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C. Andrew Hovan's Best Jazz Albums of 2025

By C. Andrew Hovan
December 17, 2025
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On many levels, 2025 proved to be a challenging year marked by considerable strife. Fortunately, as Art Blakey once observed, "Music washes away the dust of everyday life." And yet, given the current state of affairs, the moment might be more accurately captured by a line from The Police: "When the world is falling down, you make the best of what's still around." Over the past decade, the trajectory of jazz has often been bent toward rule-breaking and linguistic expansion, sometimes in ways that feel at odds with the music's traditions. As a result, my usual end-of-year reflections have tended to be brief. This year, however, I'm encouraged by a strong showing of artists who have managed to achieve a sense of duality—albums that both swing and speak with a forward-looking vision. In no particular order, then, here is a hearty offering of sixteen albums that brought a measure of hope to an otherwise unsettled year.

New Releases

In What Direction Are You Headed?
Joe Farnsworth
Smoke Sessions Records

Southern Nights
Sullivan Fortner
Artwork Records

Gadabout Season
Brandee Younger
Impulse! Records

Arboresque
Artemis
Blue Note Records

As We Are Now
Jimmy Greene
Greene Music Works

Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records

Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies
Dave Stryker
Strikezone Records

Old Knew
Gregory Groover Jr.
Criss Cross

Reissues and Rara Avis

Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Studio Recordings (Remastered 2025)
Bill Evans
Craft Recordings

The Complete Pharoah Sanders Theresa Recordings
Pharoah Sanders
Mosaic Records

Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse
Horace Silver
Blue Note Records

The Old Country: More from the Deer Head Inn
Keith Jarrett
ECM Records

The Free Slave
Roy Brooks
Time Traveller Recordings

Sonny's Dream (Birth of the New Cool)
Sonny Criss
Craft Recordings

Looking Ahead
Eric Dolphy
Sowing Records

Happy Girl
Nathan Davis
MPS

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