An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or vocals. With origins in tribal music, instrumental music is now associated with recorded music. Starting with Jazz in the early 20th century, instrumental music is still based in instrumentation, though the concept of an "instrumental" has been stretched.

One of the genres most associated with instrumental music is Jazz. Emotive and quality instrumentals were put out by top notch musicians like:

Louis Armstrong
Dizzy Gillespie
Charlie Parker
John Coltrane
Miles Davis
Art Blakey