The Best New Jazz of 2025

What's up? You'll hear at listeners Adam here. Peter's not here. Peter is playing at the Village Vanguard this week with Christian McBride, and I thought I would take this opportunity to do a little recap for you, you know, on the podcast we listened to a lot of music from, you know, 19 71, 19 75, 19 82, 19 59, even 1963.

We liked those years. So I thought it would be cool to listen to some music that came out in 2025, some of our favorites from some of our favorite artists, and it's a pretty good list. I think it's pretty complete, but I'm sure I left out some gems. So please put in the comments, your favorite jazz albums of 2025 or jazz adjacent albums.

We got some jazz adjacent stuff in here as well. We're gonna start though with one of our all time favorites, the Branford Marsalis Quartet. Uh, this is of course Branford Marsalis on the saxophone. Joey Calderazzo on the piano. Eric Revis on the bass, and Justin Faulkner on the drums. This is a Blue Note album.

This is Brandford's Blue Note debut album called Belonging. And this is Spiral Dance. Branford and the boys always bringing it just amazing. Joey Razzo, one of our favorite pianists here. You gotta check out the whole album. The in the album is an interpolation interpretation. I interpolation or interpretation. We'll never know.

It's an interpretation of Keith Jarrett's 1974 album Belonging that has the same track order. Uh, it's pretty great. Listen, I recommend listening to the whole thing because it is fantastic. Some of the greatest in the genre right there. Okay, next up we've got an album by the one and only Kenny Barron.

Uh, Kenny Barron, who is a modern master and, uh, released an album, uh, called Songbook in June on the Artwork records. And, uh, these are 13 of his own compositions lyricist. Janice Jarret adds words to each piece and he's got a long time trio with him. Kiyoshi Kitagawa. Jonathan Blake provides the foundation.

And Katherine Russell is singing on this trek, the original Minor Blues Redux. Thanks for what we got. Keep on coming. You know, we can't stop now. Have to do some. I know they're coming. Give thanks for what we got. Keep on coming, you know, can't stop now. Got to do so in every moment. There's a treasure, the pleasure when we are there for one another.

Sisters and rounds, How good is that? The ones that came before us, sow the seat so we could carry on work to be done. Look towards Katherine Russell there singing minor blues. Redo. Kenny Barron, 82 years old, still sounding amazing. Uh, honestly, go listen to his playing on this album and just be wowed by the Fountain of Youth.

That is Kenny Barron. I got to see him live in a duo situation with Benny Green just a couple years ago, and he was putting on a show, he was putting on a clinic. It was fantastic. Uh, again, uh, Kenny Barron. The album is called Songbook. It's on the Artwork records label. We've got a new album for Joshua Redman as well.

It's called Words Fall Short. It's another Blue Note album. And this is with a new band for Joshua Redman. He chose a bunch of people in their twenties. Nazir Ebo Philip Norris, Paul Cornish, Skyler Tang. This is Icarus from Words Fall Short. That is Icarus from the new Joshua Redman album. Words fall short. I am such a sucker for when a, a master like Joshua Redman, an established musician who's been around for a minute, uh, hires a band of just fiery young upstarts.

And this is in that tradition fully. Next up, we've got an enchanting album from an enchanting duo. This is Gillian Margot and Geoffrey Keezer, vocalist and pianist respectively. Peter and I actually got to see them tour this album. They came here through St. Louis. And honestly, one of the highlights of 2025 for me was that show.

It was just a magical evening of two musicians, partners in music, partners in life. And they just are in this lock step with each other the whole way. Both, you know, they're very different artists, but they bring these, this chemistry that just is undeniable when they play, uh, this piano vocal duo.

And they released an album this year. It's self-titled Just Gillian Margot and Geoffrey Keezer. This is Thou Swell, Thou Sweet Thou Grand would kiss me pretty woods. Hold my hand, both eyes. Do what you do to me. Hear me holler. I choose a sweet Lalapalooza in the, I feel so rich in a heart for two, two rooms and a kitchen, I'm sure would do.

Give just a plot of not a lot of land and swell thou witty, thou swell And all that stuff Keer is doing underneath. Now. Sweet Thou Grant, what gives me pretty woods? Hold my hand. Both my eyes argue. Do what you do to me Hear may holler at Jesus Sweet Lalu. Oh, how Great is that? Gillian Margot, Geoffrey Keezer two amazing artists in their own right getting together on this self self-titled album.

By the way, they're both instructors here at Open Studio. They both have courses on open studio. Jillian has a great vocal course where I actually am a little bit of a Guinea pig singing for her. I was so nervous about that, but she's really helped me out in some vocal things. And then Geoffrey Keezer has many courses for us here at Open Studio, just a complete pianistic master.

And, uh, so exciting that they made this album and, and really, really worth the listen all the way through. Another, uh, brand new open studio artist is on our list a few times here. The incredible Sullivan Fortner released a trio album called Southern Knights back in March. This is on the Artworks records label.

Uh, just as Kenny Barron was this features Marcus Gilmore and Peter Washington. And Sullivan wanted to record this with no rehearsals, no retakes, and no isolation to capture the true spontaneity. Uh, this is in Alan Toussaint, song called Southern Nights. So before we get too far in, I just wanna explain what he's doing there real quick.

Do you hear that that harp sound right? So what he's doing is he's pressing down on the keys to the piano without making a sound right on a lot of grand pianos. You can very gently press down on the keys and the hammer has what's called the break where it won't actually hit the key. So you can make a cord like that and not use the sustained pedal, but just hold a cord down without making a sound.

And then you scrape your nails along the strings. And it sounds like that guitar harp like sound, let's hear that again. It's really cool. Famously Oscar Peterson starting, uh, Corcovado Quiet Knights on his, we take requests the same way. Marcus Gilmore on the drums, Peter Washington, the bass Man. Woo.

Sullivan's such an interesting pianist. It's a great true album. A lot of unexpected twists and turns per usual for a Sullivan Foreigner album. Sullivan shows up again on Cécile McLorin Salvant and S'S album, which is no big shocker. They've made a lot of great music together over the last decade or so now.

Uh, it's been an incredible productive partnership for them artistically. And this is from Cecile's new album, oh, snap, which is, I thought a revelation the first time I heard this album. There's so many surprises on it. I'm such a huge fan of everything she does. She's always keeping you guessing as a fan.

You know, every release is like, what is, where's her head going now? It's so inspiring as an artist and just everything she does, I'm just, I'm here for it. I'm, I'm ready to take the journey. And Oh Snap is no different. Just a really, really magical, uh, journey to take. Listening to the whole album, this track that I chose, anything but now is kind of a, it kind of is an outlier on the album, honestly.

But I love the song so much because it resonates so much. It's about being anywhere but here about how our minds go anywhere, thinking about anything, anything, anything, anything. But now you, you'll get the idea. But this is Sullivan on the piano. Kyle Poole on the drums, Yasushi Nakamura on the bass.

Check it out. 1, 2, 2, 1. Overthinking one. Two, I spend a lot of time thinking about doing things instead of doing them. I spend a lot of time thinking about saying things instead of saying them out loud, out loud, out loud. I spend a lot of time ruminating, reminiscing about the past, fantasizing about the future, Thinking About anything, anything, anything, anything, anything.

But now thinking about anything, anything, anything, anything. But now I spend a lot of time thinking about doing things instead of doing them, I spend a lot of time thinking about saying things instead of saying them loud. I spend a lot of time ruminating ramini about the past, fantasizing about the Future, Thinking about anything.

Anything, anything, anything, anything. But now thinking about anything, anything, anything, anything, Anything. Now thinking about Anything. Anything, anything. Anything, anything. But now Thinking about Anything, anything, anything, anything. But now I love it so much. My goodness Gracious Cecile just crushing Sullivan, just crushing at that tempo.

I love too that she's like pushing the, she's pushing the mics. Um, and the preempts into somewhere very interesting at the end there. She's really, she's really going for it. I love it when, when people go for it. It's a great album all the way through. Like I said, that's not really like a great representation of everything on this album.

Not, it's not like a, a lot of straight ahead stuff. There's a lot of, there's folk vibes in there. There's a electronic music vibes in there, uh, worth checking out. That's Oh Snap from Cécile McLorin Salvant. Next up, uh, we've got another incredible artist, uh, who put out, I think this is one of the better albums that came out in the whole year.

And I think mostly because, um, I'm 46 and I love Brad Mehldau Till the Day I Die. I love everything he does. I always have. And then he happened to make an album full of Elliott Smith songs. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm 46. So Elliot Smith is right there in my wheelhouse. Brad Mehldau, making an album of Elliot Smith songs would've been something that 18-year-old me would've, uh, wrote down as like, if I could win the lottery or have this, which would I rather have?

And I might've wanted to have this. And honestly, it doesn't disappoint. He pulled it off. I listened to the track I'm about to play with, which is everything means nothing to me. Uh, an incredible song. Um, and this one was the one that I was really worried about. Like, would he, would he be able to pull this out because it's, it's challenging and I think he absolutely nails it.

He absolutely crushes it. So we're gonna listen to most of here. Everything means Nothing to me. Brad Mehldau on the None such label. Bassoon Bassoon makes most things better. Matt Chamberlain on the drums throughout this whole album, the Real Treat. So it was about here that I was starting to get a little worried, like, is he gonna be able to bring the spirit of the original?

I mean, he is already made this very original sounding, but he's gonna be able to like capture what makes this track the original track. So great. And he does. He lands the plane. That's All we were waiting for. That's all we were waiting for. Honestly, the first time I heard that my hands went up in the air and I might have said out loud, you did it, Brad.

I don't even as if I'm talking as if he's there, just because it's really difficult to pull off what he pulls off in this album. And he does. He pulls it off and it works. It really works. It could have been, it could have not worked and it works great. Uh, next up is, uh, another Gen X jazz icon, Robert Glasper featuring Yebba.

This is from Robert's album. Keys to the City, volume One on the Loma Vista record label. Uh, this album compiles standup moments from, uh, Robert's five year residency, the annual Rob Tober at the Blue Note in New York City. And we've all seen the clips, right? We've, we all look forward to Rob Tober every year.

And you get all those Instagram clips of, of Robert Glasper playing with some of the greatest musicians in the world coming through. And this is one of 'em. This is, uh, Robert Glasper and Yebba. And this is over. Hold on, lemme try it again. And this is another one. This is Robert Glasper and Yebba. And this is Over.

I was so many moves dancing in dramatic. And after all the that happened, you know, It's like you're in the room. It's like you're at the blue note. There's a two drink minimum, a really, really fun live album. Uh, so check that out from Robert Glasper. Uh, that's over featuring Yebba Next Up is one of the most acclaimed albums of the year from Mary Halvorson.

Incredible guitarist, very unique musician. This is from an album called About Ghostson the none such label. This is called Carved from Mary Halvorson, always playing with our ideas and expectations about what jazz is, what improvisation is, what guitar is. We're always left like, do I know what a guitar is after that?

Um, a beautiful playing too by the Amaryllis Sextet Sextet. Uh, on there, Patricia Brennan, Nick Dunston, Tomas Fujiwara, Jacob Garchik and Adam or O’Farrill. Next up we have a new album from Christian McBride. This is a big band album featuring a 17 piece big band. It's called Without Much Ado Volume One.

It's on the Mack Avenue records label. Uh, Christian took this album on like Jimmy Kimmel Live. He's been all over with it, and it's a great album. You don't hear too many great big band albums anymore, but this is fantastic. This track features Samara Joy on the old tune. Old folks, Everyone knows him as old folks.

What a voice. What a voice. Samara like the season he'll come and he'll go just as free. And what a treat to hear Christian McBride in this context of a big band That's so always leaving his spoon in his coffee, tuck his nap. Wow. Very, very enjoyable. Big end album. Every Christian McBride without Much Ado Volume one on the Mack Avenue label.

Next up, we've got a, a release from a dearly departed artist. This is another album featuring Christian McBride. It was recorded, uh, but in February and March of 2020, uh, the year before the Great Chick Corea passed away. So this is Trilogy three live. It's on the candid record label and um, it features Chick Corea on the piano, Christian McBride on the bass, and Brian Blade on the drums.

And it's amazing. It's just so incredible to hear Chick and how good he was playing right up until the end. And man, do we miss him? We really miss Chick Corea around here. This is Windows unbelievable playing, unbelievable playing by Chick Corea. Yeah, it's just a real treat. Anything that we can get new from Chick, uh, um, posthumously we will take.

It's just to hear him playing in that context with those two musicians, Christian McBride and Brian Blade is, is really magical. And, uh, yeah, that whole album, the version of Humpty Dumpty is unbelievable. I encourage you to go check it out. Um, that's it. We have one more track, but I just want to thank you for, uh, listening with me.

Don't forget to put in the comments what I left out. I'm sure I left out some amazing music. This is a really good year for jazz, actually a really, really good year for music in general. So put in the comments your favorite albums of 2025, and I think we're gonna be doing some more of this new music, uh, listening sessions on the You'll Hear It podcast in 2026.

It's one of our goals to do maybe a weekly what's been released in the jazz world. So stay tuned for that. That's coming. We are gonna go out with a new album from Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlp that was released this year. It's called Elemental. It's on Mac Avenue. Bill Charlap, just one of the most amazing pianists working today.

Dee Bridgewater, one of the most incredible vocalists around, and they teamed up for this. There's nobody better at supporting vocalists than Bill, and there's nobody better than of, uh, interacting with pianists than Didi. So this is a really, really incredible combination. Here they are performing Mood indigo.

You'll hear it everybody. You ain't been blue. No, no, no, you ain't been, you've had that to my shoes while I sit And.

The Best New Jazz of 2025

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