1963 in jazz

Events

May

• 15 – The 5th Annual Grammy Awards were held in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
• * Ella Fitzgerald awarded Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female for Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson
• *Stan Getz awarded Grammy Award for [Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group|Best Jazz Performance – Soloist Or Small Group (Instrumental)] for "Desafinado"
• *Stan Kenton awarded Grammy Award for Best Large [Jazz Ensemble Album|Best Jazz Performance – Large Group (Instrumental)] for Adventures In Jazz
• *Vince Guaraldi awarded Grammy Award for Best [Original Jazz Composition|Best Original Jazz Composition] for the composition "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

July

• 4 – The 10th Newport Jazz Festival started in Newport, Rhode Island.

Album releases

• Chris Barber: "Chris Barber at the BBC" with Joe Harriott and Ottilie Patterson
• Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
• *Caravan
• *Buhaina's Delight
• *Ugetsu
• Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue
• Betty Carter: 'Round Midnight (1963 [Betty Carter album)|'Round Midnight]
• Miles Davis: Seven Steps to Heaven
• Eric Dolphy: Iron Man
• Duke Ellington
• *Money Jungle with Charles Mingus and Max Roach
• *My People
• *The Symphonic Ellington
• Bill Evans: Conversations with Myself
• Joe Harriott: Movement
• Joe Henderson: Page One
• Sheila Jordan: Portrait of Sheila
• Stan Kenton: Artistry in Bossa Nova
• Charles Mingus: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
• Hank Mobley: No Room for Squares
• Thelonious Monk: Criss Cross
• Thelonious Monk: Monk's Dream
• Prince Lasha Quintet Featuring Sonny Simmons: The Cry!
• Sun Ra: Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy
• Sonny Rollins: Our Man in Jazz
• Nina Simone: Nina Simone Sings Ellington
• Carol Sloane: Carol Sloane Live at 30th Street
• Stanley Turrentine: Soul Shoutin'
• Kai Winding: ''Solo: Kai Winding''

Deaths

• 13 – Sonny Clark, American pianist.
• 16 – Ike Quebec, American tenor saxophonist.

• 6 – Specs Wright, American drummer.
• 14 – Castor McCord, American saxophonist.
• 16 – Jimmy Reynolds, American pianist.
• 20 – Addison Farmer, American bassist.
• 23 – June Clark, American trumpeter and cornetist.
• 28 – Bobby Jaspar, Belgian saxophonist, flautist, and composer.

• 10 – Irving Aaronson, American pianist and big band leader.
• 17 – Lizzie Miles, Creole blues singer.

• 3 – Gene Sedric, American clarinetist and tenor saxophonist.
• 9 – Eddie Edwards, American trombonist.
• 11 – Arvid Gram Paulsen, Norwegian saxophonist and trumpeter.
• 12 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer.

• 24 – Elmore James, American guitarist.

• 3 – Skinnay Ennis, American bandleader and singer.
• 12 – Bob Scobey, American trumpeter.

• 25 – John Adriano Acea, American jazz pianist.
• 31 – Curtis Counce, American upright bassist.

• 23 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist, Casa Loma Orchestra.

• 20 – Pete Brown, American alto saxophonist and bandleader.
• Sam Allen, American pianist.

• 4 – Joe Gordon, American trumpeter.
• 29 – Ernesto Lecuona, Cuban composer, pianist and bandleader.

• 14
• * Dinah Washington, American singer.
• * Lodewijk Parisius "Kid Dynamite", Surinamese-Dutch tenor saxophonist.
• 22 – Roy Palmer, American trombonist.
• Unknown date
• Jon Ballantyne, Canadian pianist and composer.
• Naftule Brandwein, Jewish clarinetist and influential klezmer musician.

Births

• 7 – Christine Tobin, Irish vocalist and composer.
• 17 – Cyrus Chestnut, American pianist, composer and producer.

• 2
• * Eva Cassidy, American singer and guitarist.
• * Vigleik Storaas, Norwegian pianist.
• 5 – Jacqui Dankworth, British singer.

• 5 – Ralph Alessi, American trumpeters and composer.
• 18 – Yoko Kanno, Japanese composer, arranger, keyboarder, pianist, and accordionist.
• 23 – Nelson Faria, Brazilian guitarist.
• 24
• * Dave Douglas, American trumpeter and composer.
• * Eric Vloeimans, Dutch trumpeter.
• 30 – Ximo Tebar, Spanish guitarist and composer.

• 1 – Antoine Roney, American saxophonist.
• 4 – Benny Green, American pianist.
• 7 – Fredrik Lundin, Danish saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.
• 8 – Tine Asmundsen, Norwegian upright bassist.
• 17 – Peter Havlicek, Austrian kontragitarrist, guitarist, composer, and vocalist.
• 24 – Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Cuban drummer and percussionist.

• 2 – Eric Person, American saxophonist.
• 4 – Gerald Cleaver, American drummer.
• 9 – Ron Miles, American trumpeter, cornetist, and composer.
• 4 – Jack Cooper, American composer, arranger, multireedist, and music educator.
• 16 – Nikki Iles, English composer, pianist and accordion player.
• 27 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cuban composer and pianist.
• 28 – Marc Antoine, French guitarist.

• 9 – Gilad Atzmon, British saxophonist and writer.
• 20 – Jeff Beal, American trumpeter, flugelhornist, keyboarder, and composer.
• 28 – Tierney Sutton, American singer.

• 5 – Russ Lorenson, American singer and actor.
• 23 – Renato Borghetti, Brazilian folk musician and composer.

• 7 – Marcus Roberts, American pianist.
• 10 – Christine Ott, French composer, pianist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist.
• 12
• * Karen Briggs, African-American violinist.
• * Nigel Mooney, Irish singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
• 23 – Stephanie Biddle, Canadian musician.
• 31 – Baard Slagsvold, Norwegian singer and multi-instrumentalist.

• 2 – Sherrie Maricle, American drummer.
• 6 – Thulla Christina Wamberg, Danish singer.

• 3 – Niels Lan Doky, Danish pianist and record producer.

• 1 – Martin Pizzarelli, American upright bassist.
• 2 – Jens Johansson, Swedish pianist and keyboarder.
• 8 – Russell Malone, American guitarist.
• 16 – Steve Argüelles, English drummer.
• 20 – Don Braden, American tenor saxophonist.
• 24
• * Scott Colley, American upright bassist and composer.
• * Yoron Israel, American drummer.
• 25
• * Anders Widmark, Swedish pianist and composer.
• * Holly Cole, Canadian singer.

• 10 – Ole Amund Gjersvik, Norwegian upright bassist.
• 14 – Dalia Faitelson, Israeli composer, vocalist, guitarist, and DJ DaFa.
• 29 – Dave McKean, English photographer, graphic designer, filmmaker, and pianist.

• Bill Wells, Scottish bassist, pianist, guitarist, and composer.
• Don Paterson, Scottish poet, writer, and musician.
• Gianni Lenoci, Italian pianist and composer.
• Torcuato Mariano, Argentinian-born American guitarist.