1961 in jazz

See also: 1960 in jazz, 1961 in music, other events of 1961, 1962 in jazz and the List of years in jazz

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Bengali Indian sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar and western jazz musicians Gary Peacock and Bud Shank collaborate on the album Improvisations. The album combines the use of sitar and jazz music, and is considered an early example of fusion experiments with jazz and Indian classical music. In early 1961, John Coltrane begins listening to North Indian music and the music of Shankar becomes influential in his development as a musician.
John Coltrane sells an estimated 30,000 copies of My Favorite Things in its first year of release
June 25 - Bill Evans Trio records Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby during a two-week stay at The Village Vanguard in New York. The recording was made from five sets they played on June 25th. It was the last time the trio would play before virtuoso bassist Scott LaFaro's death 10 days later.
November 1 - John Coltrane begins recording his first live record, Live! at the Village Vanguard.

Basie at Birdland - Count Basie Orchestra (Roulette)
Buhaina's Delight - Art Blakey (Blue Note)
A Jazz Hour with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: Blues March - Art Blakey (Movieplay)
Mosaic - Art Blakey (Blue Note)
Pisces - Art Blakey (Blue Note)
Time Further Out - The Dave Brubeck Quartet (Columbia)
Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation - Ornette Coleman (Atlantic)
Coltrane Jazz - John Coltrane (Atlantic)
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane (Atlantic)
Live in Stockholm 1961 - John Coltrane (LeJazz)
American Freedom - Duke Ellington & Louis Armstrong (Blue Note)
Out of the Cool - Gil Evans Orchestra (Impulse!)
Focus - Stan Getz (Verve)
The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra - Sun Ra and his Arkestra (Savoy Records)
We are in the Future - Sun Ra and his Arkestra (Savoy Records)
We Travel the Spaceways - Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra
Secrets of the Sun - by Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra (El Saturn Records)
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy - Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra
Bad and Beautiful - Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra (El Saturn Records, Impulse!)
Fate in a Pleasant Mood - Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra (El Saturn Records, Impulse!)
Percussion Bitter Sweet - Max Roach (Impulse!)
Forbidden Fruit - Nina Simone (Colpix)

Ratliff, Ben (2007). Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-12606-2.

Hidden category: Incomplete lists