NEA Jazz Masters Award Ceremony and Concert to Be Heard Worldwide
January 11, 2010, Washington, D.C. - This year’s NEA Jazz Masters award ceremony and concert will have unprecedented reach--the program will be heard on terrestrial and satellite radio as well as online. WBGO Jazz 88.3FM based in Newark, New Jersey and Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s Real Jazz Channel 70 will broadcast the event live with WBGO’s Gary Walker and Sirius/XM’s Mark Ruffin as co-hosts. In addition, WBGO and NPR Music will audio stream the event live on their websites at www.wbgo.org and www.npr.org/music.
The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards ceremony and concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. EST in Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, and feature the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in a program dedicated to the honorees’ works. The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters are Muhal Richard Abrams, Kenny Barron, Bill Holman, Bobby Hutcherson, Yusef Lateef, Annie Ross, and Cedar Walton. George Avakian will receive the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman and Mr. Marsalis will be the co-hosts for this unique evening of music from eight of our nation’s great music artists, performed by one of the world’s most respected jazz orchestras, and complemented by stories of lives in jazz. The program will run approximately two hours without intermission.
Six of the honorees will join the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on stage. Mr. Abrams, Mr. Holman (as guest conductor), and Mr. Walton along with Ms. Ross will perform with the orchestra, Mr. Barron will play solo piano, and Mr. Lateef will perform with percussionist Adam Pudolph.
Each honoree will be recognized with a musical tribute from the orchestra along with selected recordings, and an award presentation by a fellow NEA Jazz Master or Chairman Landesman.
Twenty-six fellow NEA Jazz Masters will be in the audience, including Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ornette Coleman, Paquito d’ Rivera, Ramsey Lewis, and Dr. Billy Taylor.