Top Jazz Albums 2025

Charles Lloyd, Figure In Blue

Branford Marsalis Quartet, Belonging

Kenny Barron, Songbook

Artemis, Arboresque

Joshua Redman, Words Fall Short

Fieldwork, Thereupon

David Murray Quartet, Birdly Serenade

Mike Clark, Itai Doshin

Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses

Irving Flores Afro-Cuban Jazz Sextet, Armando Mi Conga

Joe Farnsworth, The Big Room

Isaiah J. Thompson, The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry

Billy Hart Quartet, Just

Ryan Truesdale Presents Gil Evans Project, Shades of Sound

George Coleman, George Coleman with Strings

Comment: Though it was not planned, it occurs to me that each of these albums except one has one or more bad-ass saxophonists: The band leaders Charles Lloyd, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Redman and David Murray; the essential band members or side players Steve Lehman (with Fieldwork), Craig Handy (with Mike Clark), Mark Turner (with Billy Hart) Steve Wilson and Donny McCaslin (with Ryan Truesdale), Norbert Stachel (with Irving Flores); and the relative newcomers Nicole Glover (with Artemis), Sarah Hanahan (with Joe Farnsworth), Julian Lee (with Isaiah J. Thompson) and Dylan Band (with Tyreek McDole). And then there's 90-year-old George Coleman, surrounded by a bed of strings. The one exception is Kenny Barron's Songbook, which is all about the singers and the songs. 

Five non-jazz albums I enjoy.

Van Morrison, Remembering Now

Various Artists, A Tribute to the King of Zydeco

Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, Groove in the Face of Adversity

Mavis Staples, Sad and Beautiful World

Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo', Room on the Porch