NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships

The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest honor that our nation bestows on jazz artists. Each year since 1982, the program has elevated to its ranks a select number of living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz. For more information, read our brief history of the program.

The NEA will honor the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters—Marshall Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Chucho Valdés, and recipient of the 2025 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy Gary Giddins—on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at a free concert in Washington, DC, held in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. More information on this concert and other related events will be available in early 2025.

Black man with gray beard and glasses wearing red sequined suit, sitting, laughing.

2025

Marshall Allen

Saxophonist, Percussionist, Composer, Arranger, Bandleader

Close-up of white woman with long, straight brown hair staring into camera.

2025

Marilyn Crispell

Pianist, Composer, Educator

Portrait of white man, balding, wearing a suitcoat and looking to his left.

2025

Gary Giddins

Journalist, Author, Producer, Educator

Latino man wearing tuxedo and bow-tie, with beret, left hand holding his face, smiling.

2025

Chucho Valdés

Pianist, Composer, Arranger, Bandleader

Nominate an NEA Jazz Master Fellow!

The Arts Endowment encourages nominations from the public of a broad range of individuals who have been significant to the field of jazz through vocal and instrumental performance, creative leadership, and education.

Make a Nomination!