I’ve found myself drawn to more reflective and meditative music in 2025. It’s felt necessary to lose myself in carefully crafted soundscapes, to be absorbed in other sonic worlds. I have happily discovered albums that are profound and refined, demonstrating subtlety and quiet mastery in original ways.
2025 has been a strong year for jazz, with ambitious artists paying homage to the past but bringing fresh influences and encompassing ever-evolving sounds. It’s been a real treat to continue my exploration of the past canon, digging deeper, whilst being surprised and delighted by what’s coming out in 2025.
The following are the albums that have stayed with me in a year of heavy listening. As always, I extend my endless deep-felt appreciation to all those bravely making music, especially these ones.
Andy Hay – Solstice. Change
Ultan O’Brien – Dancing The Line
Organic Pulse Ensemble – Oppression is Nine Tenths of the Law
The Circling Sun – Orbits
The New Eves – The New Eves Is Rising
CAROLINE – CAROLINE 2
Here’s me responding to a first listen of Caroline II on a G.W.R. train
Hayden Pedigo – I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away
Frog – The Count
Youth Lagoon – Rarely Do I Dream
Sultan Stevenson – El Roi
Yara Asmar – everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much
Laura Jurd – Rites and Revelations
Teethe – Magic of the Sale
R. Seiliog – Dispatch All Gods
BRNDA – Total Pain
The Cosmic Tones Research Trio – The Cosmic Tones Research Trio
U.e. – Hometown Girl
Destroyer – Dan’s Boogie
Jasmine 4.t – You Are The Morning
Lady Wray – Cover Girl
M. Sage – Tender / Wading
Ruby Rushton – Legacy
Richard Dawson – End of the Middle
Okonski – Entrance Music
Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu
The Golden Dregs – Godspeed
Jackyn Elswyth with CA Conrad – A Cast of Flowers
Nyron Higor – Nyron Higor
Spotify undermines practically everything that I believe in when it comes to music and art, but, and it is a very unfortunate but, it serves a purpose in providing a taste of the albums featured here. Please buy directly from the artist, via their Bandcamp pages, go to shows, buy merch.
Check out my favourite gigs of 2025.
