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 solo artists, duos or groups, producer(s), recording engineer(s) and mixing engineer(s) of 51% or more of the total playing time of the album.^[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.

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.

Brazilian musicians Toquinho (top) and Yamandu Costa (bottom) received the award together in 2021 for Toquinho e Yamandu Costa - Bachianinha (Live at Rio Montreaux Jazz Festival).

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 Juan Campodónico & Gustavo Santaolalla, producers	Bajofondo Tango Club	Tango di Blasio – Gardel Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona I Nacional de Catalunya; Juan José García Caffi (director) – 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 & 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 & 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 & Javier Colina – Live at the Village Vanguard	[11]
2009	Carlos Franzetti & Eddie Gómez	Duets	Jovino Santos Neto & 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]
2010	Arturo Sandoval	A Time for Love	Yamandu Costa & Hamilton de Holanda – Luz Da Aurora Arthur Maia – O Tempo E a Musica Paulo Moura & Armandinho – Afrobossanova Soto 75 – Latin American Chillout	[13]
2011	Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke & 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 & Eddie Gómez	Further Explorations	Paquito D'Rivera & 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 & Leopoldo Betancourt – Dos Mundos 2 Hamilton de Holanda – Trio Paquito D'Rivera & 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 & 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 & 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 & Toninho Ferragutti – Folia De Treis Moisés P. Sánchez – Unbalanced Concerto For Ensemble Miguel Zenón featuring Spektral Quartet – Yo Soy La Tradición	[16]
2020	Daniel Minimalia	Terra	Leo Amuedo – Plays Daniel Figueiredo Caetano Brasil – Cartografías Compasses – Sotavento Yamandu Costa featuring Marcelo Jiran – Festejo	[17]
2021	Toquinho & Yamandu Costa	Toquinho e Yamandu Costa - Bachianinha (Live at Rio Montreaux Jazz Festival)	Omar Acosta & Sergio Menem – Entretiempo y Tiempo Cristovão Bastos & Rogério Caetano – Cristovão Bastos e Rogério Caetano Hamilton de Holanda & Mestrinho – Canto Da Praya - Ao Vivo Ara Malikian – Le Petit Garage (Live)	[18]
2022	Hamilton de Holanda	Maxixe Samba Groove	C4 Trío – Back to 4 Gerry Weil & Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar – Gerry Weil Sinfónico Grupo Raíces de Venezuela – Ofrenda Daniela Padrón & Glenda del E – Ella	s [19]
2023	Camilo Valencia & Richard Bravo	Made in Miami	Renesito Avich – Tres Cristovão Bastos & Mauro Senise – Choro Negro Jorge Glem & Sam Reider – Brooklyn-Cumana ADDA Simfònica, Josep Vicent & Emilio Solla – The Chick Corea Symphony Tribute. Ritmo Miguel Zenón, José A. Zayas Cabán, Ryan Smith & Casey Rafn – Romance al Campesino Porteño	[20]
2024	TBA	TBA	Omar Acosta – Impronta Carlomagno Araya, Jose Valentino & The Latin Music Ensemble – Claude Bolling Goes Latin – Suite for Flute and Latin Music Ensemble Alexis Cárdenas – Capriccio Latino Yamandu Costa & Armandinho Macêdo – Encontro Das Águas Hamilton de Holanda & C4 Trio – Tembla	[21]

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

• Official site of the Latin Grammy Awards