After much consternation, I’ve managed to pare down a long list of fine jazz-improv recordings from 2025 to a top 10. So, apologies to Marshall Allen, The Necks, Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp, Joe Morris and Elliott Sharp, Rafiq Bhatia, Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Perez, David Murray, Trio of Bloom, Chicago Underground Duo, Ingrid Laubrock, Thomas Morgan, Ambrose Akinmusire and others, because 2025 was a superb year (for music, anyway).
Here are my 10 top albums that made the last 12 months even more worthwhile, and they’ve held up to repeated listening, too:
1. “The Music of Anthony Braxton,” by Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner (Pi Recordings): Tribute albums are rarely this invigorating, and alto saxophonist Lehman adds a few compositions of his own that fit in perfectly with Braxton’s maverick spirit.
2. “The Ancients,” (self-titled) (Eremite Records): Emerging sax explorer Isaiah Collier teams up with two veterans, bassist William Parker and drummer William Hooker, to investigate the sonic universe’s outer edges.
3. “Ches Smith Clone Row,” (self-titled) (Otherly Love Records): A blast of excitement from the drummer-bandleader, who sets the stage for twisting guitar thrills between Mary Halvorson and Liberty Ellman.
4. “Just,” by the Billy Hart Quartet (ECM): Hart, the drummer who’s played with pretty much everyone you can imagine, turned 85 in November. He’s still trailblazing with an empathetic working band.
5. “Of the Near and Far,” by Patricia Brennan (Pyroclastic Records): Brennan is one of the most imaginative composers in the music industry right now, and her mastery of the vibraphone is on glorious display here.
6. “Hikmah,” by Pat Thomas (Tao Forms): Thomas, who’s currently best known as the pianist in the quartet [Ahmed], released a few albums this year, and they’re all worth hearing. This one showcases his hypnotic, meditative technique in the best possible light.
7. “Sam Rivers 100,” by the Mark Masters Ensemble featuring Billy Harper (Capri): This is the kind of big band album you might think no longer exists, bursting with exhilarating arrangements and the tenor saxophone of NEA jazz master Billy Harper. And it was released on the impressive, Colorado-based Capri Records label.
8. “Thereupon,” by Fieldwork (Pi Recordings): A potent reformation of this intuitive trio with pianist Vijay Iyer, drummer Tyshawn Sorey and saxophonist Steve Lehman (see No. 1).
9. “Unseparate,” by the Webber/Morris Big Band (Out of Your Head Records): If the Mark Masters album listed above recalls classic big band arrangements, Anna Webber and Angela Morris, both enthralling saxophonists, update the large group format for 2025 with state-of-the-art concepts and performances.
10. “Figure in Blue,” by Charles Lloyd (Blue Note): Lloyd, who excels here on woodwind instruments, seems incapable of making a subpar album. He stretches out on a reflective double-length set that savors mortality for the artist and the listener.
Bonus: Here are five stellar titles from the archives that saw the light of day this year:
1. “The Bottle Tapes: Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz & Improvised Music Series,” by various artists (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)
2. “Nuits De La Fondation Maeght,” by Sun Ra (Strut)
3. ”Quartet (England) 1985,” by Anthony Braxton (Burning Ambulance Music)
4. ”Vibrations in the Village,” by Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Resonance Records)
5. ”The Free Slave,” by Roy Brooks (Time Traveler Records)
And in live jazz this month: Pianist Jacky Terrasson appears at Dazzle on Dec. 9. … The late Purnell Steen’s band, The Five Points Jazz Ambassadors, pay tribute to the beloved bandleader and pianist Dec. 10 at Dazzle. … This season’s Holiday Sessions at Denver’s Nocturne feature the Peter Sommer Septet on Dec. 17-18 and the David Mesquitic Quintet on Dec. 19-21. … Pianist Annie Booth resumes her annual “Charlie Brown Christmas” show at Dazzle Dec. 14-24. … and The Gabriel Mervine Quartet appears at Denver’s Brown Palace on Tuesdays this month.
