Latin Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album

The Latin Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album is an honor presented annually at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the United States and internationally.^[1] The award goes to the artists for releasing albums containing at least 51% or more of instrumental tracks of Latin instrumental recordings.^[2]

The award was first presented in 2001 in the pop field under the name of Best Pop Instrumental Album when it was handed out to Nestor Torres for the album This Side Of Paradise.^[3] However it wasn't until the Latin Grammy Awards of 2004 when the instrumental field was created and the award received its current denomination Best Instrumental Album which was awarded to Yo-Yo Ma for Obrigado Brazil.^[4]

Chick Corea is the biggest winner in this category with two awards. Furthermore, musicians from the United States have received this award on four occasions. The rest of the winners come from Argentina, Cuba, Colombia and Puerto Rico. In 2013, the album Presente by Bajofondo became the first instrumental album to be nominated for Album of the Year.

History[]

Mexican guitarist Carlos Santana won the peer category Best Pop Instrumental Performance for this award in 2000.

At the first Latin Grammy Awards ceremony a category intended for instrumental recordings was presented in the pop field under the name of Best Pop Instrumental Performance for singles and tracks only. The winner was Mexican guitarist Santana for the song "El Farol", which also happened to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance that same year, who competed against; Raul di Blasio for "El Despertar Escandalo", Ivan Lins for "Dois Córregos", Frankie Marcos featuring Arturo Sandoval for "Oh Havana, When I Think Of You" and Nestor Torres for "Luna Latina".^[5] The following year a category was created under the name of Best Pop Instrumental Album now intended for full albums. In 2004 the category was renamed Best Instrumental Album and moved to the newly created instrumental field which now includes all forms of Latin instrumental music.

Winners and nominees[]

Jazz flautist Néstor Torres was the first winner of the award under the name Best Pop Instrumental Album.

Yo-Yo Ma, 2004 winner, the first recipient of this award under its current denomination.

Two-time winners Bajofondo.

Puerto Rican saxophonist David Sánchez won the award in 2005.

Bebo Valdés winner in 2006.

2010 winner Arturo Sandoval.

2016 winner Hamilton de Holanda.

2000s[]

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2001	Nestor Torres	This Side Of Paradise	Andrés Alén — Pianoforte Lara & Reyes — World Jazz Keith Lockhart conducting The Boston Pops Orchestra — The Latin Album Marcus Viana — Terra	[3]
2002	Chucho Valdés	Canciones Inéditas	Gustavo Cerati — + Bien Rey Guerra — De Sindo A Silvio José Padilla — Navigator Roberto Perera — Sensual	[6]
2003	Bajofondo Tango Club	Bajofondo Tango Club	Tango di Blasio — Gardel Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya — Historia Sinfonica Del Pop Español Spam Allstars — ¡Fuacata! Live Nestor Torres — Mi Alma Latina	[7]
2004	Yo-Yo Ma	Obrigado Brazil Live In Concert	Armandinho — Retocando O Choro Paulo Moura — Estação Leopoldina Ricardo Silveira — Noite Clara Tanghetto — Emigrante (Electrotango)	[4]
2005	David Sánchez	Coral	Manuel Alejandro — Nuevos Caminos Ed Calle — Ed Calle Plays Santana Pedro Guzman — Ti ple Jazz Gonzalo Rubalcaba and New Cuban Quartet — Paseo	[8]
2006	Bebo Valdés	Bebo	Banda Mantiqueira — Terra Amantiquira Paquito D'Rivera — The Jazz Chamber Trio Luis Salinas — Luis Salinas Y Amigos En España Mario Adnet & Zé Nogueira — Moacir Santos: Choros y Alegría	[9]
2007	Chick Corea and Béla Fleck	The Enchantment	Ray Barretto — Standards Rican-ditioned Ed Calle — In The Zone Carlos Franzetti Trio — Live In Buenos Aires Hamilton de Holanda Quintet — Brasilianos	[10]
2008	Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá	Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá – 40 Años	Kenny G — Rhythm & Romance Paulo Moura — Pra Cá E Para Lá Gonzalo Rubalcaba — Avatar Bebo Valdés and Javier Colina — Live at the Village Vanguard	[11]
2009	Carlos Franzetti and Eddie Gómez	Duets	Jovino Santos Neto and Weber Lago — Live At Caramoor Mauro Senise — Lua Cheia Mauro Senise Toca Dolores Duran E Sueli Costa Omar Sosa — Across The Divide Bernie Williams — Moving Forward	[12]

2010s[]

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2010	Arturo Sandoval	A Time for Love	Yamandu Costa and Hamilton de Holanda — Luz Da Aurora Arthur Maia — O Tempo E a Musica Paulo Moura and Armandinho — Afrobossanova Soto 75 — Latin American Chillout	[13]
2011	Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White	Forever	Al Di Meola — Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody Escalandrum — Piazzolla Plays Piazzolla Luis Salinas — Sin Tiempo Omar Sosa — Calma	[14]
2012	Chick Corea, Paul Motian and Eddie Gómez	Further Explorations	Paquito D'Rivera and Berta Rojas — Día y Medio Guinga + Quinteto Villa-Lobos — Rasgando Seda Hamilton de Holanda — Brasilianos 3 Miguel Zenón — Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook
2013	Bajofondo	Presente	Huáscar Barradas and Leopoldo Betancourt — Dos Mundos 2 Hamilton de Holanda — Trio Paquito D'Rivera and Sérgio Assad & Odair Assad — Dances From The New World Theodore Kuchar conducting The Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela — Latin American Classics
2014	Arturo O'Farrill and the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra	Final Night at Birdland	Antonio Adolfo — O Piano de Antonio Adolfo Yamandu Costa — Continente Hamilton de Holanda — Caprichos Mónica Fuquen — Esferas de Creación
2015	Ed Calle and Mamblue	Dr. Ed Calle Presents Mamblue	Antonio Adolfo — Tema Chick Corea Trio — Triology Kenny G — Brazilian Nights Gustavo Santaolalla — Camino
2016	Hamilton de Holanda	Samba de Chico	Víctor Biglione — Mercosul João Donato — Donato Elétrico Carlos Franzetti — Argentum Bruno Miranda — Mosaico
2017	Michel Camilo and Tomatito	Spain Forever	Cesar Camargo Mariano featuring Rudiger Liebermann, Walter Seyfarth & Benoit Fromanger — Joined Gustavo Casenave — Conversations with Vladimir Stowe Daniel Minimalia — Origen Luis Salinas — El Tren
2018	Miguel Siso	Identidad	Yamandu Costa — Recanto Hamilton de Holanda Trio — Hamilton de Holanda Trio – Jacob 10zz Airto Moreira — Aluê Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo — No Mundo dos Sons	[15]
2019	Gustavo Casenave	Balance	Cuban Sax Quintet — Saxofones Live Sessions Edu Ribeiro, Fábio Peron and Toninho Ferragutti — Folia De Treis Moisés P. Sánchez — Unbalanced Concerto For Ensemble Miguel Zenón featuring Spektral Quartet — Yo Soy La Tradición	[16]

2020s[]

Year[I]	Performing artist(s)	Work	Nominees	Ref.
2020	Daniel Minimalia	Terra	Leo Amuedo – Plays Daniel Figueiredo Caetano Brasil – Cartografías Compasses — Sotavento Yamandu Costa featuring Marcelo Jiran – Festejo	[17]
2021	Toquinho and Yamandu Costa	Toquinho e Yamandu Costa - Bachianinha (Live at Rio Montreaux Jazz Festival)	Omar Acosta and Sergio Menem – Entretiempo y Tiempo Cristovão Bastos and Rogério Caetano – Cristovão Bastos e Rogério Caetano Hamilton de Holanda and Mestrinho – Canto Da Praya - Ao Vivo Ara Malikian – Le Petit Garage (Live)	[18]

^{^[I]} Each year is linked to the article about the Latin Grammy Awards held that year.

References[]

External links[]

• Official site of the Latin Grammy Awards