A Few of My Favorite Things

By Rob Michaels
Contributing Writer

My favorite recordings acquired in 2025

Jazz - New

Patricia Brennan - Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic)
Chicago Underground Duo - Hyperglyph (International Anthem)
Cosmic Ear - Traces (We Jazz)
Cosmic Tones Research Trio - s/t (Mississippi)
Sullivan Fortner - Southern Nights (Artwork)
Sinsuke Fujieta Group - Fukushima (SoFa)
Gustafson, Vandermark, Reid, Taylor - PIVOT (Silkheart)
James Brandon Lewis - Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt)
Linda May Han Oh - Strange Heavens (Biophilia)
Miguel Zenon Quartet - Vanguardia Subteranea: Live at the Village Vanguard 
[Ahmed] - [Sama’a] (Audition) (Otoroku)

Jazz - Old New (Archival recordings not previously released)

Horace Silver - Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (Blue Note)
Griot Galaxy - Live on WUOM 1979 (Two Rooms)
Jessica Williams - Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-87 (Echo-Press)
V/A - The Bottle Tapes (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

Jazz - Vinyl Reissues (that I didn’t already own)

Roy Brooks - The Free Slave (Muse)
Stanley Cowell - Musa (Strata East)
Music Inc. - Live at Slugs (Strata East)
Hank Mobley - Third Season (Blue Note)
Heath Brothers - Marchin’ On (Strata East)
Pepper Adams Quintet - s/t (Mode)
Longineau Parsons - s/t (Luv & Haight)
Curtis Amy & Frank Butler - Groovin’ Blue (Blue Note)
Ken McIntyre & Eric Dolphy - Looking Ahead (OJC)
Kenny Barron - Sunset to Dawn (Muse)

Jazz - Used LPs (found online or in the wild)

Mal Waldron - Spanish Bitch (Japo)
Bengt Berger - Bitter Funeral Beer (ECM)
John Carter & Bobby Bradford Quartet - Flight for Four (Flying Dutchman)
Duke Ellington - Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (Fantasy)
Duke Ellington - Piano in the Foreground (Columbia)
Duke Pearson - Sweet Honey Bee (Blue Note)
Griot Galaxy - Opus Krampus (Sound Aspects)
Amina Claudine Myers - Salutes Bessie Smith (Leo)
Elvin Jones & Richard Davis - Heavy Sounds (Impulse)
Dollar Brand/Johnny Dyani - Echoes from Africa (Enja)
Barry Harris Trio - Magnificent! (Prestige)
Charles Tyler - Saga of the Outlaws (Nessa)
Dizzy Gillespie - The Real Thing (Perception)