Announcing the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters
(from left to right) Photo of Marshall Allen by Ronnie Boyd, photo of Marilyn Cripsell by Michael Patrick Kelly, photo of Gary Giddins by Herman Leonard, photo of Chucho Valdés by InnerCat Music Group
Washington, DC—The National Endowment for the Arts announced today the newest recipients of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in jazz. Marshall Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Chucho Valdés, and recipient of the 2025 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy Gary Giddins will each receive an award of $25,000 and will be honored 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.
NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, said, “We are delighted to welcome these four luminaries to the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters—they have each in their own way played a crucial role in the nurturing and development of this art form and demonstrate the immense diversity and creativity found in jazz today. We look forward to working together with the Kennedy Center on events next April that will celebrate their achievements and inspire new audiences and musicians to embrace jazz.”
- Marshall Allen’s inventive and distinctive saxophone playing, as well as his band arrangements, have made him a major force in jazz going into his hundredth year. He is best known for his work with Sun Ra, recording and performing with him from the 1950s to Sun Ra’s passing in 1993, and taking over the leadership of the Sun Ra Arkestra for the past 30 years.
- Marilyn Crispell has become one of the most original and sought-after avant-garde jazz pianists and composers since emerging on the scene in the late 1970s. Her adventurous and distinctive style was influenced by her first loves in jazz, John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor, but it is a style all her own that continues to grow and expand.
- Originally from Cuba, pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger Chucho Valdés is one of the most influential figures in the world of Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz. In a career spanning more than 60 years both as a solo artist and bandleader, Valdés has fused elements of the Afro-Cuban music tradition, jazz, classical music, rock, and more into his distinctive style.
- Recipient of the 2025 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, Gary Giddins has been one of the leading critics in the field of jazz for more than 50 years, having written highly acclaimed books as well as essays for the New York Times, New Yorker, Esquire, and many other publications, and the “Weather Bird” column for the Village Voice. As a teacher, he has spurred new generations of jazz fans at several universities. The A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy is given to those who have made major contributions to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the American jazz art form.
The 2025 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. More information on this concert and other related events will be available early next year. Past NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concerts are available to view on the NEA’s YouTube page.
“This class of NEA Jazz Masters represents the finest in free thinking musicians,” said Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran. “Each has been an active and integral part of communities that have pushed the music forward to new heights. At 100, Marshall Allen continues to electrify the stage both as a solo artist and as an original member of the Sun Ra Arkestra; Marilyn Crispell has boundless lyricism that flows with a hallmark confident freedom; Chucho Valdés represents a forward thinking Cuban piano and ensemble tradition that has inspired musicians and audiences globally; and Gary Giddens’ fierce journalism shares the insights of the music and musicians so that more people may become believers in the sound.”
Visit arts.gov for longer bios and selected discographies of the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters. High-resolution photos of the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters are available for media use.
About the NEA Jazz Masters
Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded 177 fellowships to great figures in jazz, such as Kenny Barron, Terence Blanchard, Carla Bley, Dave Brubeck, Terri Lyne Carrington, Betty Carter, Stanley Crouch, Roy Eldridge, Paquito D’Rivera, Quincy Jones, Sun Ra, Dianna Reeves, and Henry Threadgill.
Explore the NEA’s website for photos and bios of all of the NEA Jazz Masters, as well as archived concerts, video tributes, podcasts, and more than 350 NEA Jazz Moments audio clips. The National Endowment for the Arts has also supported the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, an effort to document the lives and careers of nearly 100 NEA Jazz Masters.
Nominate an NEA Jazz Master:
The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are awarded to living individuals on the basis of nominations from the public including members of the jazz community. NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are $25,000 and can be received once in a lifetime. Visit the NEA’s website for detailed information and to submit nominations. The deadline for nominations for the next class of honorees is October 31, 2024.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. To learn more, visit arts.gov or follow us on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Jazz at the Kennedy Center
Kennedy Center Jazz, under the leadership of Artistic Director Jason Moran, presents legendary artists who have helped shape the art form, artists who are emerging on the jazz scene, and innovative multidisciplinary projects throughout the year. Annual Kennedy Center jazz events include the professional development residency program for young artists, Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead; NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas, the Kennedy Center holiday tradition shared by millions around the country via broadcast on NPR; and the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, created in 1996 by the late Dr. Billy Taylor (Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, 1994–2010). The Center currently co-produces the annual NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concerts, celebrating iconic figures in the music. To learn more about the Kennedy Center, please visit www.kennedy-center.org.
