
  2. John Beasley & SWR Big Band, Invisible Piano (O-Tone Music) →
  3. Chuck Bergeron, Bass & Face: Duets With Ten Premier Vocalists (Summit) →
  4. John Clayton, The Two-o Duo Project (ArtistShare) →
  5. Hoodies, New Jazz Underground (NJU) (Artwork) →
  6. Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Ellington Masterworks (MCG Jazz) →
  7. Carlos Henríquez, Monk Con Clave (self-released) →
  8. Martin Wind, Stars (Newvelle) →
  9. Helen Sung Big Band, Oracles (Sunnyside) →
  10. Meg Okura & Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Isaiah (Adhyâropa) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  2. Frank Kimbrough, The Call (2010, Sunnyside '25) →
  3. Ahmad Jamal, At the Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago (1976, Resonance) →
  4. Michel Petrucciani, Kuumbwa (1987, Elemental Music) →
  5. Bill Evans, At the BBC (1965, Elemental Music) →

Glenn Kenny (RogerEbert.com, New York Times)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Henry Now, Then Again (Dark Companion '25) →
  2. José Lencastre - João Hasselberg - Kresten Osgood, This Anger Is a Liar (Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  3. Soft Machine, Thirteen (MoonJune) →
  4. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  5. Sylvie Courvoisier Trio, Éclats - Live in Europe (Intakt) →
  6. John Butcher, Away, I Was (Relative Pitch) →
  7. Dietrichs, Live Bahdu (Relative Pitch) →
  8. Ava Mendoza, Alive Alone, Alive Together (Burning Ambulance) →
  9. Joel Futterman & William Parker, Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance) →
  10. Florian Arbenz - Bill Frisell - Greg Osby, Quiet Lights (Conversation Lab) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Cecil Taylor New Unit, Words & Music: The Last Bandstand (2016, Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  2. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  3. Evan Parker - Paul Rogers - Louis Moholo, Tebugo (1992, Jazz in Britain '25) →
  4. Keith Tippett - Claudio Gabbiani - Roberto Musci, Music for Labyrinths (2000, Dark Companion) →
  5. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey '25) →

James Koblin (The Necessary Blues, WVKR 91.3FM [Vassar College])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Columbia Icefield [Nate Wooley], A Silence Opens (Out of Your Head) →
  2. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  3. Michael Formanek, New Digs (Intakt) →
  4. Kaja Draksler Octet, Bare, Unfolding (Zavod Sploh/Clean Feed) →
  5. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Miles Okazaki, Boomtown (Pi) →
  7. Magda Mayas, Chant (Unsounds) →
  8. Sei Miguel, Viva! (Clean Feed) →
  9. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  10. Caroline Davis, Fallows (Ropeadope) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Julius Hemphill, Dogon A.D. (1972, New World) →
  2. Marty Ehrlich & Julius Hemphill, Circle the Heart (1982, Relative Pitch) →
  3. Kenny Wheeler Sextet, What Was (1995, False Walls) →
  4. Marion Brown, Live in Europe 1968 & 1972 (NoBusiness) →
  5. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →

Elzy Kolb (freelance)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  2. Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenón, Expressions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (Miel Music) →
  3. Caleb Wheeler Curtis, Ritual (Chill Tone) →
  4. Pedrito Martínez - Antonio Sánchez - Michael League, Elipsis (GroundUP) →
  5. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  6. Catherine Russell, Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center (Dot Time) →
  7. Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow, Electical Field of Love (Pi) →
  8. The Phoenix Trio, Tomorrow Is Today (Giant Step Arts) →
  9. Monika Herzig, Transparent (Key of B) →
  10. Steve Swallow, Winter Songs (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Woody Shaw, Love Dance (1976, Time Traveler) →
  2. Miroslav Vitous, Mountain Call (2003-10, ECM) →
  3. Joe Chambers, Double Exposure (1977, Muse/Time Traveler) →
  4. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →

David Kunian (New Orleans Jazz Museum, Louisana State Museum, WWOZ-FM [New Orleans])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Gabrielle Cavassa, Diavola (Blue Note) →
  2. Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow, Electical Field of Love (Pi) →
  3. Irreversible Entanglements, Future Present Past (Impulse!) →
  4. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, Deface the Currency (Impulse!) →
  5. Michael Jenner, Sparkle On! (self-released) →
  6. Nolatet, Somethin' to Relax With (Royal Potato Family) →
  7. Noah Preminger, Dark Days (Criss Cross Jazz '25) →
  8. Walter Smith III, Twio Vol. 2 (Blue Note) →
  9. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  10. Brad Walker, A Sliver of Catharsis (self-released '25) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Sun Ra, East Two + 7 (1972-73, Cosmic Myth) →
  2. The Bottle Tapes (1996-2005, Corbett vs. Dempsey '25) →

Josh Langhoff (Wrigley Field organist)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  2. Jason Moran, Plays Duke Ellington (Yes) →
  3. Shabaka, Of the Earth (Shabaka) →
  4. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  5. Lakecia Benjamin, We Dream (Artwork) →
  6. Brandon Seabrook, Hellbent Daydream (Pyroclastic) →
  7. Cassie Watson Francillon, Bardo (self-released) →
  8. Caroline Davis, Fallows (Ropeadope) →
  9. Chuck Bergeron, Bass & Face: Duets With Ten Premier Vocalists (Summit) →
  10. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Grupo Um, Nineteen Seventy Seven (1977, Far Out) →

Tim Larsen (Jazz Views)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Florian Arbenz - Bill Frisell - Greg Osby, Quiet Lights (Conversation Lab) →
  2. Satoko Fujii's Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra (2014, Libra) →
  3. Hannah Gill, I Like the Sunrise (Turtle Bay) →
  4. Simon Hanes, Gargantua (Pyroclastic) →
  5. Jon Irabagon, Focus Out (Irrabagast) →
  6. Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band, Incarnadine (self-released) →
  7. Noa Levy & Paul Edis Trio, Portrait in Evans (Dot Time) →
  8. John Pizzarelli, Dear Mr. Bennett (Green Hill Music) →
  9. Edward Simon, Venezuela: Latin American Songbook Vol. 2 (ArtistShare) →
  10. Lis Wessberg Featuring Veronika Rud, In the Wake of Blue (April) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  2. Michel Petrucciani, Kuumbwa (1987, Elemental Music) →
  3. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →

Will Layman (PopMatters, Big Butter & Egg Man)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  2. Jon Irabagon, Focus Out (Irrabagast) →
  3. Harriet Tubman & Georgia Muldrow, Electical Field of Love (Pi) →
  4. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  5. Gabrielle Cavassa, Diavola (Blue Note) →
  6. Dave Douglas, Transcend (Greenleaf Music) →
  7. Craig Taborn, Dream Archives (ECM) →
  8. Virginia MacDonald, In Search Of . . . (Cellar) →
  9. Ambrose Akinmusire & Mary Halvorson, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (Nonesuch) →
  10. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Devin Leonard (Bloomberg Businessweek)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Joel Ross, Gospel Music (Blue Note) →
  2. Simon Moullier, Ceiba (Simon Moullier Music) →
  3. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  4. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  5. Ambrose Akinmusire & Mary Halvorson, Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (Nonesuch) →
  6. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  7. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  8. Mark Turner, Patternmaster (ECM) →
  9. Craig Taborn, Dream Archives (ECM) →
  10. David Binney, History:Memory (Mythology) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Lance Liddle (Bebop Spoken Here)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Jesse Davis Quartet, Reflections (Cellar) →
  2. Richard Baratta, Another Kind of Bird (Savant) →
  3. Ben Wolfe, Any Time After Now (Resident Arts) →
  4. Duchess, A Marvelous Party (Anzic) →
  5. Betty Bryant, Nothin' Better to Do (Bry-Mar Music) →
  6. Walter Smith III, Twio Vol. 2 (Blue Note) →
  7. Tommaso Starace Organ Trio, Live at the Beaver Inn (Dodicilune) →
  8. Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band, Treasury Volume 3 (Turtle Bay) →
  9. Brian Lynch, Torch Bearers (Holistic MusicWorks) →
  10. Joe Webb, Neath Beat (Edition) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Louis Stewart, Joyce Notes (1982, Livia) →
  2. The Oscar Peterson Trio, At Baker's Keyboard Lounge: The Complete Recordings (1960, Verve) →
  3. Woody Shaw, Love Dance (1976, Time Traveler) →
  4. Red Norvo, The Secret Session (1942, Dot Time) →
  5. Thelonious Monk, Live in Paris, 1967: Volume One (Rhythm-a-Ning) →

Mark Lomanno (The Rhythm of Study)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  2. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →
  3. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  4. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  5. James Fernando, Philly 3 (Spring Garden) →
  6. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  7. Caroline Davis, Fallows (Ropeadope) →
  8. Jonathan Suazo, Ricano Vol. 2: Fruto De Mi Corazón (Miel Music) →
  9. Brandon Seabrook, Hellbent Daydream (Pyroclastic) →
  10. Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band, Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall (Jazzheads) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Woody Shaw, Love Dance (1976, Time Traveler) →
  2. The Oscar Peterson Trio, At Baker's Keyboard Lounge: The Complete Recordings (1960, Verve) →
  3. Michel Petrucciani, Kuumbwa (1987, Elemental Music) →
  4. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →

Suzanne Lorge (DownBeat, New York City Jazz Record)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Cécile McLorin Salvant, With Every Breath I Take (Nonesuch) →
  2. Bill Frisell, In My Dreams (Blue Note) →
  3. Joe Lovano, Paramount Quartet (ECM) →
  4. Steve Swallow, Winter Songs (ECM) →
  5. Lakecia Benjamin, We Dream (Artwork) →
  6. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  7. Pat Metheny, Side-Eye III+ (Ubiquity Music) →
  8. Miho Hazama, Frames (Edition) →
  9. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →
  10. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Oscar Peterson, Around the World (1969-81, Mack Avenue/Two Lions '25) →
  2. Duke Ellington, Copenhagen 1964 (Storyville) →
  3. Thelonious Monk, Live in Paris, 1967: Volume One (Rhythm-a-Ning) →
  4. Classic V-Disc Big Band Jazz Sessions (1943-48, Mosaic) →
  5. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →

Marcello Lorrai (Radio Popolare, Il Manifesto)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  2. Byard Lancaster & Keno Speller, Exactement (1974, Souffle Continu) →
  3. Miroslav Vitous, Mountain Call (2003-10, ECM) →
  4. Keith Tippett, Mujician: Music to Accompany the Authorised Biography by Martin Phillips (1976-84, Jazz in Britain) →
  5. Kenny Dorham, The Complete Round About Midnight at the Café Bohemia (1956, Blue Note) →

 

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