Last night we celebrated the 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, including musicians Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman, and Dorthaan Kirk, who recived the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Master Award for Jazz Advocacy. Learn more about the honorees.

Have someone in mind who you think might deserve to behonored as an NEA Jazz Master? Nominations close October 30, 2020. See the eligibility requirements and other information.

And now on to the main event! In a post-concert conversation last night, Roscoe Mitchell blessed us with this wisdom: "Silence is perfect. So you want to try and raise whatever you’re doing to that level." And every one of the performers last night, including Concert Emcee (and 2017 NEA Jazz Master) Dee Dee Bridgewater, Musical Director Terri Lyne Carrington, the SFJAZZ High School Jazz All Stars, and a host of other stellar musicians, demonstrated just how skillfully, joyously, and creatively it's possible to interrupt the silence. Click through to watch the concert from start to finish, including video tributes to each of the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters, their acceptance speeches, and, of course, jaw-dropping, spellbinding and spirit-lifting flights of jazz.