Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
Awarded for	quality instrumental albums in the pop music genre
Country	United States
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded	2001
Last awarded	2016
Official website	grammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (previously: Best Pop Instrumental Album) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,^[1] to recording artists for quality instrumental albums in the pop music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".^[2]

The award was first presented to Joe Jackson in 2001. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is presented to albums containing "at least 51% playing time of newly recorded pop instrumental tracks".^[3] Award recipients often include the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists. In 2005, the producer of a compilation album was the only award recipient. As of 2015, Larry Carlton and Booker T. Jones are the only musicians to receive the award more than once. Gerald Albright received the most nominations with six.

In 2015, the category was renamed Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and moved from the Pop category field to the Contemporary category field.^[4] The category description did not change.

Recipients

2002 award winner, Steve Lukather

2007 award winner, Peter Frampton

Béla Fleck of the 2009 award-winning group, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

2010 award winner, Booker T. Jones

Year^[I]	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2001	Jackson, JoeJoe Jackson	Symphony No. 1	Blue Man Group – Audio Kenny G – Faith: A Holiday Album William Orbit – Pieces in a Modern Style Kirk Whalum – Hymns in the Garden	[5]
2002	Carlton, LarryLarry Carlton and Steve Lukather	No Substitutions: Live in Osaka	Acoustic Alchemy – AArt Dave Koz and Friends – A Smooth Jazz Christmas Neal Schon – Voice Kirk Whalum – Unconditional	[6]
2003	Brown, NormanNorman Brown	Just Chillin'	Kenny G – Paradise Boney James – Ride John Tesh – The Power of Love Kirk Whalum – The Christmas Message	[7]
2004	Cooder, RyRy Cooder and Manuel Galban	Mambo Sinuendo	Jim Brickman – Peace Kenny G – Wishes: A Holiday Album Prince – N.E.W.S George Winston – Night Divides the Day – The Music of the Doors	[8]
2005	Various artists^[II]	Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar	Boney James – Pure Dave Koz – Saxophonic Various artists – Forever, for Always, for Luther Mason Williams – EP 2003: Music for the Epicurean Harkener	[9]
2006	Bacharach, BurtBurt Bacharach	At This Time	Eric Johnson – Bloom Earl Klugh – Naked Guitar Daniel Lanois – Belladonna Jeff Lorber – Flipside	[10]
2007	Frampton, PeterPeter Frampton	Fingerprints	Gerald Albright – New Beginnings Larry Carlton – Fire Wire Fourplay – X Spyro Gyra – Wrapped in a Dream	[11]
2008	Beastie Boys	The Mix-Up	Chris Botti – Italia Dave Koz – At the Movies Spyro Gyra – Good to Go-Go Kirk Whalum - Roundtrip	[12]
2009	Béla Fleck and the Flecktones	Jingle All the Way	Gerald Albright – Sax for Stax Larry Carlton – Greatest Hits Rerecorded, Volume One Earl Klugh – The Spice of Life Spyro Gyra – A Night Before Christmas	[13]
2010	Jones, Booker T.Booker T. Jones	Potato Hole	Chris Botti – In Boston Hiroshima – Legacy The Rippingtons and Russ Freeman – Modern Art Spyro Gyra – Down the Wire	[14]
2011	Carlton, LarryLarry Carlton and Tak Matsumoto	Take Your Pick	Gerald Albright – Pushing the Envelope Kenny G – Heart and Soul Robby Krieger – Singularity Kirk Whalum – Everything Is Everything: The Music of Donny Hathaway	[15]
2012	Booker T. Jones	The Road from Memphis	Jenny Oaks Baker – Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney Daniel Ho – E Kahe Malie Dave Koz – Hello Tomorrow Brian Setzer – Setzer Goes Instru-Mental!	[16]
2013	Chris Botti	Impressions	Gerald Albright and Norman Brown – 24/7 Larry Carlton – Four Hands and a Heart Volume One Dave Koz – Live at the Blue Note Tokyo Arun Shenoy – Rumbadoodle	[17]
2014	Herb Alpert	Steppin' Out	Boney James – The Beat Earl Klugh – HandPicked Dave Koz, Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair and Richard Elliot – Summer Horns Jeff Lorber Fusion – Hacienda	[18]
2015	Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer	Bass & Mandolin	Mindi Abair – Wild Heart Gerald Albright – Slam Dunk Nathan East – Nathan East Jeff Lorber, Chuck Loeb and Everette Harp – Jazz Funk Soul	[19]
2016	Snarky Puppy and Metropole Orkest	Sylva	Bill Frisell – Guitar in the Space Age! Wouter Kellerman – Love Language Marcus Miller – Afrodeezia Kirk Whalum – The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter IV	[20]

^{^[I]} Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
^{^[II]} An award was presented to James R. Jensen as the producer of the album.

See also

• Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
• List of Grammy Award categories

References

General

• "Past Winners Search". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved March 4, 2011. Note: User must select the "Pop" category as the genre under the search feature.

Specific

1. "Grammy Awards at a Glance". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved April 24, 2010.
2. "Overview". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved April 24, 2010.
3. "52nd OEP Category Description Guide" (PDF). National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. p. 5. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
4. Grammy.com, 12 June 2014
5. "43rd Grammy Awards". CNN. February 21, 2001. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
6. "Complete List Of Grammy Nominees". CBS News. January 4, 2002. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
7. "Complete list of Grammy nominees; ceremony set for Feb. 23". San Francisco Chronicle (Hearst Corporation). January 8, 2003. p. 1. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
8. "Nominee list for the 46th Annual Grammy Awards". LiveDaily. December 4, 2003. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
9. "Nominee list for the 47th Annual Grammy Awards". LiveDaily. December 7, 2004. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
10. "The Complete List of Grammy Nominations". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). December 8, 2005. p. 1. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
11. "49th Annual Grammy Awards Winners List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
12. "50th annual Grammy Awards nominations". Variety. Reed Business Information. December 6, 2007. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
13. "The 51st Annual Grammy Awards Winners List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
14. "The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Nominees List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
15. "53rd Annual Grammy Awards nominees list". Los Angeles Times (Tribune Company). Retrieved December 5, 2010.
16. 54th Grammy Awards nominees list
17. List of 2013 nominees
18. 2014 Nominees
19. List of Nominees 2015
20. 15 February 2016

External links

• Official site of the Grammy Awards