NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017
Candido Camero, Joe Wilder, and Paquito D’Rivera jam for the finale of the 

2008 NEA Jazz Masters concert. Photo by Tom Pich
2017 FELLOWS

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

IRA GITLER

DAVE HOLLAND

DICK HYMAN

DR. LONNIE SMITH

When the NEA Jazz Masters awards began in 1982, it was to 

ensure that the purveyors of this important, uniquely American 

art form were appropriately recognized for their contributions 

and achievements. There was a worry at first, as there was with 

its sister award program also started in 1982, the NEA National 

Heritage Fellowships, that they might run out of artists who 

lived up to the high standard of excellence in the art form. It 

was an unnecessary concern, as over the past 35 years, the 145 

awards have been made to stellar musicians and advocates 

who have lived up to that high standard—and the list continues 

to grow of those deserving the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, 

the nation’s highest recognition of jazz.

The 2017 class demonstrates the diversity of exceptional talent 

in the jazz field. Dick Hyman is a masterful improviser and 

arranger who has continued to celebrate the early jazz piano 

heroes like Jelly Roll Morton and Fats Waller. Ira Gitler, through 

his position as an editor at Downbeat and his books, was one of 

the foremost advocates for that innovative style of jazz known 

as bebop. Dr. Lonnie Smith brought a funky soul rhythm to the 

music with his masterly command of the Hammond B-3 organ. 

Dave Holland, starting with a stint with the legendary Miles 

Davis, has performed effortlessly from traditional jazz to avantgarde, leading numerous bands in exemplary improvisation. 

And Dee Dee Bridgewater who, from the traditional music of 

Mali to the singers who influenced her style, demonstrates the 

great range of her singing talent.

We are also celebrating the centennials of two significant NEA 

Jazz Masters: Ella Fitzgerald, the first woman to receive the 

award back in 1985, and bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie from 

the first class in 1982. We are proud to be recognizing the 

influences of both artists during the concert.

For a second year in a row we are holding this prestigious event 

in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. I would like to thank our 

partner, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, for 

again 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 2017 NEA Jazz Masters for 

their work in the jazz field and their contribution to the nation’s 

cultural heritage. 

Jane Chu

Chairman 

National Endowment for the Arts

NEA Chairman Jane Chu introduces 

the 2016 NEA Jazz Masters concert at 

the John F. Kennedy Center for the 

Performing Arts in Washington, DC. 

Photo by Shannon Finney
Jason Moran, David Murray, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Linda Oh, and Ambrose Akinmusire (along with Roswell Rudd, Karriem

Riggins, and Pedrito Martinez not shown) pay tribute to 2016 NEA Jazz Master Archie Shepp at the concert at the 

Kennedy Center. Photo by Shannon Finney
2017 NEA Jazz Masters .....................7

Dee Dee Bridgewater .................8

Ira Gitler ..................................10

Dave Holland ...........................12

Dick Hyman .............................14

Dr. Lonnie Smith ......................16

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

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

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

NEA Jazz Masters, 1982-2017 .........26

CONTENTS

NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 7

2017 FELLOWS

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

IRA GITLER

DAVE HOLLAND

DICK HYMAN

DR. LONNIE SMITH

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.
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 8 2017

DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER

Dee Dee Bridgewater is a daring 

performer of great depth whose 

singing talents have earned her 

three Grammy Awards as well 

as a Tony Award. In addition, her 

commanding personality made her 

a natural for hosting the awardwinning National Public Radio 

syndicated radio show JazzSet 

with Dee Dee Bridgewater from 

2001 to 2014.

Bridgewater was born Denise 

Eileen Garrett in Memphis, 

Tennessee, and raised in Flint, 

Michigan, in a music-filled home. 

Her mother introduced her to Ella 

Fitzgerald’s music, which became 

an inspiration to Bridgewater 

throughout her career, and her 

father was a jazz trumpeter who 

taught music at Memphis’ famed 

Manassas High School. While 

attending the University of Illinois, 

she joined the University of 

Illinois jazz band for a U.S. State 

Department tour of the Soviet 

Union in 1969. In 1970, she wed 

her first husband, trumpeter Cecil 

Bridgewater. They moved to New 

York City where she found her first 

professional gig with the Thad 

Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra 

as lead vocalist. Bridgewater’s 

career then took off and she soon 

performed and recorded with 

some of the giants of the music: 

Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, 

Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, and 

Clark Terry. In 1974, she recorded 

her first album as a leader, Afro 

Blue.

Bridgewater was also drawn to 

musical theater. Her portrayal 

of Glinda the Good Witch in 

the Broadway musical The Wiz

garnered her a Tony Award in 

1975. When the international 

touring company of Sophisticated 

Ladies (in which she was the 

female lead performer) ended in 

Paris, France, Bridgewater decided 

to stay. During her time in Paris 

from 1986 to 2007, she starred in 

Stephen Stahl’s musical Lady Day

in Paris and London (for which 

she earned a Lawrence Olivier 

Award nomination), and continued 

to perform in musicals such as 

Black Ballad (with Archie Shepp) 

and Cabaret (being the first black 

actress to star as Sally Bowles) 

while concurrently performing and 

recording her jazz material.

The vocalist has created a diverse 

collection of recordings, including 

tribute albums to Horace Silver, 

Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and 

Kurt Weill; an album of French love 

songs, J’ai Deux Amours, spurred 

by a Kennedy Center Valentine’s 

Day concert; and an album born 

out of Bridgewater’s search 

for her African ancestry, Red 

Earth, recorded in Bamako, Mali, 

and featuring Malian, U.S., and 

European musicians. Bridgewater 

has produced all her recordings 

since 1993 and has had her own 

label, DDB Records, since 2006.

Bridgewater serves on the 

Thelonious Monk Institute of 

Jazz’s Advisory Board where she 

has judged several jazz vocals 

competitions. She also co-leads 

UNESCO (the United Nations 

Educational, Scientific and Cultural 

Organization) and U.S. Department 

of State tours to Russia, India, 

China, and France, and, since 

1999, she has been a United 

Nations Ambassador for the Food 

and Agriculture Organization. 

Bridgewater continues to tour 

nationally and internationally.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Love and Peace: A 

Tribute to Horace Silver

(Verve, 1994)

Dear Ella

(Verve, 1997)

Red Earth: A Malian 

Journey

(DDB Records/

Universal, 2006)

Eleanora Fagan: To Billie 

with Love from Dee Dee

(DDB Records/Emarcy, 

2009)

Dee Dee’s Feathers

(DDB Records/ Sony 

Masterworks, 2014)
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 9

VOCALIST, PRODUCER, BROADCASTER

Born on May 27, 1950 in Memphis, TN

FINDING ELLA EARLY 

“My mom loved jazz singers. When I was a baby, she swore that I could scat before I could speak, because she 

was a huge fan of Ella Fitzgerald. And she said by the time I was ten months, I would stand on the side of my 

crib and hold the rail and try to scat with Ella Fitzgerald.

“I was always able to scat when I decided I wanted to sing jazz. I thought that scatting was a prerequisite to 

being a jazz singer.”

THE ADVICE OF THAD JONES

“There are three things that [Thad Jones] told me that I never forgot, and it’s like my mantra, and I try to pass 

that on to young singers. First of all, he said, Don’t listen to singers; listen to instrumentalists. If you want to 

create your own style, that’s what you have to do. Number two, always enunciate so that people understand 

what you are saying. Number three, always sing your melody first—the melody and enunciation went hand-inhand for him. Otherwise, you do a disservice to the songwriter and the lyricist. People need to know what the 

song is before you go into improvising.”

COMMUNICATING WITH THE AUDIENCE

“It’s very important to create a kind of communication with your audience—the people who have taken time out 

of their day to come and sit and listen to your music. It’s our obligation to give them a good show.”

TRIP TO MALI

“It was born out of my search 

for my African ancestry. I went 

to Mali for the first time in 2004 

with a gentleman named CheickTidiane Seck. He had done an 

album with Hank Jones that was 

just stunning, a combination of 

West African with Hank Jones’ 

slant on these griot songs. 

“There were just all these 

different-looking black people 

that I was seeing. I was in 

heaven. I was like, doggone it, I 

want to know where I’m from—all 

I knew was that I was the product 

of the products of slaves. When 

we woke up in our hotel and 

opened the curtains, I saw all 

of this red, red earth. And I go, ‘I 

know I’m home. I know it.’”

Dee Dee Bridgewater performing at the

Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in 

Washington, DC, 2008. Photos by

Michael Wilderman

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY THE NEA...
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 10 2017

IRA GITLER

Ira Gitler is an American jazz 

historian, journalist, educator, and 

author who has written several 

books about jazz and hundreds 

of liner notes for jazz recordings. 

He has also written for many 

jazz publications, and served as 

associate editor of Downbeat

during the 1960s. In the 1980s 

and ‘90s he produced concerts 

for George Wein’s New York jazz 

festivals. Gitler also taught jazz 

history at several colleges and 

is considered one of the great 

historians and champions of the 

music.

From age seven, Gitler immersed 

himself in the music of the swing 

bands of the 1930s and early 

1940s. In the mid-1940s, Dizzy 

Gillespie and Charlie Parker’s new 

bebop innovations brought an 

epiphany. His professional writing 

career began in 1951, when he 

was asked to write Prestige 

Records’ first liner notes for a 10-

inch LP of Zoot Sims Swings the 

Blues. His duties at Prestige in the 

early 1950s included producing 

recording sessions with musicians 

such as Miles Davis, Thelonious 

Monk, and Sonny Rollins. In his 

1958 liner notes for Soultrane, he 

coined the term “sheets of sound,” 

likening John Coltrane’s emerging 

style to undulating fabric.

In 1954, Gitler began assisting 

leading jazz authority Leonard 

Feather in preparing The 

Encyclopedia of Jazz, one of the 

first great jazz reference books. 

He became co-author starting with 

the 1970s edition, and completed 

The Biographical Encyclopedia of 

Jazz in 1999 after Feather’s death 

in 1994.

Gitler’s own first book was Jazz 

Masters of the Forties (reissued 

as The Masters of Bebop in 

2001), which examined the bebop 

revolution by profiling leading 

players like Gillespie, Parker, and 

Max Roach, as well as disciples 

such as Dexter Gordon and J.J. 

Johnson. Subsidized by a 1974 

Guggenheim Fellowship, he wrote 

Swing to Bop, an oral history 

weaving ten years of interviews 

with more than 50 musicians to 

tell the story of that transition.

Throughout his career Gitler 

freelanced for U.S. and 

international jazz publications 

as well as varied magazines, 

newspapers, and websites. In 

addition to jazz, he has a passion 

for sports and has written several 

classic books about ice hockey, 

as well as coaching and playing 

on an amateur hockey team until 

age 75.

Gitler’s jazz broadcasts were heard 

on WNCN and WBAI (New York 

in the 1960s); KADX (Colorado in 

1980s); and Sirius Satellite Radio 

in the 2000s. He has received 

Lifetime Achievement Awards 

from the New Jersey Jazz Society 

(2001) and the Jazz Journalists 

Association (2002).

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jazz Masters of the 

Forties

(Macmillan, 1966)

The Encyclopedia of 

Jazz in the Seventies, 

with Leonard Feather

(Horizon Press, 1976)

Swing to Bop: An Oral 

History of the Transition 

in Jazz in the 1940s

(Oxford University 

Press, 1985)

The Biographical 

Encyclopedia of Jazz, 

with Leonard Feather

(Oxford University 

Press, 1999)

Photo by 

Frances 

McLaughlin-Gill

A.B. SPELLMAN 

NEA JAZZ MASTERS

AWARD FOR

JAZZ ADVOCACY
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 11

AUTHOR, EDITOR, PRODUCER, EDUCATOR

Born on December 18, 1928 in Brooklyn, NY

FIRST JAZZ BYLINE

“Although he had been going to 52nd Street and other venues around New York to listen to jazz for a little while, 

it wasn’t until 1946, in the springtime, that he heard Dizzy Gillespie at the Spotlight and wrote about it for his 

high school paper. And that was the first time he was printed writing about jazz.”

—Fitz Gitler

BEBOP

“It is true of criticism, always, to be able to sort out the best of the new. When you break the mold, when you get 

away from the standards of the academy and get into what is to be the next expression in art, the next form in 

art, then it takes a really discerning ear to be able to capture what is valuable in that.

“It was radical music, bebop, and it was intended to be, and Ira wrote really quite accurately about what 

bebop’s intentions were in the introduction to his book, Swing to Bop.”

—A.B. Spellman

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WRITER

“The writer who writes about music for long periods of time, who cares about the history of it, when they review 

a concert or a record or write liner notes, their job is to really figure out the things that the musician probably 

didn’t put into words yet. It’s a job generally meant for people who care about what the musicians do on the 

stage, and off the 

stage, and that they 

understand that the 

life is a part of it.

“For Ira Gitler, 

he writes these 

wonderful liner notes 

and really has these 

relationships with 

these musicians, just 

as much as he does 

with his hockey team. 

It’s this wider part of 

his life that actually 

puts everything into 

context. I’m sure while 

he’s skating around on 

the ice, he’s thinking 

about John Coltrane 

making his way 

through ‘Giant Steps.’”

—Jason Moran

EXCERPTS FROM INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY THE NEA...
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 12 2017

DAVE HOLLAND

Dave Holland is one of the most 

versatile bassists in jazz, working 

across different styles seamlessly, 

from traditional to avant-garde 

jazz to world and folk music. 

He is also an accomplished 

composer and bandleader, 

bringing together musicians of 

exceptional talent to perform his 

intricate compositions. In a career 

spanning five decades, he has 

continued to evolve musically with 

each new project while honing his 

instantly identifiable sound.

Mostly self-taught, Holland picked 

up the ukulele at the age of four, 

switched to guitar at ten, and 

then bass guitar at 13. He left 

school at age 15 to work as a 

professional musician and began 

playing acoustic bass when he 

was 17. His talent was soon 

recognized, earning him a place 

at the Guildhall School of Music 

& Drama in London, where he 

studied with James E. Merritt from 

1964 to 1968 while also becoming 

active on the British jazz scene, 

performing with musicians such 

as John McLaughlin, Evan Parker, 

and John Surman. He began 

playing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz 

Club in 1966, supporting American 

acts like Coleman Hawkins and 

Joe Henderson. It was there that 

trumpeter Miles Davis heard him 

in 1968 and was so impressed 

that he invited Holland to join 

his band. Holland relocated to 

New York and participated in 

the making of several classic 

Davis recordings, including the 

breakthrough albums In a Silent 

Way and Bitches Brew, alongside 

Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, 

and Wayne Shorter, musicians 

with whom he continues to 

collaborate.

Outside of his work with Davis, 

some of Holland’s more prominent 

collaborations were his first foray 

into avant-garde music in 1970 

with the group Circle, including 

pianist Chick Corea, saxophonist 

Anthony Braxton, and drummer 

Barry Altschul; long musical 

relationships with saxophonist 

Sam Rivers and trumpeter Kenny 

Wheeler; recording with rock and 

folk musicians, such as Bonnie 

Raitt and bluegrass legends John 

Hartford and Vassar Clements; 

and an excursion into flamenco 

with Spanish guitar legend Pepe 

Habichuela.

His compositions run the gamut 

from solo pieces to big band, all 

wrapped around the bold layered 

melodies of his exquisite bass 

playing. His bands over the years 

have featured some great talent 

in jazz, including saxophonists 

Chris Potter and Steve Coleman, 

drummer Eric Harland, keyboardist 

Craig Taborn, vibraphonist 

Steve Nelson, trombonist Robin 

Eubanks, and guitarist Kevin 

Eubanks. In 2005, he founded his 

own label, Dare2 Records, to have 

greater control over his releases.

From 1983 to 1990, Holland 

served as artistic director of the 

summer jazz workshop at the 

Banff School in Banff, Alberta, 

Canada. He holds honorary 

doctorates from the British 

Birmingham Conservatoire as 

well as the Berklee College of 

Music and the New England 

Conservatory, where he has been 

a visiting artist-in-residence since 

2005. He is also an artist-inresidence at the Royal Academy 

of Music in London, where he was 

selected as an Honorary Member. 

He is a three-time Grammy Award 

winner.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Conference of the Birds

(ECM, 1972)

Extensions

(ECM, 1989)

Prime Directive

(ECM, 1998)

Overtime

(Dare2 Records, 2002)

Prism

(Dare2 Records, 2012)
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 13

BASSIST, CELLIST, COMPOSER, BANDLEADER

Born on October 1, 1946 in Wolverhampton, England

Dave Holland performing at the

Belleayre Music Festival in

Highmount, New York, 2004. 

Photos by Michael Wilderman

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY THE NEA...

FIRST BASS

“There was skiffle music—I think it was particular to England—which is a hybrid of rock-and-roll and sort of folk 

music. [The bass] was made out of a box they used to ship tea in, a broomstick, and a piece of string. I got my 

uncle to make me one. This was my first bass.”

OPPORTUNITIES

“At that time, the opportunities in the Midlands for a working-class kid were very limited, unless you went to 

university. My music activities actually got in the way of my studies at school. Music was a kind of window to 

the world, and it offered an opportunity to reinvent your life in some ways.” 

COMPOSITION

“Sometimes you write a song just 

because it’s there—it’s just asking 

to be written. But most of the time, 

everything I’ve written almost 

exclusively has been for some kind of 

performance or some kind of group. 

It varies with different contexts, but 

I kind of follow Miles’ premise that 

less is more—that the less you put on 

paper, the more opportunity you have 

for things to happen. I’ve always seen 

the composing and the playing as a 

symbiotic relationship.”

WORKING TOGETHER

“We work as a community in this 

music, you know? Ideas are shared, 

experiences shared, and then it’s 

passed on to other generations. In this 

music, you have the representation 

of how people can work together and 

coexist and come to agreements. 

People from diverse backgrounds, 

diverse cultures, can come together 

and find common ground and create 

something beautiful and something 

meaningful and do it spontaneously, 

a way of supporting each other and 

creating music together.”
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 14 2017

DICK HYMAN

Dick Hyman is a piano virtuoso 

who—Zelig-like—has been known 

for playing in any style he wants. 

A masterful improviser, he is 

also a composer of concerti 

and chamber music, and the 

soundtrack composer/arranger for 

more than a dozen Woody Allen 

films (including, appropriately, 

Zelig). In addition, he launched the 

acclaimed Jazz in July series at 

the 92nd Street Y in New York City 

and served as its artistic director 

for 20 years.

Hyman was classically trained 

by his uncle, concert pianist 

Anton Rovinsky, and introduced 

to classic jazz recordings by his 

brother Arthur. After completing 

his freshman year at Columbia 

University, he enlisted in the 

Navy in 1945, playing with 

various groups at Great Lakes 

Naval Station. Upon returning to 

Columbia after the war, he won 

an on-air music competition for 

12 free piano lessons with jazz 

great Teddy Wilson. By 1949, he 

had worked with vibraphonist 

Red Norvo and Max Kaminsky’s 

Dixielanders, and in 1950 toured 

Europe with bandleader Benny 

Goodman.

Back in New York, Hyman 

established himself in freelance 

recording and studio work before 

settling at NBC as a pianist, 

organist, and musical director for 

five years. He retained his interest 

in early jazz piano, including in his 

performances the music of such 

luminaries as James P. Johnson, 

Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, 

and Fats Waller, as well as later 

masters such as Thelonious 

Monk and Bill Evans. Surprisingly, 

along with his musical interest 

in early jazz, Hyman was among 

the first to record on a Moog 

synthesizer. His 1969 release of 

“The Minotaur,” a hit single, clearly 

influenced other artists (in jazz 

and other genres) of that era and 

proved to be a cutting-edge jazz 

improvisation ahead of its time.

Hyman is a virtuoso on the 

keyboard instrument, and his 

ability to play in any style is best 

illuminated by his 1977 release 

Themes and Variations on “A Child 

Is Born.” On the recording, he 

duplicates the styles of 11 other 

pianists on the Thad Jones classic 

ballad, ranging from Scott Joplin 

to Cecil Taylor. No mere mimic 

though, Hyman features his own 

style in one of the variations. He 

continues to perform—often solo—

relying on the basic standards 

repertoire, such as Irving Berlin 

and Cole Porter, for lengthy 

improvisations.

His work on stage and screen 

(both TV and film) has been 

rewarding as well. As a prolific 

studio musician, he won seven 

Most Valuable Player Awards 

from the National Academy of 

Recording Arts and Sciences and 

received two Emmy Awards for 

various television work. Hyman 

was music director for radio and 

television broadcaster Arthur 

Godfrey and orchestrator of the 

hit musical Sugar Babies. He also 

served as composer, arranger, 

conductor, and pianist for many 

films, including The Purple Rose 

of Cairo, Sweet and Lowdown, and 

Moonstruck.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Moog: The Electric 

Eclectics of Dick Hyman

(Command/Varese 

Sarabande, 1969)

Scott Joplin: The 

Complete Works for 

Piano

(RCA, 1975)

The Music of Jelly Roll 

Morton

(Columbia, 1978)

Dick Hyman and Ralph 

Sutton, Dick Hyman and 

Ralph Sutton

(Concord, 1993)

House of Pianos

(Arbors Records, 2014)
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 15

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

“My big brother, Arthur, was the one who collected all of these 78-RPM records, which were tremendously 

influential on me. I’d memorize them. I still play them, and I know them all very well, the records from the 1920s 

by Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton. It got me right into this kind of music at a very 

impressionable age.”

THE JAZZ COMMUNITY

“There is a distinction between jazz people and the people who are not jazz people, who can be close friends 

and very proficient and often are more advanced than a jazz person in certain technical capacities. But the jazz 

community is something else. You all recognize that, among each other, you have certain improvisatory gifts, 

where not everybody has them. It’s a blessing to have them, and it works with this kind of music.”

COMPOSING FOR THE SCREEN

“The idea, first of all, is there a musical scene? If there’s a musical scene, we know that a character is going to 

be singing or playing or performing with an orchestra or something that has to be prepared beforehand. That 

determines a lot of the other music—what you have leading into it, leading out of it.

“The other great point of film music is, what is the viewer supposed to be feeling? You are supposed to provide 

a soundtrack for his emotions—does it require a commentary by the orchestra, or should the orchestra be 

playing music you’re largely unaware of but which is influencing your reception of the drama? These are all 

questions you work out with the director, who may have some definite ideas. You must come to share the 

ideas, or else it’s not a good relationship.”

PLAYING SOLO

“I think by now my playing has changed a bit. While I will still play, on request, any of the earlier old-time stride 

or rag pieces that people want, I’m really interested more in playing improvs, because I think that’s where I do 

my best work on 

particular songs, 

in some different 

ways. I’ve become 

more concentrated 

on my solo 

playing, and I like 

that very much.”

KEYBOARDIST, COMPOSER, ARRANGER

Born on March 8, 1927 in New York, NY

Dick Hyman performing in his studio in Venice, Florida, 2016.

Photos by Nick Michael

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY THE NEA...
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 16 2017

DR. LONNIE SMITH

Dr. Lonnie Smith is a master 

Hammond B-3 jazz organist 

and composer who, in a career 

spanning more than 50 years, has 

been featured on more than 70 

jazz, blues, and rhythm-and-blues 

recordings. He is considered one 

of the premier purveyors of funk/

soul jazz.

Smith was introduced to music 

through the gospel he heard at 

the church where his mother 

sang. He was part of several 

vocal ensembles in the 1950s, 

and played trumpet and other 

instruments at school. In the late 

1950s, Art Kubera, a Buffalo-area 

music store owner, gave Smith his 

first organ on which he learned to 

play and develop his musical style. 

In addition to being influenced by 

the sound of the church organ, he 

was inspired by organists such as 

Wild Bill Davis, Bill Doggett, and 

Jimmy Smith. 

Smith’s first gigs were at Buffalo’s 

Pine Grill Jazz Club, where 

he garnered the attention of 

headlining performers including 

Jack McDuff, Lou Donaldson, 

and George Benson. The latter 

hired Smith as the organist for his 

quartet to perform in concert and 

on several of Benson’s recordings 

in the mid-1960s. Smith made 

his first recording as a leader, 

Finger-Lickin’ Good, for Columbia 

Records during this time. Shortly 

thereafter, he joined Donaldson’s 

band, appearing on several of 

his Blue Note albums, including 

the hit Alligator Bogaloo in 1967. 

Blue Note executives recognized 

the organist’s talent and signed 

him to the label, which led to the 

recording of several now-classic 

soul jazz albums, such as Think!, 

Move Your Hand, Turning Point, 

and Drives.

Throughout his career, Smith has 

brought jazz into other genres, 

such as funk and rock, creating 

album-long tributes to artists 

such as Jimi Hendrix and Beck 

and covering everyone from the 

Beatles to the Eurythmics. All the 

while, whether leading a trio or a 

15-piece band, he maintained his 

telltale sound on the organ. His 

funky organ playing has been in 

demand by hip-hop groups since 

the 1990s, with bands such as A 

Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan, 

O.G.C., Madvillian, and United 

Future Organization sampling his 

beats. In 2012, Smith launched 

his own record label, Pilgrimage 

Records, before returning to 

the Blue Note label for his 2016 

release, Evolution.

Among the honors bestowed 

upon Smith are DownBeat’s Best 

Organist honors (1969) and 

numerous Organist/Keyboards 

Player of the Year awards by the 

Jazz Journalists Association. Both 

the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame 

(2009) and Jazz Organ Fellowship 

(2011) elevated Smith to the ranks 

of their honorees. 

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Finger-Lickin’ Good

(Columbia, 1966-67)

Think!

(Blue Note, 1968)

Boogaloo to Beck

(Scufflin’ Records, 2003)

The Healer

(Pilgrimage Records, 

2012)

Evolution

(Blue Note, 2016)
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 17

ORGANIST, COMPOSER

Born on July 3, 1942 in Buffalo, NY

Dr. Lonnie Smith performing at the Chicago Jazz Festival in Illinois, 1998. Photos by Michael Wilderman

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY THE NEA...

PAINTING THE PICTURE

“It’s hard for me to play it straight, the way it’s supposed to go. So they can count on it—it’s going to be changed 

when I play it. The music becomes mine now. It’s mine. That’s the way I hear it. That’s the way I paint the 

picture.”

PERFORMING 

“You play because you love it. I didn’t get into music because I wanted to be a star or I wanted to be rich—

because you’re already rich. That’s the greatest feeling, to go out and play and make people happy all around 

the world. When we get there and play, it’s like a flame that goes through my body, and I get so much enjoyment 

out of that. You can’t get paid better than that.”

THE POWER OF THE HAMMOND B-3

“The organ is an extension of me. It’s everything. It fulfills me in my journey. It’s all the elements in the one. The 

whole heavens just open up on you. You could feel the vibration of it—just goes all through your body.”

THE HEALING 

POWER

“When you play 

music, even if you’re 

hurting or sick, you 

don’t even know 

it’s happening. Isn’t 

that beautiful? You 

have no idea. You’re 

feeling really bad, 

but once you start 

playing, it heals you, 

really makes you feel 

good. That’s why the 

whole world needs 

to be playing music, 

instead of all this 

hate and guns and 

fighting. Music heals 

the soul.”
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 18 2017

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM

In this 1947 photo, a smitten Dizzy Gillespie admires Ella Fitzgerald’s singing—Gillespie would be honored as an NEA Jazz

Master in the first class of 1982 and Fitzgerald would be the first woman awarded in 1985. Photo by William P. Gottlieb, Ira and 

Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 19

Toots Thielemans plays during the 

2009 NEA Jazz Masters concert. 

Photo by Tom Pich

A melding 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 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 

improvisation and freeing up 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, 

such as some future NEA Jazz 

Masters: trumpeter Donald Byrd 

and saxophonists Frank Foster, 

Jackie McLean, and Archie Shepp. In 

addition, legendary Riverside record 

company co-owner and producer 
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 20 2017

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 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. 

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 found at arts.gov

and can be downloaded for free 

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 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. Between 2005 and 2016, 

the NEA awarded more than $33.5 

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 nourishment of 

jazz as an important musical form 

for generations to come.

NEA Jazz Masters Kenny Barron and Bobby Hutcherson perform during the 2012 concert. 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 21

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 Masters 

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 one-page 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

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd, 2015 NEA Jazz Master, performing during the concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City with 

his band: Gerald Clayton, Eric Harland, Miklós Lukács, Joe Sanders, and Sokratis Sinopoulos. Photo by Michael G. Stewart
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 22 2017

Annie Ross, George Avakian (2010) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Chick Corea, Roy Haynes, Ron Carter (2006) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Nancy Wilson, John Levy, Ahmad Jamal, 

Ramsey Lewis (2007)

Photo by Tom Pich

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

PREVIOUS EVENTS
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 23

George Wein,Toshiko Akiyoshi (2011) 

Photo by Frank Stewart

David Liebman, Anthony Braxton (2014)

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Cobb (2015) 

Randy Weston, Sheila Jordan (2012) Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Eddie Palmieri, Mose Allison (2013) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart Jimmy Owens, Archie Shepp, Jimmy Heath (2016) 

Photo by Shannon Finney
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 24 2017

Barry Harris (2006) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Nancy Wilson (2007) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Adam Rudolph, Yusef Lateef (2010) 

Photo by Tom Pich

... and some performances.

Dave Brubeck (2004) 

Photo by Tom Pich

Gerald Wilson (2005) 

Photo by Vance Jacobs

David Baker (2008) 

Photo by Tom Pich

George Benson (2009) 

Photo by Tom Pich
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 25

The Marsalis Family (2011) 

Photo by Frank Stewart

Richard Davis (2014) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Jack DeJohnette, Sheila Jordan, Ron Carter,

Jimmy Owens (2012) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Lou Donaldson (2013) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Carla Bley (2015) 

Photo by Michael G. Stewart

Randy Weston (2016) 

Photo by Shannon Finney
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 26 2017

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, 1982-2017

* deceased
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 2017 27

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

2017

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Ira Gitler

Dave Holland

Dick Hyman

Dr. Lonnie Smith

Ornette Coleman at 2007 NEA Jazz Masters event. Photo by Katja von Schuttenbach
NEAJAZZ

MASTERS 28 2017

This publication is published by:

National Endowment for the Arts

Office of Public Affairs

Don Ball, Editor

Kelli Rogowski, Designer

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

The 2017 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 2017

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. 

CREDITS
2016 NEA Jazz Masters Gary Burton, Wendy Oxenhorn, Pharoah Sanders, and

Archie Shepp during the concert finale. Photo by Shannon Finney
THE HIGHEST HONOR IN JAZZ

35TH ANNIVERSARY

400 7th Street SW | Washington, DC | 20506