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.
February
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
April
May
June
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.
August
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
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
