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.

2024 NEA Jazz Masters: Amina Claudine Myers (Photo by Crystal Blake), Gary Bartz (Photo by Alan Nahigian), Terence Blanchard (Photo by Cedric Angeles), Willard Jenkins (Photo courtesy of Willard Jenkins).
On Saturday, April 13, 2024, the National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will celebrate the 2024 honorees with a tribute concert. More information will be available in early 2024.
2024 NEA Jazz Masters Fellows
Gary Bartz
Terence Blanchard
Willard Jenkins
Amina Claudine Myers
On April 1, 2023, the National Endowment for the Arts honored the 2023 NEA Jazz Masters—Regina Carter, Kenny Garrett, Louis Hayes, and Sue Mingus—at a concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.