On Friday during the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival at Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Theater, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Dana Gioia announced the names of the NEA’s Class of 2007 Jazz Masters.
Among the magnificent seven are Toshiko Akiyoshi (bandleader, piano), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Ramsey Lewis (piano), Jimmy Scott (vocals, pictured), Frank Wess (flute, alto sax), Phil Woods (composer-arranger, alto sax) and Dan Morgenstern (scholar). This venerated septet were honored for their distinctive, lifelong contributions to jazz, as both performers and teachers; Morgenstern will also receive the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy for his work as an historian, archivist, author, editor and educator.
Since 1982, the NEA has designated 87 renowned musicians as NEA Jazz Masters based on public nominations. The nominees are then honored at an awards ceremony and concert and provided with a onetime fellowship of $25,000. The Class of 2007 will officially accept their awards in New York City on January 12, 2007.
Originally Published