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John Sharpe's Best Jazz Albums Of 2025

By John Sharpe
December 28, 2025
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From the 200 or so discs that I heard in 2025, here are the ten new issues, one archival reissue and one gem saved from the obscurity which gave me the most pleasure, in roughly the order that I came across them. As always these selections are entirely subjective, and take no account of the many other albums which I would no doubt have loved if I had heard them. So perhaps it's better to view these selections as a chance to pick up on something that you might otherwise have missed. As a fan I always look forward to the annual year end lists for precisely that reason. If you share my taste (that's the critical bit), then something here might just be for you!

Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp String Trio
Armageddon Flower
Tao Forms

Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson
Bone Bells
Pyroclastic Records

Tim Berne, Tom Rainey, Gregg Belisle-Chi
Yikes Too
Screwgun/Out of Your Head Records

Camila Nebbia / Kit Downes / Andrew Lisle
Exhaust
Relative Pitch Records

Myra Melford
Splash
Intakt Records

Sophie Agnel
Song (Sophie Agnel)
Relative Pitch Records

Satoko Fujii This Is It!
Message
Libra Pitch Records

Webber/Morris Big Band
Unseparate
Out Of Your Head Records

Paul Dunmall Quartet
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Rogue Art Records

Shifa شفاء -Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Ecliptic
Discus Records

Sun Ra
Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (Sun Ra)
Strut Records

Irène Schweizer -Rüdiger Carl -Johnny Dyani -Han Bennink
Irène's Hot Four
Intakt Records

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