Carla Bley during the rehearsal for the 2015 NEA Jazz Masters concert. 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart
NATIONAL 

ENDOWMENT 

FOR THE ARTS

GARY BURTON

WENDY OXENHORN

PHAROAH SANDERS

ARCHIE SHEPP

2016 Fellows

February 19, 2016

I send greetings to all those gathered to honor the 2016 NEA Jazz Masters. 

For generations, the rich sounds of jazz have embodied the rhythm, struggle, 

beauty, and promise of our country and our people. This most American of 

art forms holds the power—across all the styles it has inspired—to capture 

our Nation in the vibrant origins of our past, in our spirit of perpetual 

discovery, and in our willingness to reinvent ourselves and shape our future.

From its beginnings in the hearts of African Americans—joining influences

spanning Africa and Europe to set freedom’s cause to music—through the 

emergence of Bebop, the birth of cool, and the evolutions that have 

followed, jazz has endured as a timeless symbol of what America is and 

what we can become. By recognizing iconic figures who have expanded the 

boundaries of jazz, you are celebrating not only the ways music has enriched 

our Nation, but also the hopes and ideals that define us.

As you come together, you have my best wishes for an outstanding concert 

and ceremony.

b

The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters awards—the 

nation’s highest recognition of jazz in America—are given to those 

who have reached the pinnacle of their art; musicians and advocates 

who had, and continue to have, a significant impact on one of the 

great artistic inventions of the 20th century. 

The 2016 NEA Jazz Masters have certainly had such an impact. Gary Burton’s 

four-mallet method on the vibraphone and desire to bridge the musical 

genres of jazz and rock helped spawn an entirely new audience for the music. 

Wendy Oxenhorn saw a need in the jazz community to assist musicians 

without means and has led the Jazz Foundation of America for the past 15 

years in providing medical and other assistance to more than 5,000 musicians 

annually. Pharoah Sanders injected a strong sense of spirituality into his 

music, taking the mantle from John Coltrane and bringing it into the 21st 

century. Archie Shepp’s music shed light on issues of racism and inequality, 

connecting with audiences in ways that sometimes only music can. These 

individuals have had an impact not just on the music, but on American culture. 

The National Endowment for the Arts is celebrating its impact on American 

culture this year as well, as part of its 50th anniversary, which launched on 

September 29, 2015. A special section on the NEA website was created to 

highlight artists, arts organizations, and projects the agency has supported 

since 1965, as well as stories we have collected from the public about their 

arts experiences (including one from NEA Jazz Master David Liebman!). 

Additionally, we are engaging with the public on new initiatives, such as our 

inaugural songwriting challenge for high school students, and Creativity 

Connects*, which explores how the arts connect with non-arts sectors 

through a grant opportunity, an infrastructure report about what resources 

artists need in order to create, and an interactive digital graphic that shows 

where the bright spots are across the nation. You can find more information 

on all of these at arts.gov. 

The NEA Jazz Masters tribute concert has occurred in different locations over 

the years—New York, New York; Long Beach, California; Toronto, Canada—but 

as part of the NEA's anniversary celebration, we brought it to the nation’s 

capital in 2016. I would like to thank our partner, the John F. Kennedy Center 

for the Performing Arts, for producing the NEA Jazz Masters tribute concert 

in their Concert Hall. The concert is webcast live by the Kennedy Center 

(kennedy-center.org) and the NEA (arts.gov), among others, and will be 

archived for later viewing. 

Please join me in honoring the 2016 NEA Jazz Masters for their work in the 

jazz field and their contributions to the nation’s cultural heritage. 

Jane Chu

Chairman

National Endowment for the Arts

*Creativity ConnectsTM is used with permission from Crayola, LLC.

Photo by Strauss Peyton Studios

Rudresh Mahanthappa and Ingrid Jensen were part of the house 

band for the 2015 NEA Jazz Masters concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center. 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

CONTENTS

2016 NEA Jazz Masters .................................... 9

Gary Burton .......................................... 10

Wendy Oxenhorn ...................................12 

Pharoah Sanders ................................... 14

Archie Shepp ........................................ 16

A Brief History of the Program ....................... 18

Nomination Overview .....................................21

Previous Events .............................................22

NEA Jazz Masters, 1982-2016 ......................... 26
8 National Endowment for the Arts
9

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Gary Burton

Wendy Oxenhorn

Pharoah Sanders

Archie Shepp

2016 NEA JAZZ MASTERS

NOTES:

Names in bold in biographies denote NEA Jazz Masters awardees.

All recordings listed in Selected Discography are under the artist’s name 

unless otherwise noted.

Years listed under recordings in Selected Discography denote the years 

the recordings were made.
10

National Endowment for the Arts

Gary Burton’s fourmallet technique on the vibraphone gave 

the instrument a new musical 

vocabulary in jazz and a fuller, 

more piano-like sound than 

the traditional two-mallet 

approach. He was one of the 

progenitors of jazz fusion 

in the late 1960s, and had a 

decades-long educational 

career at the Berklee College 

of Music. 

Burton taught himself to play 

the vibraphone and, at the age 

17, made his first recording 

in Nashville, Tennessee, with 

legendary guitarist Hank 

Garland. With the help of 

Chet Atkins, another leading 

Nashville guitarist, Burton 

secured a record deal with 

RCA and released his debut 

album, New Vibe Man in Town, 

in 1961 while studying at 

Berklee. 

At 19, on a recommendation 

from Marian McPartland, 

Burton joined pianist George 

Shearing’s group, and then 

worked from 1964 to 1966 

with Stan Getz. As a member 

of Getz’s quartet, Burton was 

recognized by DownBeat

magazine as “Talent Deserving 

of Wider Recognition” (1965). 

In 1967, he formed a quartet 

featuring Larry Coryell, an 

electric guitarist, as one of the 

soloists. The quartet’s first two 

albums in 1967—Duster and 

Lofty Fake Anagram—changed 

the jazz landscape by adding 

rock elements to the music. 

In 1968, he won DownBeat’s 

“Jazzman of the Year” award.

During the late 1960s, 1970s, 

and 1980s, Burton continued 

to experiment with his 

sound, recording Carla Bley’s 

album-long piece A Genuine 

Tong Funeral; performing in 

various configurations, such 

as solo, duos, quartets, and 

with chamber orchestras; and 

continuing to work in other 

genres such as country, rock, 

tango, and classical. At the 

same time, Burton continued 

to mentor notable guitarists 

in his bands, including Pat 

Metheny, John Scofield, Kurt 

Rosenwinkel, and Julian Lage. 

In 1971, Burton embarked 

on an education career at 

the Berklee College of Music 

as a teacher of percussion 

and improvisation. In 1985, 

he became the institution’s 

dean of curriculum. In 1989, 

he received an honorary 

doctorate of music from 

Berklee and, in 1996, he was 

appointed executive vice 

president, a position he held 

until his retirement in 2004. 

Post-Berklee, Burton formed 

several new bands and 

expanded his collaborations 

with Chick Corea, Pat 

Metheny, and other musicians. 

His Generations band in the 

early 2000s featured young 

musicians, and in 2012 he 

assembled the New Gary 

Burton Quartet (with Julian 

Lage, Antonio Sánchez, and 

Scott Colley) with which he 

records and performs. Burton 

has received 22 Grammy 

nominations and won seven 

Grammy Awards.

GARY BURTON

Photo by Michael Wilderman

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

In Concert

(BMG International, 1968)

Passengers

(ECM, 1976)

Like Minds

(Concord Jazz, 1997)

Chick Corea & Gary Burton 

Hot House

(Concord Jazz, 2012)

Guided Tour

(Mack Records, 2013)
11

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Photo by Bill Gallery

VIBRAPHONIST, BANDLEADER, EDUCATOR

Born January 23, 1943 in Anderson, IN

Excerpts from the interview conducted by the Kennedy Center for the NEA...

Playing with Chick Corea

“The musical connection that I have with Chick 

Corea is something that’s unique in my history. 

Improvisation is like having a conversation with 

someone, with one big difference. When you talk 

back and forth with a friend who you know well, 

you can guess where they’re going next. But when 

you’re playing music, you don’t have to wait for 

the other person to talk—you talk at the same time. 

You’re playing at the same time, but you’re having 

this conversational interaction. There’s potential for 

a lot of fireworks to happen if the rapport is at a high 

level. We’ve been doing that all these years.”

The Guitar Whisperer

“I was introduced to 

the combination of 

guitar and vibraphone 

in my first professional 

experience with the 

guitarist Hand Garland. 

Then when it came time 

to start my own band, I 

wanted to do this rock 

influence thing, so the 

guitar was a logical 

instrument.

“I’m known as the 

guitar guru. I’m a 

guitar whisperer or 

something like that. I 

find guitar players, often 

undiscovered players, 

who I can just tell by 

their first efforts have 

a lot of talent. I could 

see myself playing with 

them.”

Inspiration

“Inspiration is definitely one of the things that comes 

out of teaching. There’s also playing with younger 

musicians. I noticed that musicians tend to fall into 

one of two camps. They either prefer playing with 

seasoned professionals like themselves, who are 

very established and predictable, or they’re drawn 

to young players who are in the midst of discovery, 

and growing and changing. I am one that finds that 

incredibly inspiring and energizing.”
12

National Endowment for the Arts

Wendy Oxenhorn 

is the executive 

director and 

vice chairman of the Jazz 

Foundation of America 

(JFA), which is committed 

to “providing jazz and blues 

musicians with financial, 

medical, housing, and 

legal assistance as well as 

performance opportunities, 

with a special focus on the 

elderly and veterans who 

have paid their dues and 

find themselves in crisis 

due to illness, age, and/

or circumstance.” She has 

held the position at JFA, 

headquartered in New York 

City, since 2000. 

At age 14, Oxenhorn 

attended the School of 

American Ballet and 

danced with New York City 

Ballet. At 17, she suffered a 

career-ending knee injury 

that catapulted her into 

depression, leading her 

to a suicide hotline. She 

ended up consoling the 

counselor on the line, who 

herself was depressed. 

Oxenhorn began working 

at the suicide hotline three 

days later, prompting her 

to make helping others her 

professional focus. 

In 1990, she co-founded 

Street News, a publication 

that provided employment 

and income for homeless 

individuals. In 1994, she 

launched Children of 

Substance, a public school 

program that created 

support groups for female 

middle school students with 

drug-addicted parents.

Six years later, she moved 

on to JFA, which was 

founded in 1989 by Billy 

Taylor, Herb Storfer, Ann 

Ruckert, and Phoebe 

Jacobs, originally with a 

local focus on New York City. 

By 2005, due to the work of 

Oxenhorn, the foundation 

expanded to nationwide 

operations with a full-time 

staff. Since 2001, she has 

raised more than $25 million 

through events like the now 

annual “A Great Night in 

Harlem.” Her fundraising 

efforts enabled the JFA to 

increase the organization’s 

capacity to provide 

emergency assistance from 

35 to more than 5,000 cases 

annually. 

The JFA participated on 

multiple levels in the 2005 

Hurricane Katrina relief: 

finding new housing; 

creating employment 

opportunities for more 

than 1,000 displaced New 

Orleans musicians and their 

children; and acquiring 

new musical instruments 

to replace those lost in 

the flood waters. In late 

2005, Oxenhorn created 

the Agnes Varis Jazz in 

the Schools Program. 

The program’s goals are 

to create dignified work 

opportunities for ill as 

well as unemployed and 

underemployed musicians 

of retirement age and 

introduce the music to new 

WENDY OXENHORN

Photo by Francesco Pini

A.B. Spellman 

NEA Jazz Masters 

Award for Jazz 

Advocacy
13

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

audiences. This program 

has enabled hundreds of 

musicians to participate in 

blues and jazz performances 

for more than 80,000 public 

school students across 

approximately 15 states 

each year. 

Oxenhorn was honored for 

her humanitarian efforts 

on behalf of jazz and blues 

musicians at the 2004 

Grammy Lunch by the Artist 

Empowerment Coalition 

(AEC), a nonprofit coalition 

of artists, musicians, and 

performers. She was 

also honored by SESAC, 

WBGO FM radio, the Jazz 

Journalists Association, 

and HBO. In 2015, Jazz at 

Lincoln Center honored 

her with the Ashley 

Schiff Ramos Community 

Development in Jazz Award. 

She also serves on the board 

of directors of the Montreux 

Jazz Festival in Switzerland 

and is a blues harmonica 

player. 

MUSICIANS' ADVOCATE

Excerpts from the interview conducted by the Kennedy Center for the NEA...

On the Jazz Foundation of America

“This is helping people who would never ask for help. This is helping people 

who work six and seven nights a week until three in the morning for next to 

nothing for the love of the art (and to pay their rent). They’re always on the 

fringe because they didn’t care about the money.”

Why the Jazz Foundation Matters

“I remember Ron Carter coming up to me. He said, ‘Wendy, I was in an 

airport and I saw Cecil Payne. He’s losing his sight...I’m worried about him.’ 

“I called Cecil—I didn’t know Cecil. We started talking, and he said, ‘Lady, 

I don’t need any help. I’m fine.’ I said, ‘There’s this thing called Meals on 

Wheels, and they bring food to your house.’ He goes ‘No, no, no, no, no. I 

don’t need none of that,’ and he hangs up the phone on me. I called him back 

the next morning. He goes, ‘Don’t worry about me.’ I said, ‘I won’t worry 

about you if you’d let them come once.’

“Because he started eating well, he started wanting to play. We hooked him up 

with some young musicians. Danilo Pérez got him a gig at the museum with 

him, and his life started up. We started giving him gigs. It changed his life.”

On Clark Terry

“If it wasn’t for Clark Terry, there wouldn’t have been a Quincy Jones. Quincy 

always says Clark was his mentor. 

“Clark really suffered when he was 90, when he lost both his legs. They had 

to amputate from the infections. He’s ended up being a voice of courage for 

people—Clark chose to give his remaining years and his time to these great 

students, like Justin Kauflin. 

“The Jazz Foundation was able to come into play by giving him a home health 

aide, who could be with him at home so he wouldn’t be having to live in a 

nursing home, where the [students] couldn’t visit at two in the morning, where 

he might not have a private room. Because of that, he was able to teach these 

amazing kids. 

“As a result, all those people that he taught, like Quincy, will use his example 

when they are old. They will create purpose in their lives and [share their 

knowledge with] the next generation.”
14

National Endowment for the Arts

F

errell “Pharoah” Sanders 

is a Grammy Awardwinning jazz saxophonist 

who has shown a remarkable 

facility performing in a 

variety of styles, from free to 

mainstream, displaying what 

has been called “hard-edged 

lyricism.” Emerging from John 

Coltrane’s groups of the mid1960s, Sanders is known for 

his distinctive sound marked 

by overblowing, harmonic, 

and multiphonic techniques. 

Sanders was born into a 

musical family, and he took up 

the clarinet as a child. In high 

school, he was first exposed 

to jazz by his band director. 

He switched to the tenor 

saxophone and soon played 

blues gigs around Little Rock. 

After high school, Sanders 

moved to Oakland, California, 

studying art and music at 

the Oakland Junior College. 

Known in the San Francisco 

Bay Area as “Rock” or “Little 

Rock,” Sanders expanded his 

repertoire to include bebop, 

rhythm and blues, classical, 

and free jazz, performing with 

musicians such as Ed Kelly 

and Smiley Winters.

In 1961, he moved to New 

York City, where he first 

began to use the name 

“Pharoah.” Sanders formed 

his first group in 1963 with 

pianist John Hicks, bassist 

Wilbur Ware, and drummer 

Billy Higgins. However, he 

came to greater prominence 

playing and recording with 

John Coltrane’s band, first 

on the album Ascension and 

then on their dual-tenor 

recording Meditations (both 

1965). Sanders was strongly 

influenced by Coltrane, 

including spiritual elements 

such as the chanting in 

his release Om. In 1968, 

he participated in Michael 

Mantler and Carla Bley’s 

Jazz Composer’s Orchestra 

Association album The Jazz 

Composer’s Orchestra. A year 

later, Sanders recorded one 

of his most commercially 

successful albums, Karma, 

featuring the 32-minute 

track “The Creator has a 

Master Plan” with pianist 

Lonnie Liston Smith and 

vocalist Leon Thomas’ unique 

yodeling. 

In the 1970s, Sanders began 

experimenting with African 

rhythms, such as on his 

1971 album Black Unity with 

bassist Stanley Clarke, which 

continues to influence his 

music. In 1994 he traveled to 

Morocco to record The Trance 

of Seven Colors with Gnawa 

musician Mahmoud Guinia. 

Towards the end of the 

decade and into the 1980s, 

he continued to explore other 

styles of jazz, such as modal 

and hard bop, and ventured 

into rhythm and blues. 

In 1988, Sanders received a 

Grammy Award (along with 

McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, 

Cecil McBee, and David 

Murray) for the album Blues 

for Coltrane: A Tribute to John 

Coltrane. Sanders continues to 

tour nationally and appear at 

major international festivals.

PHAROAH SANDERS

Photo by Michael Wilderman

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Tauhid

(Impulse!, 1966)

Karma

(Impulse!, 1969)

Elevation

(Impulse!, 1973)

Live

(Theresa Records, 1981)

The Creator Has a Master Plan

(Tokuma Records, 2003)
15

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Photo by Michael Wilderman

SAXOPHONIST, COMPOSER

Born on October 13, 1940 in Little Rock, AR

Excerpts from the interview conducted by the Kennedy Center for the NEA...

Finding His Sound on the Saxophone

“On saxophone, you can express yourself more, because it’s a reed instrument. 

You can bend notes. You can do so many things with the mouthpiece, while 

playing on a trumpet is not quite like that. A flute is not quite like that.

“I would hear something and try to see if I can do it.... I was just trying to see 

if I could play a pretty note, a pretty sound. I don’t know whether I knew what a 

pretty sound or what a good sound was at the time. Other players told me that I 

had a good sound. I kept on trying to improve my sound and trying to perfect my 

sound.”

Defining His Name

“I never told anybody on the West Coast my name 

was Ferrell Sanders. When they saw that I came 

from Little Rock, then they started calling me Rock. 

[When I moved to New York], I joined the 802 

union, and I gave them my name, Ferrell Sanders. 

They had another space. If you want to have an 

audience name you can, so I put down Pharoah, 

and that’s how that came about—everybody looking 

at me as Pharoah.”

The Spiritual Side to Music

“I always felt music is a very spiritual kind of thing. 

I grew up in a church...I was raised up in it. I feel 

like all of my music is coming from the creative 

within myself. Whatever comes through me, I’m 

trying to express and free myself, let it out, whatever 

it is. Sometimes you just have to play.”
16 National Endowment for the Arts

Archie Shepp is a 

jazz saxophonist 

best known for 

his Afrocentric music of 

the late 1960s, a unique 

style of free-form avantgarde jazz blended with 

African rhythms, and for 

his collaborations with John 

Coltrane, Horace Parlan, 

Cecil Taylor, and the New 

York Contemporary Five 

ensemble. His long career as 

an educator has focused on 

ethnomusicology, looking 

at the history of AfricanAmerican music from its 

origins in Africa to today. 

Shepp was born in Florida 

but grew up in Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania, studying 

piano, clarinet, and alto 

saxophone before switching 

to the tenor. He studied 

drama at Goddard College 

from 1955 to 1959, but 

chose music as his main 

profession. Shepp’s first 

recording under his own 

name Archie Shepp - Bill 

Dixon Quartet was released 

in 1962. Four for Trane, an 

album featuring four John 

Coltrane compositions 

(and one of his own) 

followed in 1964, taking 

Coltrane’s compositions 

into a more avant-garde 

direction that Coltrane 

himself would follow. 

Shepp’s bands in the mid1960s featured musicians 

including Roswell Rudd, 

Bobby Hutcherson, Beaver 

Harris, and Grachan Moncur 

III. In 1965, Shepp was a 

sideman on John Coltrane’s 

Ascension recording and 

was featured—along with 

John Coltrane—on New 

Thing at Newport, a live 

album with two sets from 

the 1965 Newport Jazz 

Festival. At this time, 

Shepp began looking to 

African cultural and music 

traditions for inspiration, as 

shown on such recordings 

as The Magic of Ju-Ju (1967), 

a recording featuring 

an African percussion 

ensemble. Before the end 

of the decade, he added 

teaching to his activities, 

first at the University at 

Buffalo, New York, and in 

1971 at the University of 

Massachusetts, where he 

spent the next 30 years 

as a professor in the 

Afro-American Studies 

department.

In 2004, Shepp co-founded 

the French record label 

ArchieBall to release his 

albums. The 2013 release 

by the label, I Hear the 

Sound by the Archie Shepp 

Attica Blues Orchestra, was 

nominated for a Grammy 

Award. The artist is featured 

in the 1981 documentary 

film Imagine the Sound, 

produced by Ron Mann, 

and in Archie Shepp: je suis 

jazz c’est ma vie, a 2007 

documentary by Frank 

Cassenti.

ARCHIE SHEPP

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Fire Music

(Impulse!, 1965)

The Way Ahead

(Impulse!, 1968-69)

Archie Shepp & Horace Parlan 

Goin' Home

(Steeplechase, 1977)

Live in New York

(Verve, 2000)

I Hear the Sound

(ArchieBall, 2012-13)

Photo by Michael Wilderman
17

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Photo by Michael Wilderman

SAXOPHONIST, COMPOSER, EDUCATOR

Born on May 24, 1937 in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Excerpts from the interview conducted by the Kennedy Center for the NEA...

Music as Theater

“I majored in theater in college. I first heard Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot on 

recordings. When I was a young kid, I only heard music on records. I never 

conceived of words being put on a recording. I was impressed with the poets 

and poetry in the same format as I would listen to music. I very early saw the 

connection between theater and music. For me, even today, my performances 

always have an aspect of theater. I’d do things on stage [that] I know would 

generate a visual connection, and it seems to make the music somewhat stronger 

and more integral to the entire presentation.”

The Influence of Cecil Taylor

“My background was very traditional and 

conventional until I met Cecil Taylor in the early 

1960s. Cecil was quite a big influence on me, 

intellectually and musically. Part of my evolution as 

an African American, as a musician, is due to my 

conversations with him and the influence he had 

on my later development. He opened up an entirely 

new set of options for me, as far as playing music 

without chords, changing tempos.... Music didn’t 

always have to have chords to have a dance beat. All 

those things were important.”

From Work Songs to Rap

“Music has always been a balm to the soul with 

the African-American people, going back to slavery 

where we’re singing songs to work, spirituals, blues, 

and the eventual evolution of instrumental music 

in New Orleans and the piano stride on the East 

Coast. When I look at young kids today, rapping 

and hip-hop and all those forms, I’m taken back to 

the spiritual and the blues and how important music 

has been in helping us, helping the music to evolve, 

and helping my people to survive.”
18 National Endowment for the Arts

A BRIEF HISTORY 

OF THE PROGRAM

NEA Jazz Masters (from left) Danny Barker, Buck Clayton, and Clark Terry at the 

1991 ceremony. Photo by Michael Wilderman
19

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Amelding of African 

and European music 

and cultures, jazz 

was born in the United 

States, a new musical 

form that used rhythm, 

improvisation, and 

instruments in unique and 

exciting ways. Jazz came 

to prominence in the early 

20th century on the dance 

floors of major cultural 

centers such as Kansas City 

and New York. With the 

advent of sound recording 

capabilities, the increased 

availability of affordable 

gramophones, and the 

rise of radio as popular 

entertainment, jazz quickly 

conquered the country. By 

the 1930s and 1940s, jazz 

had become America’s 

dance music, selling albums 

and performance tickets at 

dizzying rates and sweeping 

millions of fans in foreign 

countries off their feet. 

By the 1950s, however, with 

the advent of rock and roll 

and the tilt in jazz toward 

bebop rather than the more 

popular swing, jazz began 

a decline in its popularity. It 

continued to be seen as an 

important and exciting art 

form, but by an increasingly 

smaller audience. Jazz 

was still being exported 

overseas, though, especially 

by Voice of America radio 

broadcasts and U.S. 

Department of State 

goodwill tours that featured 

such musicians as Dizzy 

Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, 

and Dave Brubeck. 

By the 1960s, when the 

National Endowment for 

the Arts (NEA) was created 

by Congress, jazz album 

sales were down and 

live performances were 

becoming more difficult 

to find. Large dance 

orchestras disbanded for 

lack of work, and musicians 

found themselves in stiff 

competition for fewer and 

fewer gigs. The music, 

starting with bebop and 

into hard bop and free jazz, 

became more cerebral 

and less dance-oriented, 

focusing on freeing up 

improvisation and rhythm. 

It was moving in a new 

artistic direction, and, if 

this high quality were to be 

maintained, it would need 

some assistance. 

NEA support for the jazz 

field began in 1969 with 

a grant to jazz composer, 

musician, and theoretician 

George Russell (named an 

NEA Jazz Master in 1990). 

Activities supported by the 

NEA include jazz festivals 

and concert seasons, 

special projects such as Dr. 

Billy Taylor’s Jazzmobile 

in New York and the 

Thelonious Monk Institute 

of Jazz’s Jazz Sports 

program, educational jazz 

programming on National 

Public Radio, artists-inschools programs, and 

research. 

While the NEA recognized 

and acted on the need for 

public funding for jazz, 

the pioneers of the field 

were rapidly aging, and 

many died without the 

appropriate recognition 

of their contributions to 

this great American art 

form. Louis Armstrong 

and Duke Ellington, two 

of the giants of jazz in 

terms of both musicianship 

and composition, both 

died in the early 1970s 

without the importance of 

their contributions being 

fully acknowledged and 

appreciated. 

In an effort to nationally 

recognize outstanding 

jazz musicians for their 

lifelong achievements 

and mastery of jazz, the 

Arts Endowment in 1982 

created the American 

Jazz Masters Fellowships 

(renamed the NEA Jazz 

Masters Fellowships in 

2004). These awards 

are given to musicians 

who have reached an 

exceptionally high standard 

of achievement in this very 

specialized art form. 

In addition to the 

recognition, the NEA 

included a monetary 

award of $20,000 for each 

fellowship. The rigors of 

making a living in the jazz 

field are well documented. 

Jazz is an art form to which 

the free market has not 

been kind. Despite their 

unparalleled contributions 

to American art, many jazz 

greats worked for years 

just barely scraping by. The 

monetary award often has 

provided a much-needed 

infusion of income. 

The three individuals 

who were chosen as the 

inaugural class certainly 

lived up to the criteria 

of artistic excellence 

and significance to the 

art form: Roy Eldridge, 

Dizzy Gillespie, and Sun 

Ra. The advisory panel in 

that first year included 

stellar jazz musicians 

themselves, including some 

future NEA Jazz Masters: 

trumpeter Donald Byrd and 

saxophonists Frank Foster, 

Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana performs with NEA Jazz Master 

Jimmy Heath at the 2014 concert. Photo by Michael G. Stewart
20

National Endowment for the Arts

Jackie McLean, Archie 

Shepp, and Chico Freeman. 

In addition, legendary 

Riverside record company 

co-owner and producer 

Orrin Keepnews (also an 

NEA Jazz Master) was on 

the panel. 

From that auspicious 

beginning, the program 

has continued to grow 

and provide increased 

awareness of America’s 

rich jazz heritage. In 2004, 

a new award was created 

for those individuals 

who helped to advance 

the appreciation of jazz. 

In 2005, the award was 

designated the A.B. 

Spellman NEA Jazz Masters 

Award for Jazz Advocacy in 

honor of A.B. Spellman, a 

jazz writer, accomplished 

poet, innovative arts 

administrator, and former 

NEA deputy chairman, 

who has dedicated much 

of his life to bringing the 

joy and artistry of jazz to 

all Americans. Additionally, 

the amount of the 

fellowship was increased to 

$25,000. 

During the same year, 

the NEA Jazz Masters 

initiative included several 

new programs in addition 

to the fellowships. A twoCD anthology of NEA 

Jazz Masters’ music was 

produced by Verve Music 

Group. NEA Jazz Masters 

on Tour, sponsored by 

Verizon, brought jazz 

musicians to all 50 states 

throughout 2005-07 for 

performances, community 

events, and educational 

programs. That program 

was followed by NEA Jazz 

Masters Live, which from 

2008 to 2014 brought 

51 NEA Jazz Masters to 

33 venues nationwide, 

with performances and 

educational activities 

reaching more than 200,000 

people, including 13,000 

youth. 

New programming for 

broadcast was developed, 

such as Jazz Moments

radio shorts and podcast 

interviews with NEA 

Jazz Masters (both Jazz 

Moments and podcasts can 

be downloaded for free at 

the NEA site on iTunes U). 

The NEA has also 

supported the Smithsonian 

Jazz Oral History Program 

to document the lives and 

careers of nearly 100 NEA 

Jazz Masters (go to 

www.smithsonianjazz.org

and click on “Oral 

Histories”). In addition 

to transcriptions of the 

hours-long interviews, the 

website also includes audio 

clips that provide unique 

views on everything from 

their early years to their 

first introduction to music 

to the working life of a 

jazz musician in the artists’ 

voices. 

The NEA’s support of jazz 

in general has continued 

to grow over the years. In 

the decade between 2005 

and 2015, the NEA awarded 

more than $31 million in 

jazz-related grants and 

additional support to the 

field. 

Each passing year brings 

increased international 

recognition of the NEA 

Jazz Masters awards as the 

nation’s highest honor for 

outstanding musicianship 

in the field of jazz. The 

recipients of the NEA 

Jazz Masters award cover 

all aspects of the music: 

from boogie-woogie (Cleo 

Brown) to swing (Count 

Basie, Andy Kirk, Jay 

McShann); from bebop 

(Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny 

Clarke) to Dixieland (Danny 

Barker); from free jazz 

(Ornette Coleman, Cecil 

Taylor) to cool jazz (Miles 

Davis, Gil Evans, Ahmad 

Jamal); and everywhere 

in between. What ties 

all these styles together 

is a foundation in the 

blues, a reliance on group 

interplay, and unpredictable 

improvisation. Throughout 

the years, and in all 

the different styles, 

these musicians have 

demonstrated the talent, 

creativity, and dedication 

that make them NEA Jazz 

Masters. 

The award offers a solid 

platform for raising 

worldwide awareness of 

America’s rich jazz heritage 

by not only honoring those 

who have dedicated their 

lives to the music, but 

also by leading the way 

in efforts encouraging 

the preservation and 

nourishing of jazz as an 

important musical form for 

generations to come.

Toots Thielemans plays during the 2009 NEA Jazz Masters concert. 

Photo by Tom Pich
21

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

The National 

Endowment for the 

Arts recognizes the 

importance of jazz as one 

of the great American 

art forms of the 20th and 

21st centuries. As part 

of its efforts to honor 

those distinguished 

artists whose excellence, 

impact, and significant 

contributions in jazz 

have helped keep this 

important art form 

alive, the NEA annually 

awards NEA Jazz Masters 

Fellowships, the highest 

honor that our nation 

bestows upon jazz 

musicians. Each fellowship 

award is $25,000.

The NEA Jazz Masters 

Fellowship is a lifetime 

achievement award. The 

criteria for the fellowships 

are musical excellence 

and significance of the 

nominees’ contributions 

to the art of jazz. The NEA 

honors a wide range of 

styles while making the 

awards. There is also a 

special award, the A.B. 

Spellman NEA Jazz Master 

Award for Jazz Advocacy, 

which is given to an 

individual who has made 

major contributions to the 

appreciation, knowledge, 

and advancement of jazz. 

Fellowships are awarded 

to living artists on the 

basis of nominations 

from the general public 

and the jazz community. 

Nominees must be 

citizens or permanent 

residents of the United 

States. An individual 

may submit one or more 

nominations each year. 

Nominations are made 

by submitting a onepage letter detailing 

the reasons that the 

nominated artist should 

receive an NEA Jazz 

Masters Fellowship and 

a resume or biography 

(maximum two pages) 

that outlines the 

career of the nominee. 

Nominations submitted to 

the NEA by the deadline 

are reviewed by an 

advisory panel of jazz 

experts and at least one 

knowledgeable layperson. 

Panel recommendations 

are forwarded to the 

National Council on the 

Arts, which then makes 

recommendations to the 

chairman of the National 

Endowment for the Arts. 

Nominations remain 

active for five years, being 

reconsidered annually 

during this period.

Posthumous nominations 

will not be considered. 

Individuals who have 

previously received 

an NEA lifetime honor 

award (National Heritage 

Fellowship, Jazz Masters 

Fellowship, or an Opera 

Honor) are not eligible.

Information on the NEA 

Jazz Masters award is 

available on the NEA 

website: arts.gov. 

NOMINATION OVERVIEW

NEA Jazz Masters Kenny 

Barron and Jimmy Owens play 

Frank Wess’ “Placitude” during 

the 2014 concert. Photo by 

Michael G. Stewart
22

National Endowment for the Arts

PREVIOUS EVENTS 

Hank Jones, Barry Harris, Billy Taylor (2004)

Photo by Tom Pich

Louis Bellson, Chico Hamilton (2005) 

Photo by Vance Jacobs 

Quincy Jones, Joe Wilder (2008) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Abbey Lincoln, Wynton Marsalis (2009) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Randy Weston, Sheila Jordan (2012) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Eddie Palmieri, Mose Allison (2013) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart
23

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Here are a few candid moments from NEA Jazz Masters events, 2004-2015...

Annie Ross, George Avakian (2010) 

Photo by Tom Pich

George Wein, 

Toshiko Akiyoshi 

(2011) 

Photo by 

Frank Stewart

David Liebman, Anthony Braxton (2014)

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Cobb (2015) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Chick Corea, Roy Haynes, Ron Carter (2006) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Nancy Wilson, John Levy, Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey 

Lewis (2007)

Photo by Tom Pich
24

National Endowment for the Arts

... and some performances.

George Benson (2009) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Lou Donaldson (2013) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Richard Davis (2014) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Dave Brubeck (2004) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Gerald Wilson (2005) 

Photo by Vance Jacobs

Frank Wess 

(2008) 

Photo by 

Tom Pich

Jack DeJohnette, Sheila Jordan, Ron 

Carter, Jimmy Owens (2012) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart
25

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

Nancy Wilson (2007) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Charles Lloyd (2015) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Barry Harris (2006) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Adam Rudolph and Yusef Lateef (2010) 

Photo by Tom Pich

The Marsalis Family (2011) 

Photo by Frank Stewart
26 National Endowment for the Arts

1982

Roy Eldridge*

Dizzy Gillespie*

Sun Ra*

1983

Count Basie*

Kenny Clarke*

Sonny Rollins

1984

Ornette Coleman*

Miles Davis*

Max Roach*

1985

Gil Evans*

Ella Fitzgerald*

Jo Jones*

1986

Benny Carter*

Dexter Gordon*

Teddy Wilson*

1987

Cleo Brown*

Melba Liston*

Jay McShann*

1988

Art Blakey*

Lionel Hampton*

Billy Taylor*

1989

Barry Harris

Hank Jones*

Sarah Vaughan*

1990

George Russell*

Cecil Taylor

Gerald Wilson*

1991

Danny Barker*

Buck Clayton*

Andy Kirk*

Clark Terry*

1992

Betty Carter*

Dorothy Donegan*

Sweets Edison*

1993

Jon Hendricks

Milt Hinton*

Joe Williams*

1994

Louie Bellson*

Ahmad Jamal

Carmen McRae*

1995

Ray Brown*

Roy Haynes

Horace Silver*

1996

Tommy Flanagan*

Benny Golson

J.J. Johnson*

1997

Billy Higgins*

Milt Jackson*

Anita O’Day*

1998

Ron Carter

James Moody*

Wayne Shorter

1999

Dave Brubeck*

Art Farmer*

Joe Henderson*

2000

David Baker

Donald Byrd*

Marian McPartland*

2001

John Lewis*

Jackie McLean*

Randy Weston

2002

Frank Foster*

Percy Heath*

McCoy Tyner

2003

Jimmy Heath

Elvin Jones*

Abbey Lincoln*

2004

Jim Hall*

Chico Hamilton*

Herbie Hancock

Luther Henderson*

Nat Hentoff

Nancy Wilson

2005

Kenny Burrell

Paquito D’Rivera

Slide Hampton

Shirley Horn*

Jimmy Smith*

Artie Shaw*

George Wein

2006

Ray Barretto*

Tony Bennett

Bob Brookmeyer*

Chick Corea

Buddy DeFranco*

Freddie Hubbard*

John Levy*

2007

Toshiko Akiyoshi

Curtis Fuller

Ramsey Lewis

Dan Morgenstern

Jimmy Scott*

Frank Wess*

Phil Woods*

2008

Candido Camero

Andrew Hill*

Quincy Jones

Tom McIntosh

Gunther Schuller*

Joe Wilder*

2009

George Benson

Jimmy Cobb

Lee Konitz

Toots Thielemans

Rudy Van Gelder

Snooky Young*

NEA JAZZ MASTERS, 1982-2016

* deceased
27

2016 NEA Jazz Masters

2010

Muhal Richard Abrams

George Avakian

Kenny Barron

Bill Holman

Bobby Hutcherson

Yusef Lateef*

Annie Ross

Cedar Walton*

2011

Orrin Keepnews*

Hubert Laws

David Liebman

Johnny Mandel

The Marsalis Family

2012

Jack DeJohnette

Von Freeman*

Charlie Haden*

Sheila Jordan

Jimmy Owens

2013

Mose Allison

Lou Donaldson

Lorraine Gordon

Eddie Palmieri

2014

Jamey Aebersold

Anthony Braxton

Richard Davis

Keith Jarrett

2015

Carla Bley

George Coleman

Charles Lloyd

Joe Segal

2016

Gary Burton

Wendy Oxenhorn

Pharoah Sanders

Archie Shepp

Ornette Coleman at 2007 NEA Jazz Masters event. Photo by Katja von Schuttenbach
28 National Endowment for the Arts

CREDITS

This publication is published by:

National Endowment for the Arts

Office of Public Affairs

Don Ball, Editor

Designed by Kelli Rogowski

Thanks to Elizabeth Auclair, Ann Meier Baker, and Katja von Schuttenbach for 

editorial assistance.

The 2016 NEA Jazz Masters tribute concert is produced in collaboration 

with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. 

The Kennedy Center is the nation’s busiest performing arts center, hosting 

approximately 3,000 events each year for audiences numbering more than two 

million. For more information, go to kennedy-center.org.

April 2016

Voice/TYY: (202) 682-5496

For individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Individuals who do not use conventional print may contact the Arts 

Endowment’s Office for Accessability to obtain this publication in an alternate 

format. Telephone: (202) 682-5532

National Endowment for the Arts

400 7th Street, SW

Washington, DC 20506-0001

(202) 682-5400

Additional copies of this publication can be obtained for free by contacting the 

NEA website: arts.gov. 
Candido Camero, Joe Wilder, and Paquito D’Rivera jam for the finale 

of the 2008 NEA Jazz Masters concert. Photo by Tom Pich

Carla Bley NEED CAPTION