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Ludovico Granvassu's Garden Of Jazzy Delights 2025
Every year, the assignment is the same: come up with a "top ten." And yet every year, more albums are released than the year before. So, every 12 months, I fail a little more spectacularly at the impossible task of compressing an ever-growing flood of new albumsdebut albums, unearthed gems, original releases, box sets, delightful surprisesinto a neat list of ten. I try, though. I really do.
Throughout the year, I set aside the records that strike me, the ones I know I'll return to. Inevitably, the list grows week by week. The feeling of failing the assignment grows at the same rate, until, at some point in December, my perspective invariably shifts, and the more I look at the mammoth list, the more I like how it offers a higher-resolution picture of what actually happened.
As such, the list deliberately de-emphasizes the significance of individual albums that populate "top ten" rankings, often compiled with a photo-finish mentality and a sense of competition foreign to an art form that was never meant to be a race. Instead, it gives a sense of how there is a community, a scene shaped by countless individual contributions; it offers a snapshot of the jazz ecosystem in a given year.
Of course, we all know what happens even when we photograph that breathtaking Grand Canyon sunset with the best camera money can buy: the image still falls short. That sunset can only be fully experienced by being there. And yet we take the picture anyway. Not because it does justice to the moment, but because the moment was so powerful we wanted to hold onto it, to freeze it in time, to have something that might later jolt a memory. The photograph's value lies precisely therenot in accuracy, but in recollection. And recollection is always personal. Two people standing side by side will frame the same scene differently.
So it is with year-end lists. They freeze-frame a personal memory. No matter how long the list, or how fine the resolution, the memory it captures can only ever be a personal one. Still, one hopes it might resonate with othersleaving enough space between the pixels, or the albums, for readers to insert their own experiences, or to create new ones.
I love reading end-of-the-year listicles for exactly this reason: they often lead me to albums I somehow missed, despite their obvious quality, and into the rabbitholes that follow those discoveries. And for that I am grateful to the colleagues that share their listicles. I hope the list below does the same for youand perhaps helps you stumble upon a few new favorites along the way.
Must Haves
Sista ForsoketAgnas Bros.
Moserobie
Keep the Line OpenJoe Alterman, Mocean Worker
MOWO! Inc.
Live in BerlinKinan Azmeh & Cityband
Dreyer Gaido
PortraitsAdam Baldych
ACT Music
MetropolarityJasper Blom, Metropole Orkest
Whirlwind Recordings
Is that Jazz?Silvia Bolognesi, Eric Mingus
Fonterossa
After the Last SkyAnouar Brahem
ECM Records
Of the Near and FarPatricia Brennan
Pyroclastic Records
Live at the Village VanguardJakob Bro, Joe Lovano
Loveland Records
Does It Make You Love Your Life?Lucia Cadotsch
Heartcore Records
Face the MusicFederico Calcagno
Da Vinci Jazz
We Insist 2025!Terri Lyne Carrington
Candid Records
Gullah RootsEtienne Charles
Culture Shock Music
Voice in the WildernessRob Clearfield
jazz&people
Consentrik QuartetNels Cline
Blue Note Records
Vol. III: Ancestros FuturosCochemea Gastelum
Daptone Records
The Crisis Knows No BordersGustavo Cortiñas
Desafio Candente Records
La VioleteraGianni Coscia
Tǔk Music
TracesCosmic Ear
We Jazz Records
Bone BellsSylvie Courvoisier, Mary Halvorson
Pyroclastic Records
La BOMBALuca Curcio
Boomslang Records
LiveFranco D'Andrea Trio
Parco della musica Records
Life FormsNiran Dasika
Earshift Music
The Baggage Room Vol.2—MeanwhileEmiliano D'Auria
Via Veneto Jazz
Live at Brussels Jazz FestivalBram De Looze, Joey Baron, Hank Roberts, Thomas Morgan
Challenge Records
Nalbandian the EthiopianEither/Orchestra
Buda Musique
Projekt Drums vol. 2Petter Eldh
Edition Records
FiendEnemy
Edition Records
Healing VoicesEsinam, Sibusile Xaba
W.E.R.F. Records
Jazz FestPeter Evans, Petter Eldh
More Is More Records
Officine MengelbergFerdinando Farao Artchipel Orchestra
Musica Jazz
Different Strokes for Different FolksElla Feingold, Charlie Hunter
SideHustle
Live at the Montreal International Jazz FestivalDominique Fils-Aimé
Ensoul Records
Live at SmokeAl Foster
Smoke Sessions Records
InsightJef Giansily
Fresh Sound Records
About GhostsMary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records
Aimer PerdreSimon Hanes
Bordello a Parigi
Song UnconditionalAlexander Hawkins
Intakt Records
Live Life This Day: Celebrating Thad JonesMiho Hazama
Edition Records
Plays the Music of Julius HemphillThe Hemphill Stringtet
Out of Your Head Records
Radio ParadiseYaron Herman
Naive
GiftsMakiko Hirabayashi Weavers
Enja Records
AFIMZé Ibarra
Coala Music/Mr. Bongo
ObsanySimon Jermyn
Elastic Recordings
MinnesotaTrond Kallevåg
Hubro Music
Out of Self and into OthersKannaste4
We Jazz Records
New Monuments Live in VilniusAmirtha Kidambi Elder Ones
Fern Flower Records
ReachKneebody
GroundUp Music
Blame It on My ChromosomesAlex Koo
W.E.R.F. Records
Live from Death RowKeith LaMar, Albert Marquès
Self-produced
ResilienceLandæus Trio
SFÄR
Live in HelsinkiTimo Lassy Trio
We Jazz Records
Abstraction Is DeliveranceJames Brandon Lewis Quartet
Intakt Records
Apple CoresJames Brandon Lewis
Anti-
HumankindJohan Lindstrom Septett
Moserobie
Figure in BlueCharles Lloyd
Blue Note Records
HomageJoe Lovano
ECM Records
Essais Pour L'imaginaire Vol IIJérémie Lucchese
Fresh Sound/New Talent
BelongingBranford Marsalis Quartet
Blue Note Records
La gran seducciónBilly Martin
Amulet Records
Live Spirit IWojtek Mazolewski Quintet
WMQ Records
The EternalBilly Mohler
Contagious Music
Go to Your NorthJason Moran, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Ole Morten Vågan
Yes Records
sweetlife IIIYvonne Moriel
Self-produced
EffraMisha Mullov-Abbado
Ubuntu Music
Solace of the MindAmina Claudine Myers
Red Hook Records
DualismNādt Orchestra
Locomotiv Records
PhasonlyMax Nagl Quintett
Rude Noises
May This Be Love (Acoustic Guitar Takes on Jimi Hendrix)Thomas Naïm
Rootless Blues
Great IntentionsGard Nilssen Acoustic Unity
Action Jazz
AtlasOddjob
Koyo
For These StreetsAdam O'Farrill
Out of Your Head Records
Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla BleyArturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Zoho Music
CreamKassa Overall
Warp
Live in St. Louis, SenegalRaphaël Pannier Quartet, Kadhim Niang, Sabar Group
Miel Music
Spirit FallJohn Patitucci
Edition Records
Himmel Over HavHanna Paulsberg Concept with Elin Rosseland
Grappa
TriuneNicholas Payton
Smoke Sessions Records
Living Being IV (Time Reflections)Vincent Peirani
ACT Music
Mining at Fasching...and elsewhereMattias Risberg Mining XL
Kullen Reko
The Legends of OtrantoFerdinando Romano
GleAM Records
Trio!Dabin Ryu
Endectomorph
Saha GnawaSaha Gnawa
Pique-Nique
El Viejo CaminanteDino Saluzzi
ECM Records
Allgäu meets IndiaMatthias Schriefl, Frankfurt Radio Big Band
Jazzwerkstatt
IndiaLouis Sclavis
Yolk Records
Memories of HomeJohn Scofield, Dave Holland
ECM Records
Collective ImagerySFJAZZ Collective
SFJazz
Sou KoraBallaké Sissoko, Vincent Ségal, Vincent Peirani, Emile Parisien
No Format !
HelioSimon Spiess
Unit Records
Sounding LineCarmen Staaf
Sunnyside Records
Off StillnessThomas Strønen Time Is a Blind Guide
ECM Records
Trio of BloomCraig Taborn, Nels Cline, {Marcus Gilmore}}
Pyroclastic Records
PanorchestraTino Tracanna
Flying Robert Music
Changing PerspectivesRebecca Trescher
Enja Records
I'm a Stranger Here Myself -Wainwright Does WeillRufus Wainwright, Pacific Jazz Orchestra
Thirty Tigers
LazarusKamasi Washington
Milan Records
Am AreBugge Wesseltoft
Jazzland Recordings
House of the Singing BlossomsAnthony Wilson
Sam First Records
WITOLD plays LutosławskiWitold
Unit Records
Mirror ImageTal Yahalom
Adhyâropa Records
Gadabout SeasonBrandee Younger
Impulse! Records
Debut albums
- Anneleen Boehme Eunoia (W.E.R.F.)
- Milena Casado Reflection of Another Self (Candid Records)
- Juán Chiavassa Fourth Generation (Whirlwind Recordings)
- Emma Dayhuff Innovations & Lineage: The Chicago Project (Division 81)
- Rico Jones Bloodlines (Giant Step Arts)
- Rachel Kitchlew Flirty Ghost (Délicieuse Records)
- Lex Korten Canopy (Sounderscore)
- Jahnvi Madan Soften (Self-produced)
- Naked Boys Testosterology (Self-produced)
- Tommaso Perazzo, Buster Williams, Marcello Cardillo Portrait of a Moment (Red Records)
- Nicoló Ricci Schiacciasette (Dox Records)
- Bob Schlesinger Falling From Earth (Self-produced)
- Rin Seo Collective City Suite (Cellar Music Group)
- Elise Vassallucci Capharnaüm (Sacrées Sorcières)
- Brandon Woody For the Love of It All (Blue Note Records)
Previously unreleased (including reissues with extra material)
- George Colligan Live at the Jazz Standard (Whirlwind Recordings)
- Claudio Filippini Live Al Gabez 2004 (CAM Jazz)
- Russ Johnson, Christian Weber, Dieter Ulrich To Walk on Eggshells (ezz-thetics)
- Charles Kynard Woga (WEWANTSOUNDS)
- Steve Lacy Trio Live in Lugano 1984 (ezz-thetics)
- Mickey Finn Antiruggine (Hora Records)
- Wayne Horvitz Pigpen Live Forever Vol. 4 -Pigpen: Berlin (Other Room Music)
- Keith Jarrett New Vienna (At the Musikverein, 2016) (ECM Records)
- Masabumi Kikuchi Hanamichi—The Final Studio Recording Vol. II (Red Hook Records)
- Rahsaan Roland Kirk Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (Resonance Records)
- Charles Mingus In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (Resonance Records)
- Joni Mitchell Joni's Jazz (Rhino)
- James Newton Quartet Live in Willisau, Switzerland, 1983 (Rhythm 'n' Flow)
- Scandinavian Art Ensemble, Tomasz Stańko The Copenhagen Session Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (April Records)
- Irene Schweizer Irène's Hot Four (Intakt Records)
- Horace Silver Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (Blue Note Records)
- Sun Ra Sun Ra: Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (Sun Ra) (Strut Records)
- Sun Ra Uncharted Passages -New York Piano Soliloquies 1977-79 (Sundazed)
- John Surman Flashpoints and Undercurrents (Cuneiform Records)
- John Taylor Close to Mars (CAM Jazz)
- John Taylor, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron Tramonto (ECM Records)
- Mike Westbrook Orchestra The Cortège (Live at the BBC 1980) (Cadillac Records)
- Frank Zappa Cheaper Than Cheep (Zappa Records)
Reissues
- Chet Baker Five From '65: The Quintet Summer Sessions (New Land)
- Terry Callier The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier (Craft Recordings/Prestige)
- The Sonny Criss Orchestra Sonny's Dream (Birth of the New Cool) (Craft Recordings/Prestige)
- Ellery Eskelin About (or On), First Visit (ezz-thetics)
- Five Corners Quintet feat. Mark Murphy Chasin' the Jazz Gone By (Ricky-Tick Records)
- Roy Haynes Hip Ensemble (WEWANTSOUNDS)
- Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock Paul Motian At the Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings (ECM Records, 2025) (ECM Records)
- Keith Jarrett The Köln Concert (ECM Records)
- The Jazz Passengers In Love (Sony Legacy)
- Polar Bear Dim Lit (Edition Records)
- Polar Bear Held on the Tips of Fingers (Edition Records)
Unbridled Fun
- The 8-bit Big Band Orchestrator Emulator (Teamchuck Records)
- Aldorande Trois (Favorite Recordings)
- Annie and The Caldwells Can't Lose My (Soul) (Luaka Bop)
- Mulatu Astatke Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut Records)
- Rosa Brunello Reworks (Domanda Music)
- Till Bronner Italia (earMUSIC)
- Butcher Brown Letters from the Atlantic (Concord)
- Calibro 35 Exploration (Record Kicks)
- Cinema Royal feat. Rejoycer, Nitai Hershkovits Cinema Royal (Rhythm Section International)
- DFT: Adam Deitch, SAM FRIBUSH ORGAN TRIO, Ari Teitel Another Side of the Sound (Flybird Music)
- Hiromi's Sonicwonder Out There (Telarc)
- Marton Juhasz Metropolis (Unit Records)
- KNOBIL Knobilive in Cully (Unit Records)
- Funkwrench Blues Mischief in the Musitorium (Need to Know Records)
- Makaya McCraven Off the Record (International Anthem)
- Pete Min, Joey Waronker King King (Colorfield)
- Monfort Hypnotized (Komos Jazz)
- New Cool Collective On Tour (Dox Records)
- Rabbath Electric Orchestra Amall (Museum)
- Revolutionary Snake Ensemble Serpentine (Cuneiform Records)
- Ben Sidran Are We There Yet? (Live at the Sunside) (Bonsai Music/Nardis)
- Emma-Jean Thackray Weirdo (Brownswood Recordings)
Remarkable
- 3 Cohens & WDR Big Band Interaction (Anzic Records)
- Ambrose Akinmusire Honey from a Winter Stone (Nonesuch Records)
- سماع Ahmed [Sama'a] (Audition) (Otoroku)
- Yazz Ahmed A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories)
- Roxana Amed Todos los fuegos (Sony Latin)
- AMG Gate 1 -Live at Sunside (I See Colors)
- Hakan Başar Maiden Voyage (Red Records)
- Majid Bekkas, Nguyen Le, Hamid Drake Gnawa World Blues (ACT Music)
- Jim Black & The Schrimps Better You Don't (Intakt Records)
- Jane Ira Bloom Songs in Space
- Dima Bondarev Get a Second Wind (Dnipro & Kruchi)
- Matthieu Bordenave, Geoff Goodman, Rudi Mahall Mostly Monk (Unit Records)
- Matteo Bortone No Land's A Tree in the Mist (Onze Heures Onze)
- Jakob Bro New Morning (Loveland Music)
- Vilhelm Bromander Unfolding Orchestra Jorden vi ärvde (thanatosis)
- Gary Brunton Spacecraft (Juste une trace
- Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber If You Can't Dazzle Them With Your Brilliance, Then Baffle Them With Your Blisluth Pt. Two (Avant Groid Music)
- Eugenia Canale Turandot (Abeat Records)
- Frank Carlberg Dream Machine (Red Piano Records)
- Chris Cheek Keepers of the Eastern Door (Analog Tone Factory)
- Chicago Underground Duo Hyperglyph (International Anthem Records)
- The Counterfictionals An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Gentle Emotions (Zachs Music)
- Marilyn Crispell, Thommy Andersson, Michala Østergaard-Nielsen The Cave (ILK)
- Theon Cross Affirmations (Live at Blue Note New York) (New Soil)
- Anais Drago Relevé Live (Habitable Records)
- Josephine Davies The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite (Ubuntu)
- Deadeye In Orbit (Dox Records)
- Dave Douglas Alloy (Greenleaf Music)
- Anne Drummond Modern Standards (Audiophile Society)
- Silke Eberhard Trio Being-A-Ning (Intakt Records)
- Rachel Eckroth, John Hadfield Speaking in Tongues (Adhyâropa Records)
- Amir ElSaffar New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (Maqām Records)
- Peter Evans Ars Ludicra (More Is More)
- Claudio Fasoli Samadhi Quartet A Long Trip 22 (Parco Della Musica Records)
- Fieldwork Dream Up (Out of Your Head Records)
- Anat Fort The Dreamworld of Paul Motian (Sunnyside Records)
- Sullivan Fortner Southern Nights (Artwork Records)
- Tomas Fujiwara Dream Up (Out of Your Head Records)
- Noah Garabedian Quartets and Solos (Contagious Music)
- Sam Gendel, Nate Mercerau digi-squires (Self-produced)
- Marcus Gilmore Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams)
- Nicole Glover Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Savant Records)
- Hillai Govreen Every Other Now (Fresh Sound/New Talent)
- Luigi Grasso, NDR Big Band La dimora dell'altrove (LP3 45 Records)
- Muriel Grossmann Plays the Music of McCoy Tyner and Grateful Dead (Dreamlandrecords)
- La Tanya Hall If Not Now, When... (Blue Canoe Records)
- Hanging Hearts Where's Your Head At (Ropeadope)
- Fred Hersch, Drew Gress, Joey Baron The Surrounding Green (ECM Records)
- Anna Hogberg Attack Ensamseglaren (Fönstret)
- Sun Mi Hong Meaning of a Nest (Edition Records)
- Julia Hulsmann Quintet Under the Surface (ECM Records)
- Jasper Høiby Fellow Creatures We Must Fight (Edition Records)
- Chaerin Im aïe aïe (Dox Records)
- Christoph Irniger Pilgrim Human Intelligence Live (Intakt Records)
- Naïssam Jalal Souffles (Les Coleurs Du Son)
- Clément Janinet La litanie des cimes feat. Mah Damba" Mah Under Repetitive Skies (Œil du Cyclope)
- Alain Jean-Marie, Mario Canonge Con Alma (Aztec)
- Erik Jekabson Breakthrough (Wide Hive Records)
- Ryan Keberle & Collectiv do Brasil Choro das Aguas (Alternate Side Records)
- Stéphane Kerecki, Vincent Ségal Ponticello (Out There)
- Stéphane Kerecki Liberation Songs (Self Two Music)
- Geraldine Laurent; Noé Huchard; Francois Moutin; Louis Moutin The Hookup (Jazz Eleven)
- Steve Lehman The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi Recordings)
- Santiago Leibson Analogue Fictions (Bocha Records)
- Billy Lester Trio High Standards (Ultra Sound Records)
- Zack Lober So We Could Live (Zennes Records)
- Shai Maestro Solo: Miniatures & Tales (naïve)
- Tony Malaby, Jozef Dumoulin, Samuel Ber Trees on Wheels (Challenge Records)
- Fabia Mantwill Orchestra IN.SIGHT (GroundUp)
- Linda May Han Oh Strange Heavens (Biophilia Records)
- Nicole McCabe A Song to Sing (Colorfield)
- Donny McCaslin Lullaby for the Lost (Edition Records)
- Eric McPherson Double Bass Quartet (Giant Step Arts)
- Brad Mehldau Ride into the Sun (Nonesuch Records)
- Tobias Meinhart Sonic River (Sonic River)
- Allison Miller with the One O'Clock Lab Band Big and Lovely (Royal Potato Family)
- Pasquale Mirra, Hamid Drake Lhasa (Parco della Musica Records)
- Brian Molley Quartet and the Asin Langa Ensemble Journeys (BGMM Records)
- Nils Petter Molvaer KHMER Live in Bergen (Edition Records)
- Mortelle Randonnée La reine uphone (Mr. Morezon)
- Kjetil Mulelid Trio And Now (Grappa)
- Roberto Ottaviano Dark Sides (Dodicilune Records)
- Pino Palladino, Blake Mills That Wasn't a Dream (Impulse! Records)
- Matteo Pastorino Lightside (A.Ma Records)
- Vincent Peirani, Federico Casagrande, Ziv Ravitz Jokers Live at Bimhuis (ACT Music)
- Sabeth Pérez Searching for Beauty (Tone Rogue Records)
- Alberto Pinton Relentless Allt Större Klarhet (Moserobie)
- Mikkel Ploug Hope (Songlines Recordings)
- Potsa Lotsa XL Amoeba's Dance (Trouble in the East Records)
- Joshua Redman Words Fall Short (Blue Note Records)
- Marc Ribot Map of a Blue City (New West Records)
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba Gonzalo Plays Pino (Itinera)
- Gonzalo Rubalcaba Chris Potter Eric Harland Larry Grenadier First Meeting (5 Passion)
- Salin Rammana (Self-produced)
- Felipe Salles Camera Obscura (Tapestry)
- Julian Shore Sub Rosa (Chill Tone)
- Tommy Smith, Gwilym Simcock Eternal Light (Self-produced)
- Smooth Elevator feat. Will Bernard, Danilo Gallo, Gioele Pagliaccia Moving Target (Losen Records)
- Eleonora Strino Matilde (CAM Jazz)
- Yuhan Su Over the Moons (Endectomorph Music)
- Ken Stubbs First House: Homecoming -ECM Revisited (Self-produced)
- John Sturino Blow Globe (Outside in Music)
- Simin Tander The Wind (Jazzland Recordings)
- Tom Teasley, Dave Ballou Lunch Break (Self-produced)
- Henry Texier Healing Songs (Label Bleu)
- Pat Thomas Hikmah (Tao Forms)
- Anthony Tidd & Quite Sane To Kill a Child of Troubled Times (Self-produced)
- Tony Tixier, Hermon Mehari Soul Song (Komos Jazz)
- Mark Turner Reflections on: The Autobiography on an Ex-Colored Man (Giant Step Arts)
- Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes (International Anthem)
- Timo Vollbrecht Bremen New York (Berthold Records)
- Jeff Watson Pack Animals (Jules)
- Don Was & the Pan-Detroit Ensemble Groove in the Face of Adversity (Mack Avenue Records)
- Webber/Morris Big Band Unseparate (Out of Your Head Records)
- Kenny Wheeler Legacy featuring the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra and Frost Jazz Orchestra Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores (Greenleaf)
- Simón Willson Bet -Live at Ornithology (Endectomorph Music)
- XYQuartet LeXYcon (nusica.org)
- Yom x Ceccaldi Dream Up (Komos Jazz)
- The Young Mothers Better if You Let It (Sonic Transmissions)
- Patrick Zimmerli Songs of Innocence (Emergence Music Productions)
- Daniel Zimmermann Le rythme du silence (Komos)
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