C. Andrew Hovan's Best Jazz Albums of 2025

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

The Big Room
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
Makanda Ken McIntyre
Craft Recordings






Happy Girl
Nathan Davis
MPS