During this year of mayhem and malfeasance, one saving grace could be found in the music. Maybe that’s always the case — but didn’t it seem especially so in 2025? It did for me. So consider this list however you like, but I tend to see it as a lifeline.

As was the case last year, I opted not to settle for a Top 10, going instead for 12. Each pick comes with two alternates: albums that share either key personnel or a guiding vibe. In some cases, those alternates could easily sub in for the main pick; try me on another day, things might have turned out a little different. But I can swear by the admiration and affection I have for every album herein, all three dozen of ‘em. With any luck, there’s something here that you may not have heard or considered yet. Maybe one of these albums will even provide light in a darkening hour.

Two more things, quickly. In compiling the list, I was struck by how many of the albums and artists I’ve already covered at The Gig this year. I don’t think that’s evidence of confirmation bias so much as a validation of what I do here. (Feel free to draw your own conclusions.) And please note that wherever possible, I provide a Bandcamp link, rather than one to a streaming service. That’s intentional; I’m an advocate for supporting the artist(s) with your purchase. (As the illustration above will confirm, I’m also still a fan of physical media, which is a topic for another time.)

So let’s get into it. Without further ado, here are…

First things first: I wrote the liner notes. So in accordance with a code of journalistic ethics (don’t laugh, not everything is ruined), I won’t be putting Splash on any other ballot or best-of list. But having issued the disclaimer, I feel OK about its presence here. Skip ahead if you must, but you’ll miss pianist Myra Melford’s latest inspired response to the expressive art of Cy Twombly.3 She enlists Michael Formanek on bass and Ches Smith on drums and vibraphone, taking advantage of their capacities. “I wanted to play with the metaphor of a line in jazz,” Melford told me, “and push and pull against that, with this idea that there are three independent things going on — but they’re all hooked up, more or less, with a sense of forward momentum.”

https://thegig.substack.com/p/the-best-jazz-albums-of-2025?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=862742&post_id=178817342&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=pfe43&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=emaill

Myra Melford
Splash
Intakt Records CD436 (CD, DL)
★★★★ EDITOR'S CHOICE
Myra Melford (p), Michael Formanek (b) and Ches Smith (d, vb). Rec. July 2024
In spite of working within the more abstract areas of jazz and improv, the pianist-composer Myra Melford's recordings have an overriding sense of structure and purpose coupled with a hypnotic charm.
This is in evidence on the new trio recording Splash, in which circular narratives and motivic building blocks find expression with trusty long-term partners Michael Formanek and Ches Smith who play with empathy, spiky energy and character. Her regular participation in mixed-media opens her playing up to unpredictable yet logical representations. It's also her first release on the premier left-field Switzerland-based indie Intakt, is another of her projects inspired by the American post-abstract expressionist artist Cy Twombly; the excellent 2019 release For the Love of Fire and Water detailed her ensemble's response to 10 of the artists' drawings.
Throughout Melford on the piano traces Twombly's all-important gestural processes with spidery motivic development, haunting and spacey bell-like ostinatos alongside Smith's vibes, through to a chattering percussive insistence that echoes another big Melford influence: the Cecil Taylor-mentored pianist Don Pullen. The trio's aural paintings are a potent brew.

Pianist Myra Melford returns to the classic piano trio format for the first time since The Guest House (Enja, 2011), her acclaimed outing with Trio M with Mark Dresser and Matt Wilson. This time, the lineup is no less formidable: bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith—both commanding improvisers and bandleaders—join her for a set that reaffirms the trio as a site for invention rather than formula.

As with her 2022 quintet project For the Love of Fire and Water (Rogue Art, 2020), Melford's compositional spark here comes from the art of Cy Twombly, whose work blends abstraction and symbolism in ways that find an analogue in her own methods. Across ten compositions, she frames clear thematic architecture while granting her co-conspirators ample freedom to roam within the conceptual boundary fence, an approach that favors interplay over display.

The opener, "Drift," immediately confirms, this is ensemble music. Formanek's pliant bass riff and Smith's buoyant pulse provide a launchpad for a piano theme tightly coiled yet porous enough for spontaneous detours. Melford builds from the material without severing melodic or rhythmic ties, while bass and drums free up in that amorphous realm between commentary and dialogue, before cresting in a muscular climax. Formanek answers with a pizzicato solo—staggered, lyrical, and buoyed by chiming piano and Smith's resonant vibes—until the percussionist transitions gradually back to the kit for a taut recapitulation.

Melford's openness is especially pronounced in the three "Interlude" tracks. On "Interlude I," Formanek's bowing rises and falls like an incantatory supplication, as piano and vibes entwine in a motif of crystalline clarity. "Interlude III" features Smith's metallic clank and shimmer over rippling bass and forceful piano fragments. As in his tenure with Tim Berne's Snakeoil, Smith's idiosyncratic mastery of the vibraphone serves as more than ornament—it extends the harmonic and textural range, something Melford exploits to the full, as it surfaces on almost every cut. A piano/vibes axis might summon thoughts of chamber intimacy, but while there are moments of bucolic gentleness, they are more than offset by unfettered eruptions.

That volatility explodes on "Wayward Time," where Melford's terse, declarative phrases meet a thorny weave of bass and percussion. The pianist's two-handed flurries slice through the thicket, riding the trio's shifting density rather than imposing over it. On "Dry Print for Twombly," she unfurls into a cascade of closely knotted figures, evoking a crammed minimalism, before spilling into sweeping glissandi—an assertion of the piano's percussive potential that complements her structural acuity.

Rather than treating the trio as a reduction from larger groups, Splash envisions it as an expansion inward, revealing how much space and drama can be conjured from three distinct yet deeply attuned voices. Melford's writing gives shape without constriction; Formanek and Smith respond with a shared vocabulary that makes each piece a sustained act of collective creation. It is a reminder that the piano trio, in the right hands, remains one of jazz's most elastic and exploratory vessels.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/splash-myra-melford-intakt

Splash is a new trio led by pianist and composer Myra Melford, featuring bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith. The project is the latest installment of Melford’s work inspired by post-abstract expressionist painter Cy Twombly. The sudden action implied by the trio’s name reflects the kinetic energy in Twombly’s paintings, making Splash a truly exciting debut; one can easily hear that without having seen Twombly’s art – although the painting from the Lepanto cycle on the album cover certainly suggests the vibrant abstractions within.

Melford has studied Twombly’s work since witnessing a major retrospective of his at the Museum of Modern Art three decades ago. Over the last several years, Melford has explored this interest with her quintet Fire and Water (named after a series of Twombly paintings); composed a set of Twombly-related music for MZM (a trio with harpist Zeena Parkins and koto player Miya Masaoka); and plans to investigate similar ideas with bassist Joëlle Léandre. Splash is Melford’s latest response to this artistic legacy, starting a new chapter in her august career as a bandleader.

Recalling her 1990s work with the collective Trio M (with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Matt Wilson), Formanek and Smith are also renowned improvisers, composers, and bandleaders. Together with Melford, they evoke the dynamic volatility of Twombly’s work, but as alert listeners and adept accompanists their versatile range also facilitates chamberlike options, especially when Formanek plays arco and Smith switches to vibraphone. These occasional diversions yield a delicate beauty, flush with impressionistic filigrees and pointillist asides. Beyond such relief, Melford’s expansive compositions for this trio strike a balance between formal design and vivacious spontaneity.

Jagged lyricism contrasts with steady grooves on the opener, “Drift,” where Melford’s flinty cadences careen over the rhythm section’s driving momentum before a pneumatic unaccompanied bass interlude is complemented by luminous vibraphone and piano, followed by fervent improvisations on vibes and then drums over a mesmerizing piano vamp. The more experimental “The Wayward Line” follows with frenzied collective abstraction passing through reflective tonalities, culminating in a probing piano passage at a frantic tempo. “Freewheeler” similarly surges with unflagging force, before suddenly downshifting to highlight Smith’s dulcet vibraphone, which contrasts with the leader’s propulsive determination. “Streaming” kicks off with more rambunctious drumming and funky bass, while pirouetting piano melodies dance above, eventually joined by bowed bass and scintillating vibraphone.

Working in tandem, “A Line with a Mind of Its Own” finds bass and piano performing in parallel, while Smith plays drums with lock-step precision until a pliant piano solo unifies with a melodic line. Conversely, Formanek alternates between Melford and Smith on “Dryprint,” partnering with one then the other to contrast with the odd trio-mate out – it’s as striking an approach as Twombly’s brushwork. Likewise, three untitled “Interludes” scattered about the program each feature a different soloist, while the other two musicians work from a score. Providing final respite, “Chalk” closes the album with shimmering, neo-classical modality. Melford loops repeated pitch sets in repetitive patterns that change speeds, emulating a specific painting – “Untitled, 1970” – that features three coiled lines scrawled across a canvas.

As part of Melford’s continued investigation of Twombly’s work, her sonic interpretations of his visual art come not out of literal transposition, but through implied action. The relationship between Melford’s current music and Twombly’s oeuvre doesn’t need to be fully understood to appreciate it, but it wouldn’t exist in its current form without it. Melford gives her trio-mates ample interpretive freedom on Splash, and together they demonstrate expansive sonic palettes that are as searching and expressive as Twombly’s art.

https://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD91/PoD91MoreMoments4.html

A newly launched trio by a leading female pianist and a strong group of musicians makes its debut on Switzerland's leading innovative label.

Melford, who has continued to expand her range of expression through various projects, has finally appeared on Intakt. If we look into the reason for this, we arrive at the fact that the 2023 release of the Elusion Quartet, led by Michael Formanek and Chess Smith, is produced by Intakt. This work is the result of 30 years of research into the avant-garde painter Cy Twombly, and was composed using his distinctive line drawing techniques. Following a raging group improvisation, the linear movements of each member progress in parallel in ⑥, and the ability of the two artists to fully understand Melford's concept is also impressive.

Strahlende Rhythmen sind das Markenzeichen der in den USA lebendenden Pianistin Myra Melford. „Splash" ist der jüngste Clou Melfords. Eingespielt mit dem neuen Trio aus Michael Formanek (Bass) und Ches Smith (Schlagzeug, Vibrafon). Kreativer Ausdruck eines Lebensprojektes - inspiriert von Cy Twombly. Die Erleuchtung der unterschätzen Pianistin begann 1994 bei einer Retrospektive Twomblys im Museum of Modern Art (NYC). „Splash" spiegelt die fast körperlichen Energieströme, die Twomblys Gemälde ausstrahlen. Ein Zauber, der Myras vielschichtige Kompositionen antreibt. Melfords Spieltechnik basiert auf der perkussiven linken Hand eines Ellington, Monk oder Cecil Taylor. Themen und Soli materialisieren sich urplötzlich, schwebende Intervalle und harte Texturen werden originell gefaltet. Ches Smith reduziert die rhythmische Komplexität, hebt Melfords Cluster und geloopte Rhythmen mit akzentuierter Beckenarbeit und Rimshots auf der Snare-Drum in einen höheren Or-bit. Sein minimalistisches Vibrafon eröffnet eine zusätzliche Dimension. Der relaxte Bass Formaneks dagegen webt ein elastisches Band, auf dem die komplexen Kompositionen mit einem ganz eigentümlichen, fast hypnotischen Flow balancieren. Hören sie „Drift" --welch ein kosmischer Reigen!

Returning to the trio formation that first brought her to the attention of the jazz community in the '90s, Myra Melford makes a splash with her newest album, Splash, as bassist Michael Formanek and percussionist Ches Smith make the same waves Lindsey Horner and Reggie Nicholson respectively did with the pianist 30 years ago. Still, besides the configuration and strength of performance, this trio is no way an update of the other. However, another of Melford's preoccupations -which she shares with other improvisers such as the late soprano master Steve Lacy-is obvious: her appreciation for the late Cy Twombly's visual art not only is reflected in the cover painting, but also in her ten composition titles. Group dynamics here make more powerful sonic statements than solo visual creations though. Smith's thick brush strokes provide a forceful backbeat and his vibraphone resonations add a palate of sound colors to Melford's compositional and performing canvases. Meanwhile, Formanek's sometime arco, mostly pizzicato, lines serve the same purpose in the pianist's artistic expression as scrawls and dribbles do to help a painter define sketches.

Deft rather than just delineated, Melford's playing is never spidery or pastel. Instead her pressurized pace on "A Line With a Mind of its Own" and the introductory "Drift" features dynamic emphasis and methodical theme elaborations, perfectly synced with bass thumps and drum rumbles. Key and tempo changes figure into the expositions, with modulations never allowing substitution to overcome syncopation. Like a group exhibition, space is also given to the other artists. On "Interlude I (To Dribble, To Smear, To Splash)" comprehensive metal bar vibrations and keyboard clips back Formanek's sul tasto buzzes, while the control Smith shows with vibe coloration extends to his drumming. "Streaming" demonstrates how cymbal shakes and paradiddles project percussion variations at a speedier tempo than the pianist's single note exposition developed in tandem with the bassist's strokes. The three finally interlock for a profound percussive ending.

Visual artists' creativity often arises in different media during their careers. Melford does similar work with compositions and group sizes. This return to improv power-trio format is a notable milepost in her ongoing oeuvre.

American pianist Myra Melford studied with Don Pullen - she has the percussive approach of Duke Ellington and Cecil Taylor, not the classical arm-weight touch of Tatum and Bill Evans. Like John Zorn, Ethan Iverson and Dave Douglas, she's a polystylist rather than an artist with a signature style. Her muscular trio features Michael Formanek (bass) and Ches Smith (drums, vibraphone). She wrote all the compositions on Splash as part of her Cy Twombly project - hence such titles as "To Dribble, To Smear, To Splash" and "A Line With A Mind Of Its Own". The opening "Drift" sets the tone with its out of kilter rhythms, while "The Wayward Line" is freer. "Streaming" is about the most colossal piece of furious free jazz imaginable. Smith's stripped down approach is a consistent delight, as is his switching between drums and vibes. One of Melford's finest releases.

A comprehensive look at new releases from the USA and Europe is topped and tailed with older recordings re-issued or released for the first time. New associations between established musicians deliver exciting listening experiences whilst new players on the scene demonstrate Jazz is alive and growing.

Playlist

Charles Rouse "Bitchin'" from Two Is One (Mack Avenue Music Group/Strata-East Records) 00:00
Myra Melford With Michael Formanek And Ches Smith "Drift" from Myra Melford Splash (Intakt Records) 07:10
Tommaso Perazzo "Santo Antonio" from Samba of Sorts (Sunnyside Records) 17:46
Mary Halvorson "Carved From" from About Ghosts (Nonesuch Records) 22:14
Arve Henriksen "Trofast" from Arcanum (ECM Records) 27:35
Shai Maestro "Aba" from Solo : Miniatures & Tales (naïve records) 32:09
David Murray Quartet "Capistrano Swallow" from Birdly Serenade (Impulse! Records) 35:42
Tommaso Perazzo & Tommaso Perazzo Featuring Buster Williams "Ricordi" from Portrait of a Moment (Red Records) 40:00
Igmar Thomas Revive Big Band "Thelonious" from Like A Tree It Grows (Soulspazam) 45:12
Igmar Thomas Trio "Shiitake" from Multiverse (Self Released) 48:26
GPS Band "Take Flight" from Directions + Destinations (577 Records) 53:42
Tuomo Uusitalo Trio "Line For Lee" from Sörkka (All4Corners) 57:52
Sultan Stevenson "El Roi" from El Roi (Edition Records) 1:02:36
Samuel Hällkvist "In Cologne" from Song For Mimi : The Haas Company Volume 3 (Psychiatric Records and Tapes) 1:06:39
Shelley Yoelin Gabriel Datcu Quintet "Rojo" from Rojo (Self Released) 1:11:24
Finn Wiest "Giga" from Aurora (Self Released) 1:17:28
Axel Filip, Signe Emmeluth, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten "Come Closer" from Hyperboreal Trio (Relative Pitch Records) 1:20:56
Doug Wyatt "The Pseudo-Iterative" from Days Of Gypsy Nights (Sonosphere) 1:25:34
Ojorojo "Leyenda" from Leyenda (Self Released) 1:29:47
Michael Sarian "Straight Trash (Edit) from Esquina (Greenleaf) 1:34:04
Ashley Jackson "Troubled Water" from Take Me To The Water (Decca) 1:39:03
Morten Haxholm "Magnolia" from Aether II (Zack's MUSIC) 1:45:25
The Counterfictionals "Norm Gundersons 3-cent Stamp" from Norm Gundersons 3-cent Stamp (Zack's MUSIC) 1:49:53
Tubby Hayes Quintet "Modes and Blues" from Antibes 62 (Jazz In Britain) 1:53:25

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/new-music-from-melford-halvorson-henriksen-and-more

As symbolic as anything of the modern jazz scene is the way the historically significant tag “The New Thing” can mean so many different things these days. April’s column does as well of a job running down the numbers in that regard as any I’ve compiled previously, reflecting the breadth of innovation in jazz music coming from so many different points on the planet. Let’s begin.

Because it has been such a constant trademark of Myra Melford’s work, it’s easy to get the impression that the pianist has transformed volatility into something like a domesticated beast that remains lovingly at her side. Melford’s latest—a return to the trio format with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer-percussionist Ches Smith—is no different. Moving parts in a washing machine, tumbling in all directions and confined to a tight space—piano, bass, and drums becoming a blur, no one leading, no one trailing behind; sometimes in accordance, and sometimes not so much. On pretty much every piece, silence and space aren’t afforded the time of day. But then you get to a piece like “Interlude I,” with Formanek bowing and Smith on vibraphone, and it’s like sunlight breaking through the clouds, revealing an alternate view of everything that had come before and all that follows.

https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-jazz/the-best-jazz-on-bandcamp-april-20255