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Maurizio Zerbo's Favorite Jazz Albums of 2025

By Maurizio Zerbo
December 30, 2025
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2025 will be remembered by critics and jazz fans alike for the exceptional quality and remarkable breadth of its recorded output, driven by polycentric forces and by music not always strictly jazz, yet sharing with the jazz aesthetic its spirit, techniques, and formal approaches.

This selection of mine, presented in order of preference, also bears witness to the extraordinary level achieved by Italian jazz, which over the past few decades has earned space, attention, and visibility from institutions and festivals—not only within Italy.

Of the Near and Far
Patricia Brennan
Pyroclastic Records

Defiant Life
Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith
ECM Records

Listen Ship
Henry Threadgill
Pi Recordings

About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson
Nonesuch Records

Souffles
Naïssam Jalal
Les Coleurs Du Son

Server Farm
Jon Irabagon
Irrabagast

Panorchestra
Tino Tracanna
Flying Robert Music

Cum Grano Salis
Riccardo Fassi Tankio Band with Antonello Salis
Parco della Musica Records

Brahm Dreams Still
Dino Betti van der Noot
Audissea

Face the Music
Federico Calcagno
Da Vinci Jazz

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Patricia Brennan Concerts

Jan 9 Fri

Manhattan Jazz Marathon

Various Venues
New York, NY

Apr 21 Tue

Stephan Crump - Slow Water

Krannert Center For The Performing Arts
Urbana, IL

Apr 24 Fri

Stephan Crump - Slow Water

The Cleveland Museum Of Art
Cleveland, OH

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