1961 in jazz

This is a timeline documenting events of jazz in the year 1961.

Events

25 – The 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 25 and was the last time the trio would play before virtuoso bassist Scott LaFaro's death 10 days later.30 – The 7th Newport Jazz Festival started in Newport, Rhode Island.

4 – The very first Moldejazz started in Molde, Norway.

1 – John Coltrane begins recording his first live record Live! at the Village Vanguard.

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.

; February4 – Alphonse Picou, American clarinetist and composer.7 – Noah Lewis, American harmonica player.22 – Nick LaRocca, New Orleans cornetist and trumpeter.
; March6 – George Formby, English actor, singer-songwriter, and comedian.9 – Wilber Sweatman, American clarinetist.24 – Freddy Johnson, American pianist and singer.
; April29 – Miff Mole, American trombonist and bandleader.
; July6 – Scott LaFaro, American upright bassist.
; August15 – Stick McGhee, American guitarist.
; October5 – Booker Little American trumpeter and composer.
; Unknown date

; January12 – Ivo Perelman, Brazilian saxophonist.16 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian composer and guitarist.18 – Bobby Broom, American guitarist, composer, and educator.
; February5 – Clark Tracey, British drummer, band leader, and composer.9 – Steve Wilson, American saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist.10 – Paolo Fresu, Italian trumpeter, flugelhornist, composer, and arranger.12 – Knut Reiersrud, Norwegian guitarist.21 – Mike Nielsen, Irish guitarist, composer, and educator.
; March2 – Harald Dahlstrøm, Norwegian pianist.5 – Marcelo Peralta, Argentine saxophones, piano, accordion, the Latin American aerophones, and composer.14 – Joe Ascione, American drummer.23 – Eivind Aarset, Norwegian guitarist.25 – Makoto Ozone, Japanese pianist.27 – Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist, producer, arranger, composer, singer and songwriter.29 – Ken Stubbs, English alto saxophonist, and composer.30 – Tina May, English singer.31 – Mark Lockheart, British tenor saxophonist, Loose Tubes.
; April9 – Chris Abrahams, New Zealand pianist and composer.23 – Gene Calderazzo, American drummer.25

* Carl Allen, American drummer.
* Paul Wagnberg, Swedish–Norwegian organist and keyboarder.30 – Alan Steward, Dutch record producer and multi-instrumentalist.

; May5 – Flavio Boltro, Italian trumpeter and flugelhornist.11 – Brian Simpson, American pianist.17 – Enya, Irish singer-songwriter.21 – Rachelle Ferrell, American vocalist.24 – Jarmo Savolainen, Finnish pianist and composer.27 - Ivan Božičević, Croatian composer, pianist, and organist.
; June4 – El DeBarge, American singer-songwriter.10 – Gary Thomas, American saxophonist.15

* Kai Eckhardt, German bass guitarist.
* Miguel "Angá" Díaz, Cuban percussionist.18 – Alison Moyet, British singer-songwriter.24 – Marvin Smith, American drummer and composer.

; July7 – Leon Bosch, South African upright bassist.8 – Karl Seglem, Norwegian saxophonist and goat horn player.26 – Keiko Matsui, Japanese pianist and composer.29 – Michael Publig, Austrian pianist and composer.
; August3 – Art Porter Jr., American saxophonist.13 – Koji Kondo, Japanese composer, pianist, and sound director.17 – Everette Harp, American saxophonist.23 – Anita Wardell, English singer.
; September1 – Boney James, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer.7 – LeRoi Moore, American saxophonist .22 – Kofi Burbridge, American keyboardist and flautist, Tedeschi Trucks Band.29 – David Kikoski, American pianist.
; October10 – Jonathan Butler, South African singer-songwriter and guitarist.11 – Xavier Desandre Navarre, French percussionist and drummer.18 – Bo Sundström, Swedish singer and songwriter, Bo Kaspers orkester.18 – Wynton Marsalis, American trumpeter.20

* Audun Kleive, Norwegian drummer.
* David Becker, American guitarist.25 – Franck Amsallem, French-American pianist, arranger, composer, and singer.27 – Igor Butman, Russian saxophonist.

; November13 – Candye Kane, American singer and entertainer .19 – Mornington Lockett, English saxophonist.
; December5 – Anders Bergcrantz, Swedish trumpeter.24 – Ralph Bowen, Canadian saxophonist.29 – Lê Quan Ninh, French percussionist.
; Unknown date