I 2013

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2013

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
2013

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Front row (l to r): Jimmy Scott, Candido Camero, Frank Wess, George Wein, Chico Hamilton, Curtis Fuller.

Middle row (l to r): Phil Woods, Yusef Lateef, Lee Konitz, Ahmad Jamal, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, Sheila Jordan. 

Back row (l to r): Jimmy Owens, Jack DeJohnette, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ramsey Lewis, Randy Weston, Jimmy Cobb.

NEA JAZZ MASTERS GROUP PHOTO AT JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER, JANUARY 2012
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

2013

FELLOWS
NEA Jazz Masters greet each other for the group photo shoot before the 2012 awards ceremony: back 

row, l to r: Sheila Jordan, Gunther Schuller, Annie Ross, and David Baker; front row, l to r: Curtis Fuller, 

Gerald Wilson, Roy Haynes, Jon Hendricks. Photo by Michael G. Stewart
CONTENTS

Introduction........................................................1

A Brief History of the Program.............................3

Program Overview...............................................5

2013 NEA Jazz Masters......................................7

Mose Allison..................................................................8

Lou Donaldson.............................................................9

Lorraine Gordon.....................................................10

Eddie Palmieri.............................................................11

NEA Jazz Masters, 1982–2013.........................12

NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony.................14

1 2013

NEA

Welcome to the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters 

Awards Ceremony and Concert, a collaboration 

spanning five years between the National 

Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Jazz at 

Lincoln Center (JALC) under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. The 

NEA Jazz Masters program is the nation’s highest recognition of jazz 

in America. Each of tonight’s recipients has helped to foster and 

celebrate this art form that symbolizes democracy. 

The four individuals to be honored tonight with NEA Jazz Masters 

awards are pianist, vocalist, and composer Mose Allison; saxophonist 

Lou Donaldson; pianist, bandleader, and arranger Eddie Palmieri; 

and recipient of the 2013 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award 

for Jazz Advocacy, Lorraine Gordon. Our four honorees will join a 

distinguished roster of 128 leaders in jazz spanning the 31 years 

since the inception of these awards. 

Among the stellar roster of jazz greats who will help to celebrate the 

incoming class of NEA Jazz Masters are previously named recipients 

of these awards who have all achieved exceptional recognition for 

their unique role in perpetuating the music. They will offer tributes to 

tonight’s honorees.

Earlier today, a special luncheon for the NEA Jazz Masters was 

hosted by BMI in honor of the 2013 class. We are appreciative of 

their sponsorship over the past five years.

Tonight’s awards ceremony and concert will be webcast live by JALC

(jalc.org) and the NEA (arts.gov), and will be archived for later viewing. 

A live audio broadcast will be carried through Sirius XM Satellite 

Radio’s Real Jazz Channel XM67, WBGO radio on 88.3FM and online 

(wbgo.org), and at NPR Music (npr.org/music). In addition to the 

live audience here in Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, viewing parties are taking 

place in communities throughout the country in celebration of the NEA 

Jazz Masters. 

To learn more about jazz in America, we invite you to check the 

respective websites of Jazz at Lincoln Center and the National 

Endowment for the Arts. 

Keep the music alive!

Wayne S. Brown 

Director of Music and Opera 

National Endowment for the Arts

NEA Music & Opera Director Wayne 

Brown at the luncheon celebration for 

the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters in New 

York City. PHOTO BY MICHAEL G. STEWART
A Brief 

NEA Jazz Masters Bobby 

Hutcherson and Kenny 

Barron duet during the 

2012 awards ceremony 

and concert at Jazz at 

Lincoln Center. 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

2 2013

NEA
3 2013

NEA

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 

techniques, 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 was still 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 jazz 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 to a new artistic 

level, and, if this high quality were to 

be maintained, it would need some 

assistance. 

NEA assistance to the jazz field 

began in 1969, with its first grant in 

jazz awarded to pianist/composer 

George Russell (who would later go on 

to receive an NEA Jazz Master award 

in 1990), allowing him to work on his 

groundbreaking book, Lydian Chromatic 

Concept of Tonal Organization, the 

first major academic work in jazz. Jazz 

funding went from $20,000 in 1970 to 

$1.5 million in 1980 to approximately 

$3 million in 2010, supporting a wide 

range of activities, including 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-in-schools 

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 

contribution 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. 

 History of the Program
4 2013

NEA

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—now the NEA Jazz Masters 

Fellowships—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. 

That such recognition was long 

overdue is exemplified by Thelonious 

Sphere Monk, one of the great 

American composers and musicians. 

Monk was nominated for an NEA Jazz 

Master Fellowship in the first year of 

the program, but unfortunately passed 

away before the announcement was 

made (the fellowship is not awarded 

posthumously). The three who were 

chosen certainly lived up to the criteria 

of artistic excellence and significance 

to the art form: Roy Eldridge, Dizzy 

Gillespie, and Sun Ra. The panel in that 

first year included stellar jazz musicians 

themselves, including some future NEA 

Jazz Masters: trumpeter Donald Byrd 

and saxophonists Frank Foster, Chico 

Freeman, Jackie McLean, and Archie 

Shepp. In addition, legendary Riverside 

record company co-owner and producer 

Orrin Keepnews (now 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.

In 2005, the NEA Jazz Masters 

initiative greatly expanded to include 

several new programs in addition to the 

fellowships. A two-CD 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. This 

led to a new program, NEA Jazz Masters 

Live––administered by regional arts 

organization Arts Midwest––which brings 

these jazz legends to selected events 

for performances, master classes, and 

lectures. A new arts education component 

was created in partnership with Jazz at 

Lincoln Center and with support from 

the Verizon Foundation, NEA Jazz in the 

Schools. This educational resource for 

high school teachers of social studies, 

U.S. history, and music includes a 

five-unit, web-based curriculum and 

DVD toolkit that explores jazz as an 

indigenous American art form and as 

a means to understand U.S. history 

(more information can be found at 

www.neajazzintheschools.org). New 

broadcasting programming was created, 

such as Jazz Moments radio shorts. 

(Jazz Moments can be downloaded for 

free at the NEA site at iTunes U.) 

The NEA has also supported the 

Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program 

(go to www.smithsonianjazz.org and 

click on “Oral Histories”) to document the 

lives and careers of NEA Jazz Masters. In 

addition to transcriptions of the hourslong interviews, the website also includes 

audio clips that provide in the artists’ 

voices their unique view of everything from 

their early years to their first introduction 

to music to the working life of a jazz 

musician. 

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 boogiewoogie (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. 
5 2013

NEA

T

he National Endowment 

for the Arts recognizes the 

importance of jazz as one 

of the great American art 

forms of the 20th century. As part of 

its efforts to honor those distinguished 

artists whose excellence, impact, and 

significant contributions in jazz have 

helped keep this important tradition 

and art form alive, the Arts Endowment 

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 Arts Endowment 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. The recipients must be 

citizens or permanent residents of the 

United States. An individual may submit 

only one nomination each year, and 

nominations are made by submitting 

a one-page letter detailing the reasons 

that the nominated artist should receive 

an NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship. 

Nominations submitted to the Arts 

Endowment 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 reviewed annually 

during this period.

Information on the NEA Jazz Masters 

award is available on the NEA website: 

arts.gov.

Program Overview

NEA Jazz Masters Benny Golson and Frank Wess during a performance at the 2012 

awards ceremony and concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center. PHOTO BY MICHAEL G. STEWART
6 2013

NEA

Freddie Hubbard listens to Cedar Walton play 

during a 1960 gig at the Village Vanguard, owned 

by 2013 NEA Jazz Master Lorraine Gordon. 

PHOTO BY FRANCIS WOLFF © MOSAIC IMAGES
MOSE ALLISON

LOU DONALDSON

LORRAINE GORDON

EDDIE PALMIERI

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.

2013

FELLOWS

7 2013

NEA
8 2013

NEA

MOSE 

ALLISON

Born November 11, 1927 in Tippo, MS 

Mose Allison is not just 

a superior talent as an 

instrumentalist and singer, 

but also as a songwriter. His songs have 

been covered by jazz artists as well as 

by rock musicians such as the Who, the 

Clash, Leon Russell, Bonnie Raitt, and 

Van Morrison. Adept in both the blues 

and jazz, he defies categorization and 

has been a major influence on musicians 

regardless of genre for more than 50 

years. 

Allison was born on November 11, 

1927, on his grandfather’s farm near the 

village of Tippo in the Mississippi Delta. 

He started playing piano at the age of 

five, learned trumpet in school, and at 

a young age began composing his own 

songs. His first musical influences were 

country blues artists whom he heard on 

the jukebox at the Tippo service station. 

Other influences include Louis Armstrong, 

Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, 

and Nat “King” Cole. 

In 1946 he joined the United 

States Army and became a member of 

the 179th Army Ground Forces Band, 

playing both piano and trumpet. After 

leaving the service, Allison earned his 

BA degree in English and 

philosophy at Louisiana State 

University in 1952, at the same 

time playing gigs in the area. 

Allison discovered Bartok and 

other contemporary classical 

composers and began to 

concentrate more on his piano 

playing. 

In 1956, Allison relocated 

to New York where saxophonist 

Al Cohn became an important 

mentor. He recorded an 

album with Cohn and Bob 

Brookmeyer, and several with 

Cohn and saxophonist Zoot 

Sims. His association with 

drummer Frank Isola, whom 

he met at the Jazz Loft on 34th 

Street in Manhattan, led to 

touring and recording with Stan 

Getz. In 1957, Allison landed his 

own record contract with Prestige 

Records, recording the critically 

acclaimed Back Country Suite, a 

collection of pieces evoking the 

Mississippi Delta. 

Often working in a trio format, Allison 

became a proficient songwriter, fusing 

blues and jazz music with witty and 

profound lyrics. His approach to a lyric 

has influenced such noted songwriters as 

Tom Waits, Pete Townsend, Ray Davies, 

and Elvis Costello. Likewise, Allison’s 

vocal delivery is always smooth with hints 

of the Cole influence, while his piano 

swings strongly yet still is rooted in the 

Delta blues.

In 1994, Rhino Records released a 

box set retrospective of Allison’s work, 

Allison Wonderland, covering the high 

points of his career from 1957 to 1989. 

His biography, One Man’s Blues: The Life 

and Music of Mose Allison, was written 

by Patti Jones and published in 1995. 

In 2006, the BBC produced a one-hour 

documentary, Mose Allison: Ever Since I 

Stole the Blues. Allison continues to write 

and perform worldwide, and in 2010 

released his first new studio recording in 

12 years, The Way of the World, produced 

by musician and songwriter Joe Henry. 

Pianist Vocalist Composer

SELECTED

DISCOGRAPHY

Back Country Suite 

PRESTIGE/OJC, 1957

I Don’t Worry About 

a Thing

ATLANTIC/RHINO, 1962

Your Mind Is on Vacation

KOCH RECORDS, 1976

Gimcracks and Gewgaws

BLUE NOTE, 1997

The Way of the World 

ANTI, 2009

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOSE ALLISON ARCHIVES
9 2013

NEA

Born November 1, 1926 in Badin, NC 

When it comes to a jazzy 

soulful groove, it doesn’t 

get much groovier than 

Lou Donaldson. His distinctive bluesdrenched alto has been a bopping force 

in jazz for more than six decades. His 

early work with trumpeter Clifford Brown 

is considered one of the first forays into 

hard bop, and his first recordings with 

organist Jimmy Smith led to the groovefilled jazz of the 1960s and ‘70s. 

Donaldson began playing the 

clarinet at age nine, and by 15 was 

enrolled in North Carolina A&T College 

in Greensboro, where he would later 

receive a BS degree. He was drafted 

into the United States Navy in 1945 and 

became a member of the Great Lakes 

Navy Band—which gave Donaldson the 

opportunity to play with older musicians 

such as Clark Terry, Ernie Wilkins, and 

Luther Henderson—playing both clarinet 

and alto saxophone. Following his time in 

the Navy, Donaldson eventually moved to 

New York City in 1950 on the advice of 

Illinois Jacquet. He attended the Darrow 

Institute of Music on the GI Bill but 

played at the clubs in Harlem at night. 

Charlie Parker was initially an influence 

on Donaldson’s sound, as he was on just 

about every saxophonist who followed 

him, but the younger musician eventually 

developed his own style. 

Alfred Lion, co-founder of Blue Note 

Records, heard Donaldson playing at 

Minton’s Playhouse and invited him to 

record for his label. First as a sideman 

with the Milt Jackson Quartet (later the 

Modern Jazz Quartet), Donaldson was 

instrumental in bringing Clifford Brown 

and Horace Silver to Blue Note, and 

made the recording with Art Blakey, A 

LOU

DONALDSON Saxophonist

Night at Birdland,

considered one of the 

first in the hard bop 

genre. Donaldson was 

also instrumental in 

getting many legendary 

musicians their debut 

sessions with Blue 

Note, including Grant 

Green, Blue Mitchell, 

John Patton, Ray 

Barretto, Curtis 

Fuller, and Donald 

Byrd. 

During the 1950s, 

Donaldson spent 

much of his time as 

a bandleader touring 

with a band that 

featured organist John 

Patton. Donaldson 

began using the organsaxophone format exclusively, which 

led to his recording on Jimmy Smith’s 

seminal recording of the late 1950s, The 

Sermon. He has gone on to employ a 

variety of other great organists through 

the years, including Lonnie Smith (along 

with George Benson on Donaldson’s 

acclaimed recording Alligator Boogaloo), 

Jack McDuff, Charles Earland, Leon 

Spencer, Pat Bianchi, and Akiko Tsuruga. 

The organ-sax groove sound—which 

Donaldson called “swinging bebop”—

helped, for a time, make jazz as popular 

as it had been during the swing era.

Donaldson is the recipient of an 

honorary doctorate of letters from his 

alma mater—now called the North 

Carolina Agricultural & Technical State 

University—that also awards an annual 

scholarship in his name to the school’s 

SELECTED

DISCOGRAPHY

Art Blakey, A Night 

at Birdland, Vol. 1

BLUE NOTE, 1954

Blues Walk

BLUE NOTE, 1958

Alligator Boogaloo

BLUE NOTE, 1967

Live in Bologna

TIMELESS, 1984

Relaxing at Sea

CHIAROSCURO, 1999

PHOTO BY MICHAEL WILDERMAN

most gifted jazz musician. He was also 

inducted into the International Jazz Hall of 

Fame in 1996, among other honors.
2013

NEA

10

What jazz musician hasn’t

played at the Village 

Vanguard in New York 

City? They are few and far between, 

as the legendary jazz club has hosted 

everyone from Mary Lou Williams to Jason 

Moran. A jazz haven for more than 55 

years, the Vanguard is still going strong 

under the ownership of Lorraine Gordon, 

maintaining its place in history as what 

Nat Hentoff once referred to as “the 

closest we have to the Camelot of jazz 

rooms.”

While the Vanguard is now the 

longest-running jazz club in New York City, 

having opened its doors in 1935, it didn’t 

set out to become a jazz mecca. Max 

Gordon opened the establishment as a 

music club—a basement room, triangle 

in shape, seating 123 people—usually 

featuring folk and poetry readings, but 

from 1957 on the Village Vanguard 

predominately featured jazz. 

Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, 

Lorraine Gordon née Stein became a 

jazz fan in her teenage years. Her first 

husband was Alfred Lion, co-founder 

of the Blue Note record label. Together, 

they worked tirelessly throughout the 

1940s to record legendary jazz artists 

such as clarinetist Sidney Bechet as well 

as promising new talent including pianist 

Thelonious Monk (for whom she was able 

to get an engagement at the Vanguard in 

1948, before her romantic relationship 

with Max Gordon). The Lions had divorced 

by the end of the decade. 

Lorraine then married Max Gordon 

and they had two daughters (one of 

whom, Deborah, now helps run the 

Vanguard). Lorraine was a regular at 

her husband’s establishment, listening 

to the music as the club’s reputation 

increased among jazz musicians. In 

1957, Sonny Rollins—in what was one 

of the first recording sessions at the 

club—documented two different trios he 

was working with on the fiery, three-album 

set A Night at the Village Vanguard, 

considered one of his finest records. 

Soon after, the Vanguard became the

place to record a live jazz album, with its 

exceptional acoustics and intimate space. 

During the 1960s, Gordon became 

a political activist, rallying against nuclear 

testing and the Vietnam War. In the 

1980s, she worked for the Brooklyn 

Museum but tragedy struck in 1989 

when her husband Max passed away. 

She closed the club for one day, then 

reopened it the next and took over 

ownership and management of their 

beloved Vanguard, one of the best-known 

jazz clubs in the world.

In her 2006 memoir, Alive at the 

Village Vanguard: My Life In and Out of 

Jazz Time, Gordon noted, “What I’m saying 

is, I didn’t arrive at the Village Vanguard 

from out of the blue. I stuck to what I 

loved. That was my art. I’m not a musician; 

I’m not a singer; I’m not a painter; I’m not 

an actress. I’m none of those things. But 

throughout my life I followed the course of 

the music that I loved.” 

LORRAINE 

GORDON

A.B. SPELLMAN NEA JAZZ MASTERS AWARD FOR JAZZ ADVOCACY

Born October 15, 1922 in Newark, NJ 

Jazz Club Owner

SELECTED

DISCOGRAPHY

John Coltrane, Live at 

the Village Vanguard

IMPULSE!, 1961

Betty Carter, At the 

Village Vanguard

VERVE, 1970

Bobby Hutcherson, In 

the Vanguard

32 JAZZ, 1986

Wynton Marsalis, Live at 

the Village Vanguard

COLUMBIA, 1990-94

Fred Hersch, Alive at 

the Vanguard

PALMETTO, 2012

PHOTO BY ERIC OGDEN
11 2013

NEA

Known as one of the finest Latin 

jazz pianists of the past 50 

years, Eddie Palmieri is also 

known as a bandleader of both salsa 

and Latin jazz orchestras. His playing 

skillfully fuses the rhythm of his Puerto 

Rican heritage with the melody and 

complexity of his jazz influences: his older 

brother Charlie, Thelonious Monk, Herbie 

Hancock, and McCoy Tyner. 

Palmieri’s parents emigrated from 

Ponce, Puerto Rico, to New York City 

in 1926, and he grew up in Spanish 

Harlem, which was also known as “El 

Barrio” due to its large Latino community. 

Palmieri learned to play the piano at an 

early age, and at 13, he joined his uncle’s 

orchestra, playing timbales. 

Palmieri’s professional career as a 

pianist took off in the early 1950s when 

he played with various bands: Eddie 

Forrester’s Orchestra, Johnny Segui’s 

band, and the popular Tito Rodriguez 

Orchestra. In 1961, Palmieri formed his 

own band, La Perfecta, which featured an 

EDDIE

PALMIERI

Born December 15, 1936 in New York, NY 

Pianist Bandleader Arranger Composer

unconventional front line of trombones 

rather than the trumpets customary 

in Latin orchestras. This created an 

innovative sound that mixed American 

jazz into the Latin performances, 

surprising critics and fans alike. Palmieri 

disbanded La Perfecta in 1968 due to 

financial difficulties, though he would 

return to the band’s music in the 2000s. 

Palmieri perfected his arranging 

skills in the 1970s, releasing several 

impressive recordings that reflected his 

unorthodox approach to music, such 

as the groundbreaking 1970 release 

Harlem River Drive, which merged musical 

categories into a free-form sound that 

encompassed elements of salsa, funk, 

soul, and jazz. In 1975, Palmieri won 

the first-ever Grammy Award for Best 

Latin Recording for his album The Sun of 

Latin Music (he has won nine Grammys 

altogether to date, including two for his 

influential recording with Tito Puente, Obra 

Maestra/Masterpiece). 

In 1988, the Smithsonian Institution’s 

National Museum of American History 

in Washington, DC, recorded two of 

Palmieri’s performances for its archives. 

Because of Palmieri’s proclivity for 

creating and performing in funk Latin 

style, Little Louie Vega invited him to 

record on Nuyorican Soul (1997), a 

release that became very popular in the 

house and underground music scenes.

In addition to the Grammy Awards, 

Palmieri has received numerous other 

honors, including the Eubie Blake 

Award (1991); Yale University’s Chubb 

Fellowship for Palmieri’s work building 

communities through music (2002); the 

Harlem Renaissance Award (2005); and 

the Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement 

Award (2008). A year later, the Library of 

Congress added Palmieri’s composition 

“Azucar Pa’ Ti” to the National Recording 

Registry. 

In 2012, Palmieri showed no signs 

of slowing down, creating his first original 

score for the documentary Doin’ It in 

the Park, which explores the cultural 

influence of playground basketball on 

sports and music. 

SELECTED

DISCOGRAPHY

And his Conjunto La Perfecta

ALEGRE, 1962

Eddie Pamieri and Cal Tjader,

Bamboleate

FANIA, 1967

The Sun of Latin Music

VARESE, 1973

La Perfecta II

CONCORD RECORDS, 2002

Listen Here!

CONCORD RECORDS, 2005

PHOTO BY JAN PERSSON/CTSIMAGES
12

NEA Jazz Masters Hubert Laws and Ron Carter 

performing during the 2012 NEA Jazz Masters awards 

ceremony and concert. 

PHOTO BY MICHAEL G. STEWART

2013

NEA
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*

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

1982-2013

* Deceased

NEA

2013

NEA

13
2013

NEA

14

Nancy Wilson, 

John Levy, 

Ahmad Jamal, 

Ramsey Lewis

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Frank Foster, 

Dan Morgenstern

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Hank Jones, 

Barry Harris, 

Billy Taylor 

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Awards 

Ceremony

NEA Jazz Masters events include a luncheon for all 

attending NEA Jazz Masters (sponsored by BMI), a group 

photo, portraits of the new class of honorees, and a 

special concert and awards ceremony. Here are a few 

candid moments from the last few years.

NEA

Chico Hamilton

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

George Wein,

Louis Bellson

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Annie Ross, 

George Avakian

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Benny Golson,

Jimmy Heath,

Percy Heath 

PHOTO BY TOM PICH
2013

NEA

David Baker, 

Freddie Hubbard, 

James Moody 

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Chick Corea,

Roy Haynes,

Ron Carter

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Jimmy Smith, 

Kenny Burrell, 

Slide Hampton, 

Paquito D’Rivera

PHOTO BY VANCE JACOBS 

Frank Wess, 

Gerald Wilson, 

Jon Hendricks 

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Quincy Jones, 

Tom McIntosh

PHOTO BY TOM PICH

Ornette Coleman

PHOTO BY KATJA VON SCHUTTENBACH

Randy Weston, 

Sheila Jordan

PHOTO BY 

MICHAEL G. STEWART 
16 2013

NEA

CREDITS

This publication is published by:

National Endowment for the Arts

Office of Public Affairs

Jamie Bennett, Director

Don Ball, Editor

Thanks to Liz Auclair, Rebecca Gross, and 

Katja von Schuttenbach for editorial assistance.

Thanks to Michael Cuscuna at Mosaic Records 

for the use of the Village Vanguard photos by 

Francis Wolff.

Designed by:

Fletcher Design, Inc./Washington, DC

January 2013

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

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20506-0001

(202) 682-5400

Additional copies of this publication can be obtained 

for free by contacting the NEA website: arts.gov. 

This publication was printed on recycled paper.

COVER PHOTO: NEA Jazz Master 

Sonny Rollins at his landmark 1957 

performance at the Village Vanguard, 

owned by 2013 NEA Jazz Master 

Lorraine Gordon, resulting in his 

acclaimed recording A Night at the 

Village Vanguard. 

PHOTO BY FRANCIS WOLFF © MOSAIC IMAGES
III 2013

NEA

Front row (l to r): Gerald Wilson, Roy Haynes, Jon Hendricks, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Joe Wilder, George Avakian. 

Middle row (l to r): Gunther Schuller, Annie Ross, David Baker, David Liebman, Bobby Hutcherson, Ornette Coleman. 

Back row (l to r): Dan Morgenstern, Paquito D’Rivera, Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Delfeayo Marsalis, Kenny Barron.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL G. STEWART

NEA JAZZ MASTERS GROUP PHOTO AT JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER, JANUARY 2012
2013

NEA

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS 

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20506-0001

202.682.5400