# 2021 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of jazz in the year 2021.

## Events
### January

* January 14 – The 2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll rates Maria Schneider's Data Lords as the best album of 2020.

### March

* March 14 - The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards occur. Jazz winners include:
** Kurt Elling wins Best Jazz Vocal Album for his 2019 album Secrets are the Best Stories
** Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade win Best Jazz Instrumental Album for their 2021 album Trilogy 2
** The Maria Schneider Orchestra wins Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for its 2020 album Data Lords
** Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra win Best Latin Jazz Album for their album Four Questions

### July

* July 30 - Shabaka Hutchings from Sons Of Kemet founds a new UK Jazz record label, "Native Rebel Recordings"
** July 30-August 1 – The Newport Jazz Festival takes place in the US state of Rhode Island. Performers include Gerald Clayton, Charles Lloyd, Mavis Staples, Trombone Shorty, Kamasi Washington and Brandee Younger.

### September

October
* October 21 - Takuya Kuroda releases "Midnight Crisp"
November

### December

* December 4 - Promises (Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra album) is named album of the year 2021 by TIME magazine

## Albums

| Month | Day | Album | Artist | Label | Notes |
| March | 5 | Flor | Gretchen Parlato | Edition Records | Received nomination for Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album |
| March | 5 | Road to the Sun | Pat Metheny | Sony BMG | |
| March | 26 | Daring Mind | Jihye Lee Orchestra | Motema Music | |
| March | 26 | Promises | Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra | Luaka Bop | |
| April | 9 | Uneasy (album) | Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey | ECM Records | |
| May | 14 | Black To The Future | Sons Of Kemet | Impulse! Records | |
| May | 28 | Another Land | Dave Holland | Edition Records | with Kevin Eubanks and Obed Calvaire |
| May | 28 | Nafs at Peace | Jaubi | Astigmatic Records | |
| June | 11 | Squint | Julian Lage | Blue Note Records | |
| July | 9 | Now Pronouncing | Caity Gyorgy | | Awarded Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year |
| August | 20 | Martian Kitties | Gordon Grdina and Jim Black | | |
| August | 27 | Sounds from the Ancestors | Kenny Garrett | Mack Avenue Records | |
| September | 3 | Kinds of Love | Renee Rosnes | Smoke Sessions Records | |
| September | 10 | Side-Eye (V1. IV) | Pat Metheny | BMG Modern Recordings | |
| September | 14 | The Cave Of Winds | Tony Malaby | Pyroclastic | |
| September | 24 | Songwrights Apothecary Lab | Esperanza Spalding | Concord Records | Awarded Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album |
| October | 8 | SuperBlue | Kurt Elling | Edition Records | |
| November | 12 | Crisis | Louis Hayes | Savant Records | |
| November | 19 | A Love Sonnet for Billie Holiday | Jack DeJohnette, Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith | TUM Records | |
| December | 3 | New Standards | Kenny G | Concord Records | |

## Deaths

* January 6 – Bobby Few, 85, American jazz pianist
* January 17 – Sammy Nestico, 96, American composer and arranger
* January 20 – Keith Nichols, 75, British instrumentalist and bandleader (COVID-19)
* January 23 – Jonas Gwangwa, 83, South African jazz trombonist
* February 9 – Chick Corea, 79, American pianist, composer and bandleader
* February 12 – Milford Graves, 79, American drummer and polymath
* March 2 – Chris Barber, 90, British bandleader and trombonist
* March 7 – Josky Kiambukuta, 72, Congolese singer (TPOK Jazz)
* March 8 – Julien-François Zbinden, 103, Swiss composer and jazz pianist
* March 10 – János Gonda, 89, Hungarian jazz pianist
* March 19 – Cristián Cuturrufo, 48, Chilean jazz trumpeter (COVID-19)
* March 28 – Malcolm Cecil, 84, British jazz bassist and record producer
* April 7 – Sonny Simmons, 87, American jazz saxophonist
* May 8 – Curtis Fuller, 88, American jazz trombonist
* May 15 – Mario Pavone, 80, American jazz bassist, composer and bandleader
* June 21 – Nobuo Hara, 94, Japanese saxophonist
* July 4 – Rick Laird, 80, Irish jazz bassist (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
* July 31 – Jerzy Matuszkiewicz, 93, Polish jazz musician and composer
* August 28 – Francesc Burrull, 86, Spanish musician and composer
* September 16 –George Mraz, 77, Czech-American jazz bassist
* September 28 - Dr. Lonnie Smith, 79, American jazz Hammond B3 organist
* October 18 – Franco Cerri, 95, Italian jazz guitarist.
* November 1 – Pat Martino, 77, American jazz guitarist.
* November 18 - Slide Hampton, 89, American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.
* December 8 - Barry Harris, 91, American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator