Geoffrey Himes: Twenty Best New Jazz Albums of 2025:
1. Charles Lloyd: Figure in Blue (Blue Note)
2. Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens (Biophilia)
3. First Meeting: Gonzalo Chris Eric Larry Live at Dizzy's Club (5 Passion)
4. Henry Threadgill: Listen Ship (Pi)
5. Lucian Ban John Surman Mat Maneri: Cantica Profana (Sunnyside)
6. Fieldwork: Thereupon (Pi)
7. Billy Hart: Just (ECM)
8. Joe Farnsworth: The Big Room (Smoke Sessions)
9. Ron Blake: Scratch Band (7ten33)
10. Branford Marsalis: Belonging (Blue Note)
11. The David Amram Quintet: The David Amram Quintet Honors the Songs of Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs (Guthrie Legacy)
12. Baltimore Jazz Collective: Baltimore Jazz Collective (Stricker Street)
13. Joe Lovano & the Marcin Wasilewski Trio: Homage (ECM)
14. Shakti: Mind Explosion: 50th Anniversay Tour Live (Abstract Logix)
15. Joshua Redman: Words Fall Short (Blue Note)
16. Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin-Jazz Orchestra: Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho)
17. Martin Berejano: The Purple Project: Reimagining the Music of Prince (Figgland)
18. Aaron Parks: By All Means (Blue Note)
19. Artemis: Arboresque (Blue Note)
20. Dayna Stephens: Hopium (Conscious)
Geoffrey Himes: Twenty Best New Non-Jazz Albums of 2025:
- 1. The Delines: Mr. Luck and Ms. Doom (Décor/Jealous Butcher)
- 2. The Beths: Straight Line Was a Lie (Anti-)
- 3. Sam Fender: People Watching (Polydor)
- 4. Various Artists: A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier (Valcour)
- 5. The Wood Brothers: Puff of Smoke (Honey Jar)
- 6. Wet Leg: Moisturizer (Domino)
- 7. Charley Crockett: Lonesome Drifter (Son of Davy)
- 8. Ken Pomeroy: Cruel Joke (Rounder)
- 9. Hayes Carll: We’re Only Human (Highway 87)
- 10. Bob Mould: Here We Go Crazy (Granary/BMG)
- 11. Willie Nelson: Oh What a Beautiful World (Legacy)
- 12. Bon Iver: Sable/Fable (Jagjaguwar)
- 13. Taylor Swift: The Life of a Sweetheart (Republic)
- 14. Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons: Panther Tracks, Vol. 1 (World Will Turn)
- 15. Paul Kelly: Seventy (Cooking Vinyl)
- 16. James McMurtry: The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy (New West)
- 17. Flock of Dimes: The Life You Save (Sub Pop)
- 18. The Dropkick Murphys: For the People (Dummy Luck)
- 19. Craig Finn: Always Been (Tamarac)
- 20. Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend (Island)
Geoffrey Himes’s Five Best Historical Jazz Albums of 2025:
1. Thelonious Monk: Bremen 1965 (Sunnyside)
2. Charles Mingus: Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (Resonance)
3. Horace Silver: Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (Blue Note)
4. Keith Jarrett: New Vienna (ECM)
5. Roy Brooks: Free Slave (Timeless Tales)
Geoffrey Himes’s Five Best Historical Non-Jazz Albums of 2025:
- 1. Bob Dylan: Through the Open Window—1956-1963 (Columbia)
- 2. Neil Young: Tonight's the Night (50th Anniversary) (Reprise)
- 3. The Drive-By Truckers: The Definitive Decoration Day (New West)
- 4. Luke Bell: The King Is Back (Thirty Tigers)
- 5. Husker Du: 1985: The Miracle Year (Numero)
