I haven’t kept an actual tally, but I’d guess a third of my listening time in 2025 has been spent soaking up jazz. It’s the one consistent thing (musically) that has kept me most interested and excited this year – partly driven by my fledgling drum practice (oh how I fantasize about having actual jazz drumming skills…) and partly by Bandcamp’s supportive platform for new jazz releases. I also think there’s something about instrumental music in general that has been easier for me to relax into lately – not being distracted by someone else’s lyrical themes and instead just letting the rhythms, melodies, and sonic landscape connect with whatever I’m feeling at the time.
Whatever the reason, I’ve found enough new jazz treasures this year that it again warranted it’s own separate list. And while it was at it, I couldn’t help but compile a bonus list of additional instrumental, ambient, and electronic albums that created my musical world in 2025.
MY TEN FAVORITE JAZZ ALBUMS OF 2025
1. Theon Cross, Affirmations (Live at the Blue Note) [Hip-hop influences and a blazing tuba!]
2. Laura Jurd, Rites & Revelations [Celtic and traditional folk influenced]
3. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens [A standout trio doing modern jazz]
4. Carl Allen, Tippin’ [Straight ahead jazz lead by an amazing drummer]
5. Untethered (Paul Giess, Grant Calvin Weston), Grasping for the Moon [Electronically enhanced free-form jazz]
6. John Patitucci, Spirit Fall [High energy but accessible work from three big name musicians]
7. The Necks, Disquiet [The masters of long-form improvised soundscapes]
8. Beiggja, Morning [Nordic jazz “super group”]
9. Cosmic Ear, TRACES [Intercontinental, spiritual jazz vibes]
10. Cochemea, Vol III: Ancestros Futuros [Latin rhythms galore!]
MY TEN FAVORITE INSTRUMENTAL/AMBIENT/ELECTRONIC ALBUMS OF 2025
1. Aux Meadows, Draw Near [Ambient Country]
2. Orcutt Shelley Miller, Orcutt Shelley Miller [Labeled “Avant-Rock” by some… sounds like a kick-ass rock band when the lead singer is on break]
3. Animal, Surrender!, A Boot for Every Bone [Blurring the line between Post-Rock, Jazz, and…]
4. Toby Hay, New Music for the 6 String Guitar [Beautiful, delicate guitar music]
5. Brian John McBrearty, Remembering, Repeating [Dreamy, melodic, ambient]
6. Gwenifer Raymond, Last Night I Heard the Dog Star [Acoustic guitar music with a bit of thrash]
7. The Bug vs Ghost Dubs, Implosion [Deep, foreboding, trance inducing dub – guaranteed your sound system is not sufficient]
8. The Dwarfs of East Agouza, Sasquatch Landslide [Just hold onto your seats – it’s going to be a wild ride]
9. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Gift Songs [Rich, piano based ambient]
10. Water Damage, Instruments [Dark, Heavy Ambient World Building]
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