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Mark Sullivan's Favorite Jazz Albums of 2025

By Mark Sullivan
January 7, 2026
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There must be an echo in here: like just about everyone else, I observe that there was a lot of great music released in what was otherwise an unsettling year. They ranged from hard bop (Words Fall Short, Belonging) to fusion (Hard Believer, Live at Berlin) to experimental (Trio of Bloom). Experimental guitarist Nels Cline appears on two of my picks. The supply of historical material (both previously unknown recordings and reissues) again seems inexhaustible. Somehow, newly discovered tapes keep showing up! Long may it continue.

New Jazz Albums

Consentrik Quartet
Nels Cline
Blue Note Records

Words Fall Short
Joshua Redman
Blue Note Records

Belonging
Branford Marsalis
Blue Note Records

After the Last Sky
Anouar Brahem
ECM Records

Tokyo
Wolfgang Muthspiel
ECM Records

Trio Of Bloom
Nels Cline
Pyroclastic Records

Moving Parts
Kaisa Mäensivu
Greenleaf Music

Hard Believer
Brad Shepik
Shifting Paradigm Records

Memories Of Home
John Scofield
ECM Records

Live at Berlin
Brandon Wozniak
Shifting Paradigm Records

Historic Reissues or Archival

In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert
Bill Evans
Elemental Music

In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts
Charles Mingus
Resonance Records

Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco
Kenny Dorham
Resonance Records

Cinnamon Flower: The Expanded Version
Charlie Rouse
Resonance Records

Bremen 1965
Thelonious Monk
Sunnyside Records

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