Free Tickets Are Now Available for the NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert At Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 12, 2010

Nation's highest honor in jazz is bestowed on eight living legends

November 2, 2009

		Media Inquiries: Victoria Hutter 202-682-5692 hutterv@arts.gov

Washington, DC – National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman and Jazz at Lincoln Center announced today that free tickets will be distributed for the January 12, 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert. Tickets are available for the general public at jalc.org/concerts or at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office, located at Broadway at 60th Street, ground floor, open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm, as well as Sundays, 12pm to 6pm.  Limit two tickets per person.
 The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters are Muhal Richard Abrams, Kenny Barron, Bill Holman, Bobby Hutcherson, Yusef Lateef, Annie Ross, and Cedar Walton.  The A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy is awarded to George Avakian.

The 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center at Broadway at 60th Street and feature the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in a program dedicated to the honorees' works.  Joining them will be the many of the honorees themselves including Mr. Abrams, Mr. Barron, Mr. Holman, Mr. Lateef, and Ms. Ross. More than 25 living NEA Jazz Masters will be present, including Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ornette Coleman, Paquito d'Rivera, Ramsey Lewis, and Dr. Billy Taylor, among others.  The evening will also feature video tributes to each of the 2010 NEA Jazz Masters. Additionally, the event will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and WBGO.

"As the nephew of jazz lyricist Fran Landesman, it is especially meaningful to me that the National Endowment for the Arts can partner with Jazz at Lincoln Center to once again present our nation's top honor in jazz," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. "Jazz only exists in the interactions between musicians and audiences, so I am thrilled that we are able to present a free concert and awards ceremony to connect these Americans legends with the broad audience these deserve."

"Jazz at Lincoln Center is honored to produce the concert to celebrate the great American Jazz Masters with the National Endowment for the Arts," said Adrian Ellis, Executive Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. "The contributions of the 2010 NEA Jazz Masters to the art form have been invaluable to the vibrancy of the music and we look forward to bringing this concert to jazz fans and newcomers alike."
Prior to the concert (time to be determined), the 2010 NEA Jazz Masters and more than 25 previously named NEA Jazz Masters will gather for a group photo opportunity. Members of the press who want to attend the concert or who would like to participate in the photo opportunity must reserve a place in advance. Please contact Victoria Hutter (202-682-5692 or hutterv@arts.gov).

In addition to the concert, many NEA Jazz Masters will take part in a series of events as part of the APAP Conference NYC 2010 from January 8-12. Sessions for conference attendees include Jazz in the 21st Century – America's Expanding Legacy and Got Jazz? A New Age of Audience Enlightenment, as well as a conversation with 2010 NEA Jazz Masters, moderated by A.B. Spellman. For more information on the conference and these sessions, please visit: apapconference.org.
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts -- both new and established -- bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the largest national annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

About NEA Jazz Masters: NEA Jazz Masters are selected from nominations submitted by the public and receive a one-time grant award of $25,000, are honored at a public awards ceremony, and may be able to participate in NEA-sponsored promotional, performance, and educational activities. Only living musicians or jazz advocates may receive the NEA Jazz Masters honor.
The National Endowment for the Arts has supported jazz artists and organizations since 1969, providing significant support through grants and awards. In 2004, the NEA significantly expanded its NEA Jazz Masters program and in 2005 created the NEA Jazz Masters Initiative, a comprehensive program of jazz support that includes the NEA Jazz Masters award; NEA Jazz Masters Live, a series of multiple performance and educational engagements in selected communities, featuring NEA Jazz Masters; radio programming featuring NEA Jazz Masters; educational resources through the NEA Jazz in the Schools program produced by the Arts Endowment in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center; and publications and reports. For more information on NEA Jazz Masters, the public is invited to visit the Web site, at neajazzmasters.org.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is dedicated to inspiring and growing audiences for jazz. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and a comprehensive array of guest artists, Jazz at Lincoln Center advances a unique vision for the continued development of the art of jazz by producing a year-round schedule of performance, education and broadcast events for audiences of all ages. These productions include concerts, national and international tours, residencies, yearly hall of fame inductions, weekly national radio and television programs, recordings, publications, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, jazz appreciation curriculum for students, music publishing, children’s concerts, lectures, adult education courses, student and educator workshops and interactive websites. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, Chairman Lisa Schiff and Executive Director, Adrian Ellis, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of events each season in its home in New York City, Frederick P. Rose Hall, and around the world.  For more information visit jalc.org.

About the Association of Performing Arts Presenters: Founded in 1957, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Arts Presenters, or APAP) is the national service organization for the field of arts presenting. The organization is dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work in it. Arts Presenters has 2,000 organizational members worldwide and brings more than 3,800 performing arts professionals together from around the world at the annual APAP Conference NYC. Members range from the nation's leading performing arts centers, to civic and university performance facilities and festivals, to the full spectrum of artist agencies, managers, national consulting practices and collaborators, and a growing roster of self-presenting artists who engage communities through live performances. Arts Presenters is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, based in Washington, D.C. is led by its CEO Sandra Gibson.

About the APAP Conference NYC 2010: The APAP Conference NYC 2010 (January 8-12, 2010) is the premier global market and meeting ground for the performing arts industry and expects to convene 4,000 artists and industry professionals from around the world, over 400 exhibitors and showcase more than 1,000 performances. This year's conference theme, "Risk. Opportunity. Now." focuses on the ways in which risk catalyzes the opportunities that will create health and vitality in the performing arts. For more information, please visit apapconference.org

Return to News Index

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506