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 [5]

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

Brad Luen (Semipop Life)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  2. Work Money Death, A Portal to Here (ATA) →
  3. Mark Lomax II & the Urban Art Ensemble, The Unity Suite (CFG Multimedia) →
  4. Zanja All Stars, Cuban Jam Session Volume 2 (Zanja '25) →
  5. Lakecia Benjamin, We Dream (Artwork) →
  6. Nicolas Leirtrø's Action Now!, Entrance (Sauajazz) →
  7. Meg Okura & Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Isaiah (Adhyâropa) →
  8. Omar Sosa - Joo Kraus - Diego Pinera, Vibe Factor (Music Hub) →
  9. Joel Futterman & William Parker, Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance) →
  10. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Phillip Lutz (DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Ferruccio Martinotti (La Stampa, Free Jazz Collective)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Paul Medrano (Best of Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Maria Schneider Orchestra, American Crow (ArtistShare) →
  2. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  3. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Sylvie Courvoisier Trio, Éclats - Live in Europe (Intakt) →
  5. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Happy Today (International Anthem/Nonesuch) →
  6. Marta Sanchez, For the Space You Left (Out of Your Head) →
  7. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  8. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  9. Julian Lage, Scenes From Above (Blue Note) →
  10. Dietrichs, Live Bahdu (Relative Pitch) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Note: Also see Best Jazz Albums of 2026 (So Far).

Allen Michie (The Arts Fuse)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. James Brandon Lewis & Lutosławski Quartet, These Are Soulful Days (2021, TAO Forms) →
  2. Django Festival Allstars, Evolution (Motéma) →
  3. Meg Okura & Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Isaiah (Adhyâropa) →
  4. Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra & Sean Irvine, Forgotten Stories Suite (Chronograph) →
  5. Gregory Hutchinson, Kind of Now: The Pulse of Miles Davis (Warner) →
  6. Chris Potter, Alive With Ghosts Today (Edition) →
  7. Dave McMurray, I Love Life Even When I'm Hurting (Blue Note '25) →
  8. Simon Spang-Hanssen, Afrolantic (Spangster/Alisio Music) →
  9. Emilio Solla & La Inestable De Brooklyn, Handmade (Club Del Disco) →
  10. Out Of/Into [Joel Ross - Gerald Clayton - Kendrick Scott - Matt Brewer - Immanuel Wilkins], Motion II (Blue Note '25) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Mal Waldron & Sam Rivers, Live in Mestre Venezia 1984 (Caligola '25) →
  2. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  3. Oscar Peterson, Around the World (1969-81, Mack Avenue/Two Lions '25) →
  4. Carla Bley, Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (Moosicus) →
  5. Paul McCandless, Live at Kimball's East 1992 (Moosicus) →

Bill Milkowski (DownBeat, Absolute Sound, JazzTimes, Jazzthing [Germany], Jazzwise [UK], Musings on Music by The Milkman [also on Substack])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Ingrid Jensen, Landings (Newvelle) →
  2. Emmet Cohen, Universal Truth (Mack Avenue) →
  3. Helen Sung Big Band, Oracles (Sunnyside) →
  4. Joe Lovano, Paramount Quartet (ECM) →
  5. Chris Potter, Alive With Ghosts Today (Edition) →
  6. Harry Skoler, Echoes (Red Brick Hill) →
  7. Ben Wolfe, Any Time After Now (Resident Arts) →
  8. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  9. Alexander Claffy, Alive in Philadelphia Vol. 1: At Chris' Jazz Cafe (Cellar) →
  10. Nat Reeves, Now in Time (The Side Door) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Carla Bley, Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (Moosicus) →
  2. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  3. Mick Goodrick & Fred Hersch, Feebles, Fables and Ferns (1988, ECM) →
  4. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  5. Jimmy Scott, Falling in Love Is Wonderful (1963, Tangerine) →

Ralph A. Miriello (Notes on Jazz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL) (unranked)

Rick Mitchell (Jazz in the New Millennium [book/radio program])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Chris Monsen (Musikkmagasinet [Klassekampen], Jazznytt, Chris Monsen's Listening Booth)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Nicolas Leirtrø's Action Now!, Entrance (Sauajazz) →
  2. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  3. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Omni (Intakt) →
  4. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  5. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  6. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, Deface the Currency (Impulse!) →
  7. The Outskirts, Orbital (Aerophonic) →
  8. Josh Berman Trio, Everybody Else's Life Too (Corbett vs. Dempsey) →
  9. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  10. Henriette Eilertsen Trio, Moder (Motvind) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Charles Tyler Ensemble, Voyage From Jericho (1974, Frederiksberg) →
  2. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  3. Schlippenbach Trio, Elf Bagatellen (1990, Cien Fuegos) →
  4. Duke Ellington, Copenhagen 1964 (Storyville) →
  5. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →

Note: Also see 25 favorite 2026 albums around the halway mark

John Frederick Moore (Jazziz)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  2. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →
  3. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  4. Jason Moran, Plays Duke Ellington (Yes) →
  5. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, Deface the Currency (Impulse!) →
  6. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  7. Craig Taborn, Dream Archives (ECM) →
  8. Marta Sanchez, For the Space You Left (Out of Your Head) →
  9. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  10. Sam Barsh - Mark Guiliana - Keyon Harold, Straight08 (La Reserve) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  2. Marty Ehrlich & Julius Hemphill, Circle the Heart (1982, Relative Pitch) →
  3. Cecil Taylor New Unit, Words & Music: The Last Bandstand (2016, Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  4. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance '25) →
  5. Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, Jazz Messengers '70 (Good Time) →

Greg Morton (Substack, GMOrt On RecOrd)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Work Money Death, A Portal to Here (ATA) →
  2. Yazz Ahmed, Shinrin-Yoku (Night Time Stories) →
  3. Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Mystic Suite (Marlow) →
  4. Lakecia Benjamin, We Dream (Artwork) →
  5. Martin Wind, Stars (Newvelle) →
  6. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →
  7. Anthony Joseph, The Ark (Heavenly Sweetness) →
  8. Alden Hellmuth, Tether (Leiter) →
  9. Shake Stew, Ten One Two (Traumton) →
  10. Your Brother's Keeper & Gary Bartz, Where Rivers Meet (Brownswood) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Ivana Ng (DownBeat)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS (unranked)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Fotis Nikolakopoulos (Free Jazz Collective)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Jack Wright and Ben Bennett, Tourne (self-released) →
  2. Christine Abdelnour - Frantz Loriot - David Meier - Pascal Niggenkemper, Et Il Y Aura . . . (Veto) →
  3. Camila Nebbia & Chris Corsano, Six or Seven Ways Towards Becoming Undone (Relative Pitch) →
  4. Kieran Daly and Sam Weinberg, Live Unison and Unison Continued (Stern) →
  5. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Tim Niland (Bluesky)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Angelika Niescier, Chicago Tapes (Intakt) →
  2. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  3. Chrome Hill & Dōjō, Free Rangers (Clean Feed) →
  4. Irreversible Entanglements, Future Present Past (Impulse!) →
  5. Jon Irabagon, Focus Out (Irrabagast) →
  6. Kris Davis Quartet, John Zorn: The Bagatelles Vol. 5 (Tzadik) →
  7. Ballister + Luke Stewart, Clocking the Wheel (Aerophonic) →
  8. Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) →
  9. Nat Birchall Quartet, Path of Enlightenment (Ancient Archive of Sound) →
  10. Rodrigo Amado This Is Our Language Quartet, Wailers (European Echoes) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →
  2. Louis Armstrong, Reference: Hot Five & Hot Seven at 100 (1925-28, AlAy/Thingamajig) →
  3. Julius Hemphill, Dogon A.D. (1972, New World) →
  4. Albert Ayler Quintet, Reference: Copenhagen, Bordeaux 1966 & Newport 1967 Live First Release (AlAy/Thingamajig '25) →
  5. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →

Phil Overeem (Living to Listen, Good to My Earhole, The Phil Overeem (Failed) Farewell to Teaching Tour)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Bobby Bradford - Mark Dresser - Hafez Modirzadeh, Sonic House Reunion (NoBusiness) →
  2. Work Money Death, A Portal to Here (ATA) →
  3. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  4. Joel Futterman & William Parker, Transcendent Universe (Burning Ambulance) →
  5. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Mark Lomax II & the Urban Art Ensemble, The Unity Suite (CFG Multimedia) →
  7. Jason Moran, Plays Duke Ellington (Yes) →
  8. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Happy Today (International Anthem/Nonesuch) →
  9. Adam Rudolph - Alexis Marcelo - Kaoru Watanabe, Sunrise (Meta) →
  10. Ernesto Jodos & Rocio Giménez López, Una Casa Con Dos Pianos (Blue Art) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Cecil Taylor New Unit, Words & Music: The Last Bandstand (2016, Fundacja Słuchaj) →
  2. Alan Silva Celestrial Communication Ensemble, 2000-06-24 Amherst (Eremite) →
  3. Cheer Accident, CheerAx Basement, Chicago 4/2/22 // Reggie's Chicago 9/26/23 (Cuneiform) →
  4. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  5. Ahmad Jamal, At the Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago (1976, Resonance) →

Ted Panken (DownBeat, JazzTimes, Today Is the Question, Round 2)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Brian Lynch, Torch Bearers (Holistic MusicWorks) →
  2. Jason Moran, Plays Duke Ellington (Yes) →
  3. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  4. Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork '25) →
  5. Helen Sung Big Band, Oracles (Sunnyside) →
  6. Virginia MacDonald, In Search Of . . . (Cellar) →
  7. Gregory Hutchinson, Kind of Now: The Pulse of Miles Davis (Warner) →
  8. Caroline Davis, Fallows (Ropeadope) →
  9. Kemuel Roig, 3Discovery (Life in Music) →
  10. Maria Pia De Vito, Buarqueana (Parco Della Musica '25) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. James Emery & Anthony Braxton, Articulations, Florence, 1992 (self-released) →
  2. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  3. Art Blakey, Kongsberg, 1976 (Elemental Music) →
  4. Yusef Lateef, Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975, Resonance) →
  5. Pierre Favre Trio, Bird Food (1968, Songs) →

Note: Unconfirmed albums: Emery & Braxton, Blakey. Panken wrote: "I would like the #1 selection in both sections to be ranked, and the remainder (2-10 in New Jazz or 2-5 in Rara Avis) unranked."

Annie Parnell (Nashville Scene, FLOOD)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →
  2. Cécile McLorin Salvant, With Every Breath I Take (Nonesuch) →
  3. Shabaka, Of the Earth (Shabaka) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Russell Perry (Jazz at 100 Now!, WTJU [Charlottesville, VA])

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Omni (Intakt) →
  2. Melissa Aldana, Filin (Blue Note) →
  3. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →
  4. Eliane Elias, Ao Vivo (Candid) →
  5. Ben Wolfe, Any Time After Now (Resident Arts) →
  6. Billy Childs, Triuimvirate (Mack Avenue) →
  7. Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band, Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall (Jazzheads) →
  8. Walter Smith III, Twio Vol. 2 (Blue Note) →
  9. Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project, The Longest Way Round (One Trick Dog) →
  10. Craig Taborn, Dream Archives (ECM) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Kenny Barron - Ray Drummond - Ben Riley, So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon (1995, Elemental Music) →
  2. McCoy Tyner, The Seeker (1993, Red) →
  3. Joe Henderson, Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978, Resonance) →
  4. Roy Hargrove, Bern (2000, Time Traveler) →
  5. Woody Shaw, Love Dance (1976, Time Traveler) →

Lawrence Peryer (The Tonearm)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Alden Hellmuth, Tether (Leiter) →
  2. Ben Wendel, Barcode (Edition) →
  3. Caroline Davis, Fallows (Ropeadope) →
  4. Mary Lattimore & Julianna Barwick, Tragic Magic (InFiné) →
  5. Maria Schneider Orchestra, American Crow (ArtistShare) →
  6. Meredith Bates, The Observer Effect (Phonometrograph) →
  7. Miho Hazama, Frames (Edition) →
  8. Nick Fraser, Areas (Elastic) →
  9. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

Sergio Piccirilli (El Intruso)

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Tyshawn Sorey, Members . . . Don't! (Pi) →
  2. أحمد [Ahmed], Play Monk (Otoroku) →
  3. Sylvie Courvoisier Trio, Éclats - Live in Europe (Intakt) →
  4. Bill Frisell, In My Dreams (Blue Note) →
  5. Adam O'Farrill, Elephant (Out of Your Head) →
  6. Phillip Golub, Partisan Ship (Berthold) →
  7. Miles Okazaki, Boomtown (Pi) →
  8. DoYeon Kim, Wellspring (TAO Forms) →
  9. Marta Warelis, Still Life With Lemons (Relative Pitch) →
  10. The Tomeka Reid Quartet, Dance! Skip! Hop! (Out of Your Head) →

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. Carla Bley, Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (Moosicus) →
  2. Pierre Favre Trio, Bird Food (1968, Songs) →
  3. Marion Brown, Live in Europe 1968 & 1972 (NoBusiness) →
  4. Ahmad Jamal, At the Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago (1976, Resonance) →
  5. Cecil Taylor Unit, Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (Elemental Music) →

 

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