The 10 best jazz albums of 2025
After much consternation I ve managed to pare down a long list of fine jazz-improv recordings from to a top So apologies to Marshall Allen The Necks Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp Joe Morris and Elliott Sharp Rafiq Bhatia Ava Mendoza Gabby Fluke-Mogul Carolina Perez David Murray Trio of Bloom Chicago Underground Duo Ingrid Laubrock Thomas Morgan Ambrose Akinmusire and others because was a superb year for music anyway Here are my top albums that made the last months even more worthwhile and they ve held up to repeated listening too The Music of Anthony Braxton by Steve Lehman Trio Mark Turner Pi Recordings Tribute albums are rarely this invigorating and alto saxophonist Lehman adds a insufficient compositions of his own that fit in perfectly with Braxton s maverick spirit The Ancients self-titled Eremite Records Emerging sax explorer Isaiah Collier teams up with two veterans bassist William Parker and drummer William Hooker to investigate the sonic universe s outer edges Ches Smith s Clone Row Otherly Love Records Ches Smith Clone Row self-titled Otherly Love Records A blast of excitement from the drummer-bandleader who sets the stage for twisting guitar thrills between Mary Halvorson and Liberty Ellman Just by the Billy Hart Quartet ECM Hart the drummer who s played with pretty much everyone you can imagine turned in November He s still trailblazing with an empathetic working band Of the Near and Far by Patricia Brennan Pyroclastic Records Brennan is one of the majority of imaginative composers in the music industry right now and her mastery of the vibraphone is on glorious display here Hikmah by Pat Thomas Tao Forms Thomas who s as of now best known as the pianist in the quartet Ahmed disclosed a scant albums this year and they re all worth hearing This one showcases his hypnotic meditative technique in the best viable light Sam Rivers by the Mark Masters Ensemble featuring Billy Harper Capri This is the kind of big band album you might think no longer exists bursting with exhilarating arrangements and the tenor saxophone of NEA jazz master Billy Harper And it was published on the impressive Colorado-based Capri Records label Thereupon by Fieldwork Pi Recordings A potent reformation of this intuitive trio with pianist Vijay Iyer drummer Tyshawn Sorey and saxophonist Steve Lehman see No Unseparate by the Webber Morris Big Band Out of Your Head Records If the Mark Masters album listed above recalls classic big band arrangements Anna Webber and Angela Morris both enthralling saxophonists update the large group format for with state-of-the-art concepts and performances Figure in Blue by Charles Lloyd Blue Note Lloyd who excels here on woodwind instruments seems incapable of making a subpar album He stretches out on a reflective double-length set that savors mortality for the artist and the listener Bonus Here are five stellar titles from the archives that saw the light of day this year The Bottle Tapes Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz Improvised Music Series by various artists Corbett Vs Dempsey Nuits De La Fondation Maeght by Sun Ra Strut Quartet England by Anthony Braxton Burning Ambulance Music Blind prodigious multi-instrumentalist Roland Rahsaan Kirk - who embraced bop jazz R B and avant garde music performing with a selection of wind instruments hanging around his neck Photo by Keystone Getty Images Vibrations in the Village by Rahsaan Roland Kirk Resonance Records The Free Slave by Roy Brooks Time Traveler Records And in live jazz this month Pianist Jacky Terrasson appears at Dazzle on Dec The late Purnell Steen s band The Five Points Jazz Ambassadors pay tribute to the beloved bandleader and pianist Dec at Dazzle This season s Holiday Sessions at Denver s Nocturne feature the Peter Sommer Septet on Dec - and the David Mesquitic Quintet on Dec - Pianist Annie Booth resumes her annual Charlie Brown Christmas show at Dazzle Dec - and The Gabriel Mervine Quartet appears at Denver s Brown Palace on Tuesdays this month Subscribe to our weekly newsletter In The Know to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox
