The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Jazz is an award presented by the Recording Academy to honor quality alternative jazz music performances in any given year.

The academy announced the new category in June 2023, stating that the award "recognizes artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals."

The academy defines alternative jazz as "a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word.

The Academy specifically cited the work of artists such as The Comet Is Coming, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Kassa Overall, Makaya McCraven, Kamasi Washington, Sons of Kemet and Robert Glasper as examples of jazz's evolving sound and the need for a new category to honor these albums.

We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.