2025 was a year of great growth for our site. In addition to Brian Kiwanuka and John Chacona’s reviews, friend turned staff writer Jim Hynes, joined us in a big way. That includes his review of the Big Ears Festival, an event I have long wanted to attend, but for which the timing never seems to work out. I was able to provide my annual coverage of Newport, with my review scheduled for 2026, featuring not only my words but also my photography. For a taste, here is the legendary Ron Carter:
While our main photographer, T. Jordan Hill, will return next summer – thankfully – it was an interesting experience jumping between the camera in the photo pit and the reporter’s pad. This year, I was also provided the opportunity to better explain the site’s concept on the Jazz Journalists Association’s podcast, the Buzz. Also tied to the JJA, I was involved in awarding vocalist Pamela Hart the designation as one of Austin’s Jazz Heroes. I also contributed, as I have for the past few years, to the Francis Davis Jazz Critics poll and El Intruso’s Annual International Critics Poll. An even greater honor was being asked to contribute to the iconic Downbeat’s Critics Poll.
Normally, in my year end list, I would compose some thoughts on trends that emerged across the site’s writings over the past year. However, even putting aside reviews and focusing solely on my interviews, our output was honestly too large to well-summarize. The subjects have ranged widely from a highlife legend ahead of his final US tour to a longtime sideman who is, somehow, finally releasing his first as a leader. From memories of the man who invented the modern music festival to members of a band far too long lost to time. From mapping the constellations to exploring an archaic version of a viola. It is perhaps best to simply list the forty-nine artists and acknowledge that each has its own interesting moments of thought and conversation:
George Burton, Ava Mendoza, Ebo Taylor, Ellen Fullman and Teresa Wong , Jon Irabagon, Jason Miles, Dream Brigade: Lesley Mok and Phillip Golub, George Porter, Jr. , Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi and Arturo O’Farrill, Roscoe Mitchell, Nels Cline, Jeff Parker, Dougie Bowne, Seymour Wright of [Ahmed], Ambrose Akinmusire, Adam O’Farrill, Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson, Amir ElSaffar and Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch, Tisziji Muñoz and Paul Shaffer, Curtis Hasselbring, DM Hotep on Marshall Allen Ghost Horizons, Ken Vandermark, Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp, Amina Claudine Myers, Brandee Younger, Chris Weller , Gaia Wilmer and Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Deborah Ross, Executive Director of the Joyce and George Wein Foundation, Nubya Garcia, Parlor Greens: Tim Carman, Jimmy James, and Adam Scone, Rich Ruth, Marcus Gilmore, Pat Patrick and Steve Scipio of Cymande, Sebastian Rios of New Jazz Underground, Christian McBride, Theon Cross, Zoh Amba, Chicago Underground Duo: Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor, Nils Petter Molvaer, Kassa Overall, Ben Lamar Gay, Gary Bartz, Mocean Worker (Adam Dorn) and Joe Alterman, Sonya Belaya, Patricia Brennan, Stanley Jordan, David Binney and Tommy Crane, Eyvind Kang, and Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri. And those are just the ones out so far. There are at least two more – Peter Evans and Paul Winter – that should be up before the end of the month.
And those are just the ones out so far. At least two more – Peter Evans and Paul Winter – should be up before the end of the month. A careful reader may note that many of these names recur in my list below. This is simply a reflection of the fact that I write about the music that interests me. Chances are, if an album speaks to me in, say, March, it probably will still do so by December. This year, with two sons under four, both sharing names with great composers, it has become significantly more difficult for me to actually find time to fully listen. Not to merely put a recording on, but to fully immerse myself in it and listen to what the artist has presented. Revisiting some of these records months, though it often feels like years, later has been a joy.
Looking to next year, 2026 is already shaping up well. At a bare minimum, I’ll be sharing conversations with Either/Orchestra’s Russ Gershon on the band’s new Ethiopiques album, Christopher Hoffman on his new solo cello record, Ned Rothenberg on solo performance and Hans Reichel’s daxophone, and with underrecognized creative music great Joe Morris. Stay tuned, 2026 is going to be great. But, without further ado, here are the ten albums I felt most drawn to in 2025, along with twenty-five more. I also wanted to call out three fantastic contemporary classical recordings: Zeena Parkins’ Modesty of the Magic Thing (Tzadik, 2025) and two albums featuring the JACK Quartet- Travis LaPlante’s String Quartets (New Amsterdam, 2025) and John Zorn’s The Complete String Quartets (Tzadik, 2025).
10. Ivo Perelman and the Matthew Shipp String Trio – Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)
One of the first things students learn about music is how to read written Western notation. While being able to decipher notes and rests is important, only so much is carried from pen and paper – or, more likely, a printout from Sibelius. Much of the greatness instead comes from the speakers themselves and their ability to freely converse with one another through sound. While one can assess the compositions or performance on Armageddon Flower, its true greatness lies in the telepathy forged between its speakers – Matthew Shipp, Ivo Perelman, William Parker (as an aside, NEA, please make this guy a Jazz Master already), and Mat Maneri. All four have worked together in so many different contexts over the years, and those shared experiences and languages shine through the recording, providing moments of hope and wonder in even the most dire of circumstances.
You can read my interview with both Ivo and Matt on this album in two parts. The first is here. and the second here. Jim Hynes also reviewed Armageddon Flower for the site.
9. Mary Halvorson – About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
The passage of years will cement Mary Halvorson’s status as one of the great composers of our time. And when such recognition is finally awarded, it will be in no small part due to her work with her sextet. The ensemble of vibraphonist Patricia Brennan, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, trombonist Jacob Garchik, bassist Nick Dunston, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara has proven to be the perfect setting for the guitarist to push her artistic impulses to the edges. The group’s malleability – in no small part because it is filled with other great composers and performers – made her first compositions for strings an unquestionable highlight of her body of work to date. But the group has only enlarged its scope over the three years since Amaryllis (Nonesuch, 2022). With About Ghosts, Halvorson turns her attention to doubling on synthesizer and, at times, expanding the group to an octet by adding saxophonists Brian Settles and Immanuel Wilkins. Both additions add new textures – especially check out the dizzying ending of “Carved Form” – and ideas to the project, but never at the expense of everything the listener loves about Mary. Her microtonal musings, wonderously woozy warbles, delicately crafted themes, and a generally idiosyncratic voice that refuses to cede to the status quo remain as present as always.
Mary also released another excellent album this year, ‘Bone Bells,’ a duo with Sylvie Courvoisier. You can read my conversation with both Mary and Sylvie on that album here.
8. Amir ElSaffar and Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch – Inner Spaces (Ornithology Productions/Maqam Records)
Inner Spaces’ meeting of Iraqi-American trumpeter-santurist-vocalist ElSaffar and Italian electronic artist Bianchi Hoesch is built around the Iraqi maqam, a form that goes back at least twelve centuries. However, that structure is malleable in this duo’s hands. Bianchi Hoesch insightfully morphs their surroundings, coaxing the already brave ElSaffar out of any comfort zone. At times, things get so wild that ElSaffar is even forced to converse with a previously recorded version of himself. The result is a project where sounds of an old world meet those of a new, inhabiting a space where spiritual solemnity, improvisational prowess, and electronic wonder converge.
You can read my interview with both Amir and Lorenzo on this album here.
7. For Living Lovers – Natural Name (Sunnyside)
The second studio album of the duo of guitarist Brandon Ross and bassist Stomu Takeishi, Natural Name is an invitation to a world of quiet and reflective meditation. The artists’ strings paint vivid landscapes through sound. The music often defies convention even while incorporating folk overtures. Moments on “Pollinator,” for instance, suggest both the bravado of flamenco and the mystery of East Asian music. The album also leaves ample room for space and silence, to let each note resonate even further beyond what is hearable.
You can read Jim Hynes’ review of this album for our site here.
6. James Brandon Lewis – Apple Cores (Anti-)
It is very easy to identify James Brandon Lewis as a tenor saxophonist. While technically accurate, that classification is also woefully inadequate. Put the bamboo, brass, and hard rubber out of mind to reveal what he truly is: one of the best sonic historians. For a music so heavily tied to tradition, works by younger generations honoring those who came before is hardly an anomaly, but, far too often, an overly retrospective attitude is applied. In reality, the best historical analyses not only look backwards but also forward to the ramifications of yesteryear on today and tomorrow. And this is exactly where JBL excels. That perspective is also what allows him to so capably honor non-musical heroes as well. In the case of Apple Cores, primarily a trio date with bassist Josh Werner and percussionist Chad Taylor, inspiration comes from Don Cherry and Amiri Baraka. A careful listener can hear the former’s interest in different musical cultures through things like Werner’s dub lines and Taylor’s hypnotic mbira on “Prince Eugene,” while the latter’s boldly fearless storytelling is all over the recording. And yet, it is all presented in thoroughly modern ways, with the album drawing free jazz, hip hop, funk, and rock in as part of a singularly cohesive Black artistic excellence.
5. Theon Cross – Affirmations (Live at Blue Note New York) (New Soil/Division 88)
Much of the writing on Theon Cross focuses predominantly on the booming London scene, the history of the tuba in jazz, or both. Often lost in the conversation is how much his music reflects the restoration of danceability to improvised music. Improvised music has long been tied to dancing, but as the music grew in complexity, body movements primarily turned into head nods. A false conception that the physical is at odds with the cerebral seemed to predominate. Cross must not have gotten the memo, as his music is incredibly vibrant and grooves so heavily. His low tones are especially powerful live. One of the craziest audiences I had ever encountered was a hypnotized crowd at the Newport Jazz Festival, experiencing his propulsive basslines firsthand. Affirmations brings the magic of his live performance to physical media for the first time. And, to do so, he taps one of the most powerful saxophonists of his generation, Isaiah Collier. The result is music that makes you move, feel, and think.
You can read my conversation with Theon on this album here.
4. Amina Claudine Myers – Solace of the Mind (Red Hook)
There is nothing overtly flashy or showy about Solace of the Mind. There are no pyrotechnics or long, complicated runs. There does not need to be. It is in the album’s humbleness that a true beauty emerges. Myer’s solo piano record is masterful and hits you deep in the soul through each delicately placed note. In a time of constant chaos, Solace provides a necessary antidote. Such peace can only be delivered through the hands of a genius. However, the NEA Jazz Master has been very vocal that she is but a mere messenger. Instead, all music comes from something larger than one artist; it comes from God. After experiencing this record, it is difficult to refute that thesis. Thank you for taking us to church, Amina.
You can read my conversation with Amina on this album here.
3. Charles Lloyd – Figure in Blue (Blue Note)
“There is no joy without pain. That’s the dues you pay to sing the blues.”
— Ray Charles
Far too often, the Blues are solely tied to heartbreak and sorrow. But, as anyone who has paid attention to the form can attest, it is a music of duality. You cannot have lows without highs. Sagely, Charles Lloyd approaches the Blues in its fullest sense on Figure in Blue. The tenor saxophonist who once mesmerized crowds at the Monterey Jazz Festival back in 1967 is now eighty-seven years old. For anyone, let alone a deep thinker like Lloyd, who reaches such an age, it is unavoidable that questions of mortality arise. Life is fleeting, and it is even more so when you see not only heroes but your friends and colleagues pass to another realm. Figure reflects upon their loss but also celebrates how, though their physical selves have moved on, their spirits still remain with us for generations long into the future to still meet. One cannot help but find symbolism in the age diversity of the NEA Jazz Master’s new trio – guitarist Marvin Sewell is a generation younger than him, and longtime collaborator pianist Jason Moran, two – as if a statement on ensuring the vitality of those who came before. Hence, the presentation of works by Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and the bluesmen of Memphis from the leader’s youth. But especially gripping is the yearning tribute to friend Zakir Hussain. Recorded not long after the tabla great’s passing, on “Hymn To The Mother, For Zakir,” you can hear each tear flowing through Lloyd’s bell. But you can also sense the joy and gratitude of having known such a soul at all.
2. Ambrose Akinmusire – honey from a winter stone (Nonesuch)
Styled as a self-portrait, honey from a winter stone draws the necessary connections between Julius Eastman’s organic music, the poetry of rap, and instrumental improvisational ingenuity. Of course, it’s not Akinmusire’s first full exploration of the intersectionality of jazz, hip hop, and contemporary classical. The spiritual predecessor, Origami Harvest (Blue Note, 2018), was one of the last decade’s finest albums. However, the earlier project was in many ways a mere taste of what was to come, as both focus and ensemble membership have changed, with the latter’s most noticeable difference being the swapping out of the raps of Kool AD’s for those of Kokayi. The result of this further growth and evolution is a much more mature, unified, and fully realized work. The ideas that were interesting side by side on Origami are now swirled into a smooth mixture. And a thread throughout it all is a rallying call for change; the repetitiveness of minimalist motifs urgently reveals the follies of the status quo, while urgently calling for a better tomorrow.
You can read my interview with Ambrose on this album here.
1. Patricia Brennan – Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic)
Albert Einstein once noted that “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.” There is so much in the vastness of space that defies our understanding. And yet, mathematics can help us put it all into perspective. For vibraphonist and marimbaist Brennan, the numeric correlations between the stars that fill the soundless void of the cosmos can be translated into written notes and, ultimately, into hearable music itself. In navigating these connections, Brennan is able, aided by a working quartet, a string quartet, and electronics, to seamlessly transport the listener to spaces beyond a pair of speakers or headphones. Near, far, this music will take you there.
You can read my conversation with Patricia on this album in two parts. The first is here. and the second here. Brian Kiwanuka also reviewed Of the Near and Far for the site.
Here are twenty-five more albums I felt were especially worthy of recognition this year:
11. Sonya Belaya – Dacha (Ropeadope)
With Dacha’s six-song cycle, vocalist-pianist Belaya builds her music to incorporate cues from her native Russia, specifically Soviet-era feminist literature and bard songs. Researching this background provides additional depth to the work, but it is hardly necessary. And while a study of things like the Great Purge adds additional contextual insight to the work, it is not a prerequisite for feeling its emotional weight. The leader gives drummer Stephen Boegehold, bassist Nick Dunston, violinist Ledah Finck, cellist Wesley Hornpetrie, gayageumist Doyeon Kim, trombonist Kalia Vandever, and trumpeter Chris Williams great freedom to interpret the pieces. The music is often hauntingly beautiful as it equally reflects the stories of its origins and speaks to a broader humanity.
You can read my interview with Sonya on this album here.
12. Shrunken Elvis – Shrunken Elvis (Western Vinyl)
I’m not going to pretend to know what a “Shrunken Elvis” is, but the name sounds equally familiar and unusual, which is a perfect reflection of this ensemble. The Nashville-based trio of essentially three different types of guitarists has a twang that points to its Music City origin, but this isn’t the Carters. Born of the mantra of “no goals, just ideas,” their record traverses ambient, rock, jazz, psychedelia, and electronic music to provide something utterly unique. Pedal steel guitarist Spencer Cullum lays down sparse landscapes of longing over which Sean Thompson and Rich Ruth float and glide. Think Brian Eno meets Pat Metheny’s “Last Train Home,” Pharaoh Sanders’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” and the band Tangerine Dream, with a slight tinge of the Opry.
You can read my interview with Shrunken Elvis guitarist Rich Ruth on his solo work here.
13. Thomas Morgan – Around you is a Forest (Loveland)
For several years, Thomas Morgan has been a go-to bassist for the brightest lights of music, working with an impressive list of other artists that includes Bill Frisell, Steve Coleman, Paul Motian, and John Abercrombie. But, until Around You is a Forest, he had not released an album under his own name. And, defying convention, he plays very little bass on his solo debut. Instead, he takes the album as an opportunity to present a virtual instrument of his own creation, the “WOODS.” Across a series of duos, the WOODS is able to pull in sounds from physical instruments from around the globe, from African lute-harps to marimbas. It is a wildly unpredictable instrument that stands out on its own. But even on his own project, Morgan cannot help but rely on his abilities to make his colleagues sound better. Throughout the record, the WOODS brings out rich, often hidden, facets of the sounds of his collaborators, from the dark mysteriousness of Henry Threadgill’s flute to the scorched edges of Ambrose Akinmusire’s horn.
You can read Jim Hynes’ review of the album here.
14. Fieldwork – Thereupon (Pi)
When the current version of Fieldwork formed in 2005, its members – Steve Lehman, Vijay Iyer, and Tyshawn Sorey – were still largely emerging names in the improvised music community. But their openness to new ideas and remarkable conversational fluidity crafted an ensemble unlike any other. Jump forward twenty years, doctoral degrees, a Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy nomination, and MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships later, and they are undoubtedly at the front lines of the modern creative music scene they very much helped create. But that spark that once burnt two decades ago is even more luminescent today. Just listen to the skittery dreamlike aura of the closer, “The Night Before.” Nothing else sounds like this.
You can read Jim Hynes’ review of the album for our site here.
15. Kassa Overall – CREAM (Warp)
As seen in the works of modern poets like Kendrick Lamar, there can also be great art in hip hop. The music can powerfully express sentiments not easily conveyed elsewhere. However, in large part because of the controversial lyrics of many releases, hip hop composers are often not given their due. In reality, many hip hop composers studied the same greats as those of jazz. Some, like Biggie with Chief Donald Harrison, even directly learned from the masters. Part of what sets CREAM apart is that Overall is one of the few to give the songwriting of hip hop artists the credit they deserve. The infectiously energetic and vibrant record puts the music of Wu-Tang Clan and Dr. Dre are put on an equal footing with Eddie Harris, where they belong.
You can read my interview with Kassa on this album here.
16. Quantum Blues Quartet – Quantum Blues (Ropeadope)
To some extent, the Quantum Blues Quartet is a supergroup hiding in plain sight, with each member’s recognition far too often relegated to only one of their many projects. For guitarist Tisziji Muñoz and bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, it is their associations with Pharaoh Sanders and Ornette Coleman, rather than being one of the most important free jazz guitarists and an avant-funk pioneer, respectively. Paul Shaffer is underappreciated for his vast skills outside of being David Letterman’s comedic sidekick. And Will Calhoun is best known as one of the four in Living Colour. Quantum Blues finds each master musician freely improvising and free of the expectations unfairly thrust upon them. The album shows the full breadth of their prowess as they dig deep into the blues, both expanding and redefining it as they proceed. The album is funky, wild, and beyond convention.
You can read my interview with both Tisziji and Paul on this album here. You can also read Jim Hynes’ review of the album here.
17. Craig Taborn, Nels Cline, Marcus Gilmore – Trio of Bloom (Pyroclastic)
Trio of Bloom finds keyboardist Taborn, guitarist Cline, and drummer Gilmore for the first time. The brainchild of producer David Breskin, the project visits the works of Ronald Shannon Jackson, Terje Rypdal, and Wayne Shorter, along with several originals. The group’s name, of course, is a nod to the other impromptu trio of John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, and Tony Williams. And like its spiritual predecessor, Trio of Bloom is full of surprises but moves so fluidly as a testament to the talent of the artists who make it.
You can also read Jim Hynes’ review of the album here.
18. Bela Fleck with Edmar Castaneda and Antonio Sanchez – BEATrio (Thirty Tigers)
Another distinctive trio, this time with Bela Fleck on banjo, Edmar Castañeda on Colombian harp, and Antonio Sanchez on drums. The album is highly energetic, full of danceable grooves. The synergy between the unique timbres of the two stringed instruments is especially remarkable.
19. Nels Cline – Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note)
Nels Cline is an interesting figure in improvised music. To the wider public, he is likely best known for his over two-decade membership in the top indie rock band, Wilco. But his heart also unquestionably lies in something even more experimental. One does not record their own version of John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space (Impulse!, 1967) without a serious dedication to free expression. But the guitarist shines best where the impulses of rock and avant-garde jazz collide. His Consentrik Quartet and the group’s debut album find the two not merely flirting but embracingly intertwined. Of course, the meeting of jazz and rock is hardly new. The whole idea of “fusion” is this writ large. But this ensemble – with saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Tom Rainey – wholly avoids the stereotypes and excesses while still combining both. Instead, the hues of jazz and rock are more subtle, more relaxed. The record often lulls you in with the smooth gentleness of a Jimmy Giuffre 3 or Motian-Lovano-Frisell recording before it completely disorients you and you find yourself on a different conceptual track, whether the heavy shredding on “Satomi” or the punkish dysfunction of “The Bag.” The closer, “Time of No Sirens,” somehow even hints at the lush orchestrations that dominated his Lovers (Blue Note, 2016).
You can read my interview with Nels on this album here. You can also read Brian Kiwanuka’s review of the album here.
20. Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizon – Live in Philadelphia (Otherly Love/Ars Nova)
For the last thirty years, Marshall Allen has navigated the Sun Ra Arkestra in its musical voyages. But, despite his, at times, youthful exuberance, time waits for no one. As doctor’s orders forced the centenarian to more fully dock in Philadelphia, it became clear a new plan was essential. Enter longtime Arkestra guitarist DM Hotep and the esteemed venue, the Ars Nova Workshop. Live captures some of the highlights of Allen’s Ars Nova residency. The music covers a wide range of sound, from the electronic noise of “Back to You” with Wolf Eyes to the Eastern hues of “Cosmic Dreamers, Ode to Elegua.” While Marshall Allen may be limited in physical travel, Live in Philadelphia makes clear that, artistically, he is still very much traversing the cosmos.
You can read my interview with DM Hotep on the album here.
21. Zoh Amba – Sun (Smalltown Supersound)
Saxophonist Zoh Amba’s Sun is ostensibly a recording of her new quartet with pianist Lex Korten, bassist Caroline Morton, and percussionist Miguel Marcel Russel. And while the group is great, the album’s finest moments actually come when the leader is unaccompanied, her horn in one hand and a piano’s keys in the other. When she strips the surroundings down to solely herself, she fully reveals her heart to the listener. It is incredibly raw, personal, and powerful.
You can read my interview with Zoh Amba on the album here.
22. Resavoir and Matt Gold- Horizon (International Anthem)
Will Miller’s Resavoir has consistently released interesting recordings that reconceptualize the sound of a big band. The latest, featuring guitarist Matt Gold, visits 1960s and 1970s Música Popular Brasileira to make listeners feel the wind gently behind their back as they sail into the warm waters before them, illuminated by the setting sun.
23. Adam O’Farrill – For These Streets (Out of Your Head)
A trumpeter’s ode to the arts of the 1930s featuring an octet with Mary Halvorson, Patricia Brennan, David Leon, Tomas Fujiwara, Tyrone Allen, Kevin Sun, and Kalun Leung. Given how forward-thinking all the members of the ensemble are, it should come as no surprise that For These Streets is not only an elegant tribute to a time past but also incredibly contemporary. The message – the parallels between the social and political of both eras – is loud and clear.
You can read my interview with Adam on the album here.
24. Camila Nebbia ft. Marilyn Crispell & Lesley Mok – A Reflection Distorts Over Water (Relative Pitch)
A loosely structured work made overwhelmingly out of free creation, Reflection makes rich use of silence and space over its flowing textures. With no prior rehearsal before entering the studio, the trio can seemingly effortlessly create moments that stir the imagination, as when rumbling percussiveness rises out of a dark lake to displace mirrored light.
25. Isabelle Olivier – Impressions (Rewound Echoes)
Inspired by the Impressionist movement’s visual artists like Vincent van Gogh, Mary Cassatt, and Paul Cézanne, light and color emanate through French harpist Olivier’s twelfth highly atmospheric album. This is particularly well seen on “Open a window,” where silence is slowly and gently invited to fill the room.
26. Henry Threadgill – Listen Ship (Pi)
Henry Threadgill is particularly masterful at writing for ensembles with unusual instrumentation. In the case of Listen Ship, he gathers six guitarists and two pianists to perform a series of fairly short movements, each named after a letter from A to R and puzzlingly missing K entirely. It’s a curious work where his distinctive intervallic system carves labyrinthine soundscapes of hushed whispers, passionate balladry, romanticized waltzes, and – on “M” especially – a bouncy sway.
You can read Jim Hynes’ review of the album for our site here.
27. The Sorcerers- Other Worlds and Habitats (ATA)
The UK ensemble wizardly crafts a potent potion of Ethio-jazz, soundtracks to European horror films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and Nigerian funk with dashes of trip hop and analog synth grooves.
28. Ches Smith – Clone Row (Otherly Love)
With Clone Row, percussionist-vibraphonist Ches Smith leads an ensemble torn between two poles of guitarists, with Liberty Ellman to the left and Mary Halvorson to the right. Filling the middle are the leader and bassist Nick Dunston’s edgy electronics, erratic grooves, and hyperactively frenzied fervor. Even as the album throws its listeners around the room, they can’t help but marvel at its compositional creativity.
You can read Jim Hynes’ review of the album for our site here.
29. Lucian Ban, John Surman, and Mat Maneri – The Athenaeum Concert (Sunnyside)
Over the last few years, pianist Ban and violist Maneri have been finding great improvisational fluidity and opportunity in the Transylvanian folk transcriptions taken by Béla Bartók almost a century ago. Some of these releases have featured the two artists as a duo. Others have them joined by the legendary British saxophonist Surman. The Atheneum Concert captures the trio at a June 2024 performance at a grand hall in Bucharest, with incredible acoustics. More importantly, it is a memorial of one of Surman’s last public performances prior to his retirement, a fact of which each of the three was well aware before performing. The solemnity, joy, and power of the occasion radiate throughout the record.
Click here for my conversation with Lucian and Mat on both this album and the other 2025 release, ‘Cantica Profana.‘ You can also read Jim Hynes’ review of both albums for our site here.
30. Marcus Gilmore – Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams)
As the grandson of the late great Roy Haynes, Marcus Gilmore has some big footsteps to follow. But the artist doesn’t seem pressured to be anyone but himself. With Journey, the longstanding sideman fully moves out on his own while performing at one of the music’s most important venues. The music slowly guides the listener into the drummer’s creative world, a space where smooth textures and hypnotic grooves dominate.
You can read my interview with Marcus on this album, the influence of his grandfather, and more here.
31. Belinde Deman – Plank 9 (Relative Pitch)
Over the last fourteen years, Kevin Reilly’s Relative Pitch Records has established itself as a premier outlet for some of the most unexpected of sonic voyages. The label often boldly travels into spaces never before considered or those forgotten in time. The latter is represented well by Belgian tubaist Deman’s latest. Plank 9 finds her instead picking up the Renaissance-era serpent and, with the help of pedals, broodily slithering through darkness and mystery. It’s an utterly distinctive recording.
32. Jaleel Shaw – Painter of the Invisible (Changu)
While Jaleel Shaw has long been called upon to provide his services as a sideman to some of the music’s most legendary figures, albums under his own name are relatively sparse. Painter is a deeply personal outing of interlocking narratives through which the saxophonist shares his love for his family, the inspiration he has taken from his heroes, and overtly addresses the continued need for social justice.
33. Jon Irbagon – Server Farm (Irabagast)
The year 2025 can be seen as the year of AI, where artificial intelligence went from a theoretical possibility to a commonly used tool. Article after article has expressed concern about industries destroyed by the burgeoning technology. They also often note that those who will prevail in the coming technological revolution are people unafraid of change and who find ways to use it towards their own ends. That is a perfect way to describe Jon Irabagon’s dectet recording. Server Farm does not incorporate language learning models or anything similar, but does attempt to mimic them. The saxophonist-leader meticulously dove through the other works of the ensemble’s impressive membership – violinist-vocalist Mazz Swift, trumpeter Peter Evans, guitarists Miles Okazaki and Wendy Eisenberg, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Michael Formanek, drummer Dan Weiss, and polymath Levy Lorenzo – to see what makes them tick and how they think. He then converted these into their parts and spaces for improvisation. You can hear such effort in the record where the dialogues are explosive.
You can read my interview with Jon on the album here.
34. Brandee Younger – Gadabout Season (Impulse!)
Although the history of jazz harp isn’t as broad as that of, say, the trumpet or saxophone, it is also not something to scoff at. And when one digs through the lineage, two names definitively stand out: Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. As Brandee Younger, a follower of both, previously released a tribute to the former and recorded Gadabout with the instrument once belonging to the latter, it is easy to assume the new album is fully dedicated to the one who once journeyed to Satchidananda. It both is and isn’t. The album does not cover a single Coltrane composition but instead consists of fully original pieces. Younger presents them with great freedom and a sound that, while indebted to Coltrane, is fully her own. One can’t think of a better way for an artist to honor a sonic ancestor who constantly yearned for musical freedom than to be wholly themselves.
You can read my interview with Brandee on the album here.
35. Sasha Berliner – Fantôme (Outside in Music)
The vibraphonist’s follow-up to Onyx (JMI, 2022) honors the jazz tradition even while subtly fighting its status quo. You can hear the shadows of the adventurousness of Bobby Hutcherson or the bluesy expressiveness of Milt Jackson but they are cast fully by a young artist acting at her own direction.
RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)
VOCAL
LATIN
DEBUT
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Over the last few years, tenor saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh has released recordings thst featured his…
Folk music is often broadly defined as being a music “of the people.” But what…
The vibraphonist Bill Ware is perhaps best known for his work with The Jazz Passengers…
With Ancestral (Whirlwind, 2025), alto saxophonist and composer John O'Gallagher explores the late-period work of…
In many ways, the burgeoning improvised music community in Brooklyn resembles downtown New York's loft…