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Ludovico Granvassu's Garden Of Jazzy Delights 2025

Ludovico Granvassu's Garden Of Jazzy Delights 2025
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Capturing the breathtaking beauty, range, and diversity of jazz released in 2025 through a list of "10 best albums" feels as challenging, vain—and ultimately disappointing—as trying to photograph the Grand Canyon at sunset by placing a pinhole in front of a rudimentary digital camera's lens. Sure, a picture will be taken. It might even prove you were there, at that time, when the shutter clicked—provided that those who look at the photograph can tell there was a canyon, and a sunset. But can anyone grasp the majesty that surrounded that thickly pixelated sunset fragment frozen in the frame?

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 albums—debut albums, unearthed gems, original releases, box sets, delightful surprises—into 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 there—not 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 others—leaving 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 you—and perhaps helps you stumble upon a few new favorites along the way.

Must Haves

Sista Forsoket
Agnas Bros.
Moserobie


Keep the Line Open
Joe Alterman, Mocean Worker
MOWO! Inc.


Live in Berlin
Kinan Azmeh & Cityband
Dreyer Gaido


Portraits
Adam Baldych
ACT Music


Metropolarity
Jasper Blom, Metropole Orkest
Whirlwind Recordings


Is that Jazz?
Silvia Bolognesi, Eric Mingus
Fonterossa


After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records


Of the Near and Far
Patricia Brennan
Pyroclastic Records


Live at the Village Vanguard
Jakob Bro, Joe Lovano
Loveland Records


Does It Make You Love Your Life?
Lucia Cadotsch
Heartcore Records


Face the Music
Federico Calcagno
Da Vinci Jazz


We Insist 2025!
Terri Lyne Carrington
Candid Records


Gullah Roots
Etienne Charles
Culture Shock Music


Voice in the Wilderness
Rob Clearfield
jazz&people


Consentrik Quartet
Nels Cline
Blue Note Records


Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros
Cochemea Gastelum
Daptone Records


The Crisis Knows No Borders
Gustavo Cortiñas
Desafio Candente Records


La Violetera
Gianni Coscia
Tǔk Music


Traces
Cosmic Ear
We Jazz Records


Bone Bells
Sylvie Courvoisier, Mary Halvorson
Pyroclastic Records


La BOMBA
Luca Curcio
Boomslang Records


Live
Franco D'Andrea Trio
Parco della musica Records


Life Forms
Niran Dasika
Earshift Music


The Baggage Room Vol.2—Meanwhile
Emiliano D'Auria
Via Veneto Jazz


Live at Brussels Jazz Festival
Bram De Looze, Joey Baron, Hank Roberts, Thomas Morgan
Challenge Records


Nalbandian the Ethiopian
Either/Orchestra
Buda Musique


Projekt Drums vol. 2
Petter Eldh
Edition Records


Fiend
Enemy
Edition Records


Healing Voices
Esinam, Sibusile Xaba
W.E.R.F. Records


Jazz Fest
Peter Evans, Petter Eldh
More Is More Records


Officine Mengelberg
Ferdinando Farao Artchipel Orchestra
Musica Jazz


Different Strokes for Different Folks
Ella Feingold, Charlie Hunter
SideHustle


Live at the Montreal International Jazz Festival
Dominique Fils-Aimé
Ensoul Records


Live at Smoke
Al Foster
Smoke Sessions Records


Insight
Jef Giansily
Fresh Sound Records


About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records


Aimer Perdre
Simon Hanes
Bordello a Parigi


Song Unconditional
Alexander Hawkins
Intakt Records


Live Life This Day: Celebrating Thad Jones
Miho Hazama
Edition Records


Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
The Hemphill Stringtet
Out of Your Head Records


Radio Paradise
Yaron Herman
Naive


Gifts
Makiko Hirabayashi Weavers
Enja Records


AFIM
Zé Ibarra
Coala Music/Mr. Bongo


Obsany
Simon Jermyn
Elastic Recordings


Minnesota
Trond Kallevåg
Hubro Music


Out of Self and into Others
Kannaste4
We Jazz Records


New Monuments Live in Vilnius
Amirtha Kidambi Elder Ones
Fern Flower Records


Reach
Kneebody
GroundUp Music


Blame It on My Chromosomes
Alex Koo
W.E.R.F. Records


Live from Death Row
Keith LaMar, Albert Marquès
Self-produced


Resilience
Landæus Trio
SFÄR


Live in Helsinki
Timo Lassy Trio
We Jazz Records


Abstraction Is Deliverance
James Brandon Lewis Quartet
Intakt Records


Apple Cores
James Brandon Lewis
Anti-


Humankind
Johan Lindstrom Septett
Moserobie


Figure in Blue
Charles Lloyd
Blue Note Records


Homage
Joe Lovano
ECM Records


Essais Pour L'imaginaire Vol II
Jérémie Lucchese
Fresh Sound/New Talent


Belonging
Branford Marsalis Quartet
Blue Note Records


La gran seducción
Billy Martin
Amulet Records


Live Spirit I
Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet
WMQ Records


The Eternal
Billy Mohler
Contagious Music


Go to Your North
Jason Moran, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Ole Morten Vågan
Yes Records


sweetlife III
Yvonne Moriel
Self-produced


Effra
Misha Mullov-Abbado
Ubuntu Music


Solace of the Mind
Amina Claudine Myers
Red Hook Records


Dualism
Nādt Orchestra
Locomotiv Records


Phasonly
Max Nagl Quintett
Rude Noises


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


Great Intentions
Gard Nilssen Acoustic Unity
Action Jazz


Atlas
Oddjob
Koyo


For These Streets
Adam O'Farrill
Out of Your Head Records


Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley
Arturo O'Farrill, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Zoho Music


Cream
Kassa Overall
Warp


Live in St. Louis, Senegal
Raphaël Pannier Quartet, Kadhim Niang, Sabar Group
Miel Music


Spirit Fall
John Patitucci
Edition Records


Himmel Over Hav
Hanna Paulsberg Concept with Elin Rosseland
Grappa


Triune
Nicholas Payton
Smoke Sessions Records


Living Being IV (Time Reflections)
Vincent Peirani
ACT Music


Mining at Fasching...and elsewhere
Mattias Risberg Mining XL
Kullen Reko


The Legends of Otranto
Ferdinando Romano
GleAM Records


Trio!
Dabin Ryu
Endectomorph


Saha Gnawa
Saha Gnawa
Pique-Nique


El Viejo Caminante
Dino Saluzzi
ECM Records


Allgäu meets India
Matthias Schriefl, Frankfurt Radio Big Band
Jazzwerkstatt


India
Louis Sclavis
Yolk Records


Memories of Home
John Scofield, Dave Holland
ECM Records


Collective Imagery
SFJAZZ Collective
SFJazz


Sou Kora
Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Ségal, Vincent Peirani, Emile Parisien
No Format !


Helio
Simon Spiess
Unit Records


Sounding Line
Carmen Staaf
Sunnyside Records


Off Stillness
Thomas Strønen Time Is a Blind Guide
ECM Records


Trio of Bloom
Craig Taborn, Nels Cline, {Marcus Gilmore}}
Pyroclastic Records


Panorchestra
Tino Tracanna
Flying Robert Music


Changing Perspectives
Rebecca Trescher
Enja Records


I'm a Stranger Here Myself -Wainwright Does Weill
Rufus Wainwright, Pacific Jazz Orchestra
Thirty Tigers


Lazarus
Kamasi Washington
Milan Records


Am Are
Bugge Wesseltoft
Jazzland Recordings


House of the Singing Blossoms
Anthony Wilson
Sam First Records


WITOLD plays Lutosławski
Witold
Unit Records


Mirror Image
Tal Yahalom
Adhyâropa Records


Gadabout Season
Brandee Younger
Impulse! Records


Debut albums

Previously unreleased (including reissues with extra material)

Reissues

Unbridled Fun

Remarkable





Tags

Year in Review Rufus Wainwright Ludovico Granvassu Sista Forsoket Moserobie Keep The Line Open Joe Alterman Mocean Worker MOWO! Inc. Live in Berlin Kinan Azmeh Portraits Adam Baldych ACT Music Metropolarity Jasper Blom Metropole Orkest Whirlwind Recordings Is that Jazz? Silvia Bolognesi Eric Mingus After the Last Sky Anouar Brahem ECM Records Of the Near and Far Patricia Brennan Pyroclastic Records Live at the Village Vanguard Jakob Bro joe lovano Loveland Records Does It Make You Love Your Life? Lucia Cadotsch Heartcore Records Face The Music Federico Calcagno Da Vinci Jazz We Insist 2025! Terri Lyne Carrington Candid Records Gullah Roots Etienne Charles Culture Shock Music Rob Clearfield jazz&people Consentrik Quartet Nels Cline Blue Note Records Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros Cochemea Gastelum Daptone Records The Crisis Knows No Borders Gustavo Cortiñas Gianni Coscia Tuk Music Traces Cosmic Ear We Jazz Records Bone Bells Sylvie Courvoisier Mary Halvorson La BOMBA Luca Curcio Boomslang Records Franco D'Andrea Parco Della Musica Records Life Forms Niran Dasika The Baggage Room Vol.2 – Meanwhile Emiliano D'Auria Via Veneto Jazz Bram De Looze Joey Baron Hank Roberts Thomas Morgan Challenge Records Nalbandian The Ethiopian Either/Orchestra Buda Musique Projekt Drums vol. 2 Petter Eldh Edition Records Fiend Enemy Healing Voices Esinam Sibusile Xaba W.E.R.F. Records Jazz Fest Peter Evans More Is More Records Ferdinando Faraò Musica Jazz Different Strokes for Different Folks Ella Feingold Charlie Hunter Live At The Montreal International Jazz Festival Dominique Fils-Aimé Ensoul Records Insight Jef Giansily Fresh Sound Records About Ghosts Nonesuch Records Aimer Perdre Simon Hanes Bordello a Parigi Song Unconditional Alexander Hawkins Intakt Records Live Life This Day: Celebrating Thad Jones Miho Hazama Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill The Hemphill Stringtet Out Of Your Head Records Radio Paradise Yaron Herman Naïve Gifts Makiko Hirabayashi Enja Records AFIM Zé Ibarra Mr. Bongo Obsany Simon Jermyn Minnesota Trond Kallevåg Hubro Music Out Of Self and Into Others Kannaste4 New Monuments Live in Vilnius Amirtha Kidambi Kneebody GroundUP Music Blame It on My Chromosomes Alex Koo LIVE FROM DEATH ROW Keith LaMar Albert Marquès Resilience Landæus Trio Live in Helsinki Timo Lassy Abstraction Is Deliverance James Brandon Lewis Apple Cores Anti- Humankind Johan Lindström Figure In Blue charles lloyd Homage Jérémie Lucchese Belonging Branford Marsalis Billy Martin Amulet Records LIVE SPIRIT I Wojtek Mazolewski The Eternal Billy Mohler Contagious Music jason moran Trondheim Jazz Orchestra Ole Morten Vågan Yes Records Yvonne Moriel Effra Misha Mullov-Abbado Ubuntu Music Solace of the Mind Amina Claudine Myers Red Hook Records Nādt Orchestra Locomotiv Records Max Nagl Rude Noises May This Be Love (Acoustic Guitar Takes on Jimi Hendrix) Thomas Naïm Great Intentions Gard Nilssen Atlas Oddjob For These Streets Adam O'Farrill Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley Arturo O'Farrill Zoho Music Cream Kassa Overall Warp Live in St. Louis, Senegal Raphaël Pannier Miel Music Spirit Fall John Patitucci Himmel Over Hav hanna paulsberg Elin Rosseland Grappa Triune Nicholas Payton Smoke Sessions Records Living Being IV (Time Reflections) Vincent Peirani Mining at fasching...and elsewhere Mattias Risberg Kullen Reko The Legends Of Otranto Ferdinando Romano Gleam Records Trio! Dabin Ryu Endectomorph Saha Gnawa Pique-Nique El Viejo Caminante Dino Saluzzi Matthias Schriefl Frankfurt Radio Big Band JAZZWERKSTATT India Louis Sclavis Yolk Records Memories Of Home John Scofield Dave Holland Collective Imagery SFJAZZ Collective Sou Kora Ballaké Sissoko Vincent Segal Emile Parisien No Format ! Helio Simon Spiess Unit Records Sounding Line Carmen Staaf Sunnyside Records Thomas Strønen Trio of Bloom Craig Taborn Panorchestra Tino Tracanna Flying Robert Music Changing Perspectives Rebecca Trescher Pacific Jazz Orchestra Thirty Tigers kamasi washington Milan Records Am Are Bugge Wesseltoft Jazzland Recordings House of the Singing Blossoms Anthony Wilson Sam First Records Mirror Image Tal Yahalom Adhyâropa Records Gadabout Season Brandee Younger Impulse! Records Anneleen Boehme Milena Casado Reflection Of Another Self Juán Chiavassa Emma Dayhuff Division 81 Rico Jones Bloodlines Délicieuse Records Lex Korten Canopy Sounderscore Jahnvi Madan Tommaso Perazzo Buster Williams Marcello Cardillo Portrait of a Moment Red Records Nicolò Ricci Dox Records Bob Schlesinger Falling From Earth Rin Seo City Suite Cellar Music Group Elise Vassallucci Sacrées Sorcières Brandon Woody George Colligan Live At the Jazz Standard Claudio Filippini Live Al Gabez 2004 CAM Jazz Russ Johnson Christian Weber Dieter Ulrich To Walk On Eggshells Ezz-Thetics Charles Kynard WEWANTSOUNDS Steve Lacy Mickey Finn Hora Wayne Horvitz Other Room Music New Vienna = 302079 (At the Musikverein, 2016) Masabumi Kikuchi Hanamichi--The Final Studio Recording Vol. II Rahsaan Roland Kirk Vibrations In The Village: Live At The Village Gate Resonance Records Charles Mingus In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts Joni Mitchell Rhino James Newton Rhythm 'n' Flow Scandinavian Art Ensemble tomasz stanko Vol. 1 April Records Irene Schweizer Irène's Hot Four Horace Silver Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse Sun Ra Sun Ra: Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (Sun Ra) Strut Records Sundazed John Surman Cuneiform Records John Taylor Close to Mars Marc Johnson Tramonto Mike Westbrook Cadillac Records Frank Zappa Cheaper Than Cheep Zappa Records Chet Baker Five From '65: The Quintet Summer Sessions New Land Terry Callier Craft Recordings Prestige Sonny Criss Sonny's Dream (Birth of the New Cool) Ellery Eskelin About (or On), First Visit The Five Corners Quintet Mark Murphy Ricky-Tick Records Roy Haynes Gary Peacock Paul Motian At The Deer Head Inn: The Complete Recordings The Jazz Passengers Sony Legacy Polar Bear The 8-Bit Big Band Teamchuck Records Favorite Recordings Luaka Bop Mulatu Astatke Rosa Brunello Domanda Music Till Brönner Italia EarMusic Butcher Brown Calibro 35 Record Kicks Rejoycer Nitai Hershkovits Rhythm Section International Adam Deitch Sam Fribush Ari Teitel} Another Side of the Sound ({{e: Flybird Music Hiromi Out There Telarc Funkwrench Blues MISCHIEF IN THE MUSITORIUM Need to Know Records Makaya McCraven International Anthem Pete Min Joey Waronker Colorfield Records New Cool Collective Rabbath Electric Orchestra Museum Revolutionary Snake Ensemble ben sidran Bonsai Music Emma-Jean Thackray Brownswood Recordings WDR big band Interaction Anzic Records ambrose akinmusire honey from a winter stone Ahmed Otoroku Yazz Ahmed A Paradise In The Hold Night Time Stories Roxana Amed Sony Latin AMG I See Colors Hakan Başar Majid Bekkas nguyen le Hamid Drake Jim Black Better You Don't Jane Ira Bloom Dima Bondarev Get a Second Wind Dnipro & Kruchi Matthieu Bordenave Geoff Goodman Rudi Mahall Matteo Bortone A Tree In The Mist Onze Heures Onze Vilhelm Bromander 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 Musica Eugenia Canale Abeat Records Frank Carlberg Dream Machine Red Piano Records Chris Cheek Keepers of the Eastern Door Analog Tone Factory))} {{m: Chicago Underground Duo Hyperglyph The Counterfictionals Zachs Music Marilyn Crispell Thommy Andersson Michala Østergaard-Nielsen The Cave ILK Theon Cross New Soil Anaïs Drago Relevé Live Habitable Records Josephine Davies The Celtic Wheel Of The Year Suite Deadeye Dave Douglas Alloy Greeleaf Music Anne Drummond Audiophile Society Silke Eberhard Being-A-Ning Rachel Eckroth John Hadfield Speaking In Tongues Amir ElSaffar Maqām Records Ars Ludicra More Is More Claudio Fasoli Anat Fort The Dreamworld of Paul Motian Sullivan Fortner Southern Nights Artwork Records Tomas Fujiwara Noah Garabedian Quartets and Solos Sam Gendel Nate Mercerau Drummerslams Nicole Glover Hillai Govreen Every Other Now Luigi Grasso NDR Big Band LP3 45 Records Muriel Grossmann Dreamlandrecords La Tanya Hall if not now, when... Blue Canoe Records Hanging Hearts Ropeadope))} {{m: Fred Hersch Drew Gress The Surrounding Green Anna Högberg Fönstret Sun Mi-Hong Julia Hülsmann Under The Surface Jasper Høiby Chaerin Im Christoph Irniger Naïssam Jalal Souffles Les Coleurs Du Son Clément Janinet Œil du Cyclope Alain Jean-Marie Mario Canonge Aztec Erik Jekabson Breakthrough Wide Hive Records Ryan Keberle Choro das Aguas Alternate Side Records Stéphane Kerecki Self Two Music Geraldine Laurent Noé Huchard Francois Moutin Louis Moutin Jazz Eleven Steve Lehman The Music of Anthony Braxton Pi Recordings Santiago Leibson Bocha Records Billy Lester High Standards {e: Ultra Sound Records Zack Lober So We Could Live Zennes Records TONY MALABY Jozef Dumoulin Samuel Ber Fabia Mantwill IN.SIGHT Linda May Han Oh Strange Heavens Biophilia Records Nicole McCabe Donny McCaslin Lullaby for the Lost Eric McPherson Double Bass Quartet brad mehldau Ride into the Sun Tobias Meinhart Sonic River Allison Miller One O'Clock Lab Band Royal Potato Family Pasquale Mirra Brian Molley Bgmm Records Nils Petter Molvær Mortelle Randonnée Mr. Morezon Kjetil Mulelid And Now Roberto Ottaviano Dark Sides Dodicilune Records Pino Palladino Blake Mills Matteo Pastorino Lightside A.MA Records Federico Casagrande Ziv Ravitz Sabeth Perez Tone Rogue Records Alberto Pinton Allt Större Klarhet Mikkel Ploug Hope Songlines Recordings Potsa Lotsa Xl Amoeba's Dance Trouble In THe East Records Joshua Redman Words Fall Short Marc Ribot New West Records Gonzalo Rubalcaba Itinera Chris Potter Eric Harland Larry Grenadier First Meeting 5 Passion Salin Felipe Salles Camera Obscura Tapestry Julian Shore Sub Rosa Chill Tone Tommy Smith Gwilym Simcock Will Bernard Danilo Gallo Gioele Pagliaccia Moving Target Losen Records Eleonora Strino Matilde yuhan su Ken Stubbs John Sturino BLOW GLOBE Outside In Music simin tander The Wind Tom Teasley Dave Ballou Lunch Break Henry Texier Label Bleu Pat Thomas Tao Forms Anthony Tidd Tony Tixier Hermon Mehari Komos Mark Turner Reflections on: The Autobiography on an Ex-Colored Man Gregory Uhlmann Josh Johnson Sam Wilkes Timo Vollbrecht Bremen New York Berthold Records Jeff Watson Jules Don Was Mack Avenue Records Webber/Morris Big Band Unseparate The Kenny Wheeler Legacy Some Days Are Better: The Lost Scores Greenleaf Records Simón Willson Bet -Live at Ornithology XYQuartet Nusica.org The Young Mothers Sonic Transmissions Patrick Zimmerli Songs of Innocence Emergence Music Productions Daniel Zimmermann

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