Grammy Award for Best Alternative Jazz Album | |
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![]() Meshell Ndegeocello, the award's recipient in both 2024 & 2025 | |
Awarded for | Quality vocal or instrumental alternative jazz recordings (albums only) |
Presented by | National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences |
First award | 2024 |
Currently held by | Meshell Ndegeocello – No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin (2025) |
Website | grammy.com |
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Jazz is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality alternative jazz music performances in any given year. The award was presented for the first time at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024, and is the first new category in the jazz genre field since 1995.
The academy announced the new category in June 2023, stating that the award "recognizes artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals." The academy defines alternative jazz as "a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word. It may also include the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres."[1][2][3]