Best Jazz Albums of 2025: All-Star Break Edition

As we hit the halfway mark of 2025, All About Jazz has adopted Major League Baseball's All-Star break approach but swapping homers for albums. Our team of 55 writers convened to name their top three albums of the year so far, with Mary Halvorson's About Ghosts (Nonesuch) emerging as the clear favorite and an early contender for album of the year. Her collaboration with Sylvie Courvoisier (Bone Bells, Pyroclastic Records), also earned spots on a few lists. Other notables include Branford Marsalis' Belonging (Blue Note Records), Anouar Brahem's After the Last Sky (ECM Records), Artemis' Arboresque (Blue Note Records) and Hiromi's OUT THERE (Telarc Records).

The list below also includes a few albums released in late 2024 but reviewed in 2025.

Staff picks in order by first name...

Adam Beaudoin's Picks

Arboresque
Artemis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





Ones & Twos
Gerald Clayton
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





Woven
Jeremy Pelt
HighNote Records
Year: 2025

Alberto Bazzurro's Picks

Homage
Joe Lovano
ECM Records
Year: 2025





After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records
Year: 2025





Resonance
Massimo De Mattia
Aut Records
Year: 2025

Angelo Leonardi's Picks

About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





For These Streets
Adam O'Farrill
Out Of Your Head Records
Year: 2025





Shades of Sound
Ryan Truesdell
Outside in Music
Year: 2025

C. Andrew Hovan's Picks

Survival of the Fittest
Jordan VanHemert
Origin Records
Year: 2025





Unleashed
Altin Sencalar
Posi-Tone Records
Year: 2025





Crossing Paths
Renee Rosnes
Smoke Sessions Records
Year: 2024

Carl Medsker's Picks

Live at the Jazz Standard
George Colligan
Whirlwind Recordings
Year: 2025





Abstraction Is Deliverance
James Brandon Lewis
Intakt Records
Year: 2025





Pivot Point
Behn Gillece
Posi-Tone Records
Year: 2025

Dan Bilawsky's Picks

High Standards
Ted Rosenthal
TMR Music
Year: 2025





The Call
Frank Kimbrough
Sunnyside Records
Year: 2025





Rio Fantasia
Duduka Da Fonseca
Sunnyside Records
Year: 2025

Dan McClenaghan's Picks

Porgy
Atzko Kohashi
Jazz In Motion Records
Year: 2025





Rendezvous -Jazz Meets Beethoven, Tchaikovsky & More
Jo-Yu Chen
Sony Music
Year: 2025





East by Midwest
Charlie Ballantine
Origin Records
Year: 2025

Dean Nardi's Picks

Just
Billy Hart
ECM Records
Year: 2025





The Cave
Michala Østergaard-Nielsen
ILK Music
Year: 2025





After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records
Year: 2025

Doug Collette's Picks

BEATrio
BEATrio
Thirty Tigers
Year: 2025





Defiant Life
Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith
ECM Records
Year: 2025





The Surrounding Green
Fred Hersch
ECM Records
Year: 2025

Francesco Varriale's Picks

Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records
Year: 2025





Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores
John Daversa
Greenleaf Music
Year: 2025

Geno Thackara's Picks

Sierra Tracks
Milo Fitzpatrick
Gondwana Records
Year: 2025





The Playful Abstract
KALI Trio
Ronin Rhythm Records
Year: 2025





An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Gentle Emotions
Kristoffer Rosing-Schow
Zachs Music
Year: 2025

Giuseppe Segala's Picks

For These Streets
Adam O'Farrill
Out Of Your Head Records
Year: 2025





About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





A Tree in the Mist
Matteo Bortone
Onze Heures Onze
Year: 2025

Glenn Astarita's Picks

Consentrik Quartet
Nels Cline
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





Away Towards the Light
Moe Staiano
Edgetone Records
Year: 2024





The Gathering
Mark Wingfield
MoonJune Records
Year: 2024

Hrayr Attarian's Picks

The Crisis Knows No Borders
Gustavo Cortiñas
Desafio Candente Records
Year: 2025





Parallel Aesthethics
Ivo Perelman
Fundacja Sluchaj
Year: 2025





A Story Left Untold
Georgia Mancio and Alan Broadbent
Roomspin Records
Year: 2025

Ian Patterson's Picks

Ebb and Flow
Michael Buckley
Livia Records
Year: 2025





Home
Hayeli: Khachatur Savzyan, Donna Khalife
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Butterfly Effect
Izumi Kimura
Codama Records
Year: 2025

Jack Bowers' Picks

Peter and Will Anderson
The Best of Berlin
Arbors Records
Year: 2025





80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note, March 26, 2005
James Moody
Origin Records
Year: 2025





Vagabond
Royce Campbell
Max Frank Music
Year: 2025

Jack Kenny's Picks

New Vienna
Keith Jarrett
ECM Records
Year: 2025





Nocturne
Gerry Mulligan
Red Records
Year: 2025





Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson
Pyroclastic Records
Year: 2025

Jerome Wilson's Picks

Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores
John Daversa
Greenleaf Music
Year: 2025





Every Journey
Claire Cope
Adhyâropa Records
Year: 2025





Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025

John Chacona's Picks

Honey From A Winter Stone
Ambrose Akinmusire
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





Solace of the Mind
Amina Claudine Myers
Red Hook Records
Year: 2025





Consentrik Quartet
Nels Cline
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025

John Ephland's Picks

Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier
Pyroclastic Records
Year: 2025





Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project
Tessa Souter
NOANARA Records
Year: 2025





Beingness
Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, and Adam Rudolph
Meta Records
Year: 2025

John Sharpe's Picks

Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson
Pyroclastic Records
Year: 2025





Armageddon Flower
Ivo Perelman
Tao Forms
Year: 2025





Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (Sun Ra)
Sun Ra
Strut Records
Year: 2025

Joshua Weiner's Picks

In Jazz We Trust
Posi-Tone Swingtet
Posi-Tone Records
Year: 2025





I Hear Echoes
George Cables
HighNote Records
Year: 2024





Open, to Love
Paul Bley
ECM Records
Year: 2025

Jua Howard's Picks

Beneath the Skin
Nnenna Freelon
Origin Records
Year: 2025





Best Life Now
Sachal Vasandani
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Everybody Loves Johnny O'Neal
Johnny O'Neal
Cellar Music Group
Year: 2025

Katchie Cartwright's Picks

Watersong
Savina Yannatou
ECM Records
Year: 2025





Equilibrando no Acupe
Gabriela Machado
Self Produced
Year: 2024





Overture
Felipe Senna
Self Produced
Year: 2024

Konstantin Rega's Picks

Treasury, Volume 2
Terry Waldo
Turtle Bay Records
Year: 2025





Piano Music 3
Alessandro Sgobbio
AMP Music & Records
Year: 2025





Arboresque
Artemis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025

Kyle Simpler's Picks

On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco
Freddie Hubbard
Resonance Records
Year: 2025





Vibe Check
Joe Baione
Joe Baione Music
Year: 2024





Refuge
Mitch Towne
Cross Towne Records
Year: 2025

Lawrence Peryer's Picks

Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson
Pyroclastic Records
Year: 2025





Purposing The Air
Ingrid Laubrock
Pyrolastic Records
Year: 2025





Armageddon Flower
Ivo Perelman
Tao Forms
Year: 2025

Libero Farne's Picks

The Crisis Knows No Borders
Gustavo Cortiñas
Desafio Candente Records
Year: 2025





Lightside
Matteo Pastorino
A.MA Records
Year: 2025





Resta chi va
Antonio Borghini
We Insist! Records
Year: 2025

Luciano Rossetti's Picks

If You Can't Dazzle Them With Your Brilliance, Then Baffle Them With Your Blisluth Pt. Two
Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Avant Groid Musica
Year: 2025





SoundScapes #4 Berlin 2023 Silent Green
Harri Sjostrom
FSR
Year: 2025





After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records
Year: 2025

Ludovico Granvassu's Picks

Homage
Joe Lovano
ECM Records
Year: 2025





Fiend
Enemy
Edition Records
Year: 2025





May This Be Love (Acoustic Guitar Takes on Jimi Hendrix)
Thomas Naïm
Rootless Blues
Year: 2025

Marek J. Śmietański's Picks

Ones & Twos
Gerald Clayton
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





Spindrift
Benjamin Lackner
ECM Records
Year: 2025





OUT THERE
Hiromi
Telarc Records
Year: 2025

Mark Corroto's Picks

The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
The Hemphill Stringtet
Out Of Your Head Records
Year: 2025





Being-A-Ning
Silke Eberhard
Intakt Records
Year: 2025





Abstraction Is Deliverance
James Brandon Lewis Quartet
Intakt Records
Year: 2025

Marco Iacoboni's Picks

Is that Jazz?
Silvia Bolognesi
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Lyra
Stefano Battaglia
Artesuono
Year: 2025





The Hidden Idea
Tobia Bondesan
Self Produced
Year: 2025

Mark Sullivan's Picks

Consentrik Quartet
Nels Cline
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records
Year: 2025





Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025

Maurizio Zerbo's Picks

The Call
Frank Kimbrough
Sunnyside Records
Year: 2025





Our Thing To In 'N Out Revisited
Joe Henderson
Ezz-thetics
Year: 2025





Brahm Dreams Still
Dino Betti van der Noot
Audissea
Year: 2025

Michael Ricci's Picks

Travelogue
Danny Grissett
Savant Records
Year: 2025





Portrait of a Moment
Tommaso Perazzo, Marcello Cardillo, Buster Williams
Red Records
Year: 2025





Boreal
Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos
CARA
Year: 2025

Mike Jurkovic's Picks

The Cave
Michala Østergaard-Nielsen
ILK Music
Year: 2025





About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts
Charles Mingus
Resonance Records
Year: 2025

Neil Duggan's Picks

The Man I Love
Gabriel Latchin
Alys Jazz
Year: 2025





Poems for Travellers
Emil Brandqvist
Skip Records
Year: 2025





Solo: Miniatures & Tales
Shai Maestro
Naive
Year: 2025

Neri Pollastri's Picks

Relevé Live
Anais Drago
Habitable Records
Year: 2025





Aesthetic of Prisms
Agusti Fernandez
Fundacja Słuchaj
Year: 2024





Altitude 1100 Meters
Satoko Fujii
Libra Records
Year: 2025

Paul Rauch's Picks

Screen Time
Thomas Marriott
Imani / 88 Keys Productions
Year: 2025





Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





City Life: Music of Gregg Hill
Michael Dease
Origin Records
Year: 2025

Paolo Peviani's Picks

About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





A Tree in the Mist
Matteo Bortone
Onze Heures Onze
Year: 2025





PUZZLE
Hélène Labarrière
Self Produced
Year: 2025

Pierre Giroux's Picks

Mixed Bag
Pete McGuinness
Summit Records
Year: 2025





With a Song In My Heart: Exploring The Music of Richard Rodgers
Denny Zeitlin
Sunnyside Records
Year: 2025





Shades of Sound
Ryan Truesdell
Outside in Music
Year: 2025

Scott Lichtman's Picks

New Vienna
Keith Jarrett
ECM Records
Year: 2025





About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





OUT THERE
Hiromi
Telarc Records
Year: 2025

Stefano Merighi's Picks

Splash
Myra Melford Trio
Intakt Records
Year: 2025





Honey from a Winter Stone
Ambrose Akinmusire
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





Christopher Dammann Sextet
Christopher Dammann
Self Produced
Year: 2025

Richard J Salvucci's Picks

Explorations
Bill Evans
Craft Recordings
Year: 2025





Confirmation
Mike Boone
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Mi Hogar II
Rachel Therrien
Self Produced
Year: 2025

Troy Dostert's Picks

The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
The Hemphill Stringtet
Out Of Your Head Records
Year: 2025





The Music of Anthony Braxton
Steve Lehman
Pi Recordings
Year: 2025





Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier
Pyroclastic Records
Year: 2025

Vic Albani's Picks

Clone Row
Ches Smith
Otherly Love Records
Year: 2025





Song Unconditional
Alexander Hawkins
Intakt Records
Year: 2025





Consentrik Quartet
Nels Cline
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025

Radio & Podcast Hosts and Photo Journalists

Bob Osborne's Picks

Armageddon Flower
Ivo Perelman
Tao Forms
Year: 2025





About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





Unclassified Affections
Dan Weiss
Pi Recordings
Year: 2025

Cheryl K's Picks

Griot Songs
Omar Thomas
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Precondition
Vincenzo Virgillito
Self Produced
Year: 2025





I Thought About You
Louis Stewart
Livia Records
Year: 2025

Colin Muirhead's Picks

A Paradise in the Hold
Yazz Ahmed
Night Time Stories
Year: 2025





Knats
Knats
Gearbox Records
Year: 2025





A Story Left Untold
Georgia Mancio and Alan Broadbent
Roomspin Records
Year: 2025

Hobart Taylor's Picks

Central Park's Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens
Wadada Leo Smith
Red Hook Records
Year: 2024





Honey from a Winter Stone
Ambrose Akinmusire
Nonesuch Records
Year: 2025





From What I Recall
Premazzi / Nasser Quartet
OA2 Records
Year: 2025

Larry Slater's Picks

Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





Portraits
Adam Baldych
ACT Music
Year: 2025





Mare Nostrum IV
Paolo Fresu
ACT Music
Year: 2025

Len Davis' Picks

Tides of Time
Josh Meader
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Quadra Spherium
Antoine Fafard
Self Produced
Year: 2025





Project Oracle
Anthony Papamichael
Self Produced
Year: 2025

Mary Foster Conklin's Picks

Arboresque
Artemis
Blue Note Records
Year: 2025





Beneath the Skin
Nnenna Freelon
Origin Records
Year: 2025





OUT THERE
Hiromi
Telarc Records
Year: 2025

Maurice Hogue's Picks

Splash
Myra Melford Trio
Intakt
Year: 2025





Paranoid II
Tom Weeks
Wolfsblood
Year: 2025





Public Radio
Peter Ehwald
Jazzwerkstatt
Year: 2025

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