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Best Alternative Jazz Album

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Best Musical Theater Album

The GRAMMYs

2026

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Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

Dec 1st, 2025

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

Nominees for The GRAMMY Awards

2026

Previous Winner

Plot Armor (Taylor Eigsti)

Field

Jazz + Traditional Pop + Contemporary Instrumental + Musical Theater

Criteria

Albums with >75% playing time of new contemporary instrumental recordings.

Albums with >75% playing time of new contemporary instrumental recordings.

The nominees for The GRAMMYs Best Contemporary Instrumental Album 2026 are Brightside (ARKAI), Ones & Twos (Gerald Clayton), BEATrio (Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sánchez), Just Us (Bob James, Dave Koz), Shayan (Charu Suri).

Read on for more information about all the nominees and their contributors..

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

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Nominees

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

GRAMMY Winner 2026

Aug 22, 2025

Listen on Spotify

Self-released

Brightside

ARKAI

1

nomination

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

GRAMMY Winner 2026

Aug 22, 2025

Listen on Spotify

Self-released

Brightside

ARKAI

1

nomination

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

GRAMMY Winner 2026

Aug 22, 2025

Listen on Spotify

Self-released

Brightside

ARKAI

1

nomination

< Previous

Best Alternative Jazz Album

Next >

Best Musical Theater Album

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