This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 2011.

Quick Facts Decade, Music ...

2011 in jazz
Esperanza Spalding, who won Best New Artist in the 2011 Grammy Awards[1]
Decade	2010s in jazz
Music	2011 in music
Standards	List of jazz standards
See also	2010 in jazz – 2012 in jazz

Close

January

• 1 – Charles Fambrough, American bassist, composer, and record producer (born 1950).
• 27 – Charlie Callas, American drummer, comedian, and actor (born 1924).
• 29 – Milton Babbitt, American composer, music theorist, and teacher (born 1916).^[41]

February

• 3 – Tony Levin, English jazz drummer (born 1940).
• 8 – Eugenio Toussaint, Mexican composer, arranger, and musician (born 1954).
• 14 – George Shearing, British jazz pianist (born 1919).^[42]
• 24 – Jens Winther, Danish jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader (born 1960).

March

• 4 – Tom Vaughn, American pianist (born 1936).
• 11 – Billy Bang, American violinist and composer (born 1947).
• 12 – Joe Morello, American drummer (born 1928).^[43]
• 15 – Melvin Sparks, American guitarist (born 1946).

April

• 26 – Phoebe Snow, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist (born 1950).^[44]

May

• 8 – Cornell Dupree, American guitarist (born 1942).
• 10 – Norma Zimmer, American singer (born 1923).
• 11 – Snooky Young, American trumpeter (born 1919).
• 12 – Ted Nash, American saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist (born 1922).
• 15 – Bob Flanigan, American tenor vocalist and founding member of The Four Freshmen (born 1926).^[45]
• 28 – Alys Robi, French-Canadian singer (born 1923).

June

• 2 – Ray Bryant, American pianist and composer (born 1931).
• 3 – Jack Kevorkian, American flautist, composer, pathologist, and euthanasia proponent (born 1928).
• 10 – György Szabados, Hungarian jazz pianist (born 1939).
• 20 – Ottilie Patterson, Northern Irish singer (born 1932).

July

• 2 – Paul Weeden, American-born Norwegian jazz guitarist (born 1923)^[46]
• 17 – Joe Lee Wilson, American singer (born 1935).
• 23 – Amy Winehouse, English singer and songwriter (born 1983).^[47]
• 24 – Harald Johnsen, Norwegian bassist (heart attack) (born 1970).^[48]
• 26 – Frank Foster, American tenor and soprano saxophonist, flautist, arranger, and composer (born 1928).^[49]

August

• 7 – Jiří Traxler, Czech-Canadian pianist, composer, lyricist, and arranger (born 1912).

September

• 7 – Eddie Marshall, American drummer (born 1938).^[50]
• 9 – Graham Collier, English bassist, bandleader, and composer (born 1937).
• 12 – Dinah Kaye, Scottish singer (born 1924).
• 19 – Johnny Răducanu, Romanian pianist (born 1931).^[51]

October

• 1 – Butch Ballard, American drummer (born 1918).
• 8 – Roger Williams, American pianist (born 1924).^[52]
• 10 – Lucy Ann Polk, American singer (born 1927).
• 19 – Lars Sjösten, Swedish pianist and composer (born 1941).
• 28 – Beryl Davis, English singer (born 1924).
• 29 – Walter Norris, American pianist and composer (born 1931).

November

• 1
  • André Hodeir, French violinist, composer, arranger, and musicologist (born 1921).
  • Christiane Legrand, French soprano, The Swingle Singers (born 1930).
• 2 – Papa Bue, Danish trombonist and bandleader (born 1930).
• 6 – Gordon Beck, English pianist and composer (born 1935).
• 11 – Michael Garrick, English pianist and composerr (born 1933).
• 19 – Russell Garcia, American composer and music arranger (born 1916).^[53]
• 22 – Paul Motian, American drummer (born 1931).^[54]
• 24 – Ross McManus, Irish-English trumpeter (born 1927).

December

• 2 – Bill Tapia, American guitarist (born 1908).^[55]
• 15 – Bob Brookmeyer, American valve trombonist, pianist, and composer (born 1929).
• 17 – Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean singer (born 1941).^[56]
• 18 – Ralph MacDonald, Trinbagonian-American percussionist, songwriter, and steelpan virtuoso (born 1941).
• 26 – Sam Rivers, American saxophonist, bass clarinetist, flautist, harmonica player and pianist, and composer (born 1923).

• List of 2011 albums
• List of years in jazz
• 2010s in jazz
• 2011 in music