Jazz Police - NEA Awards Mose Allison, Lou Donaldson, Eddie Palmieri, and Lorraine Gordon Jazz's Highest Honor

NEA Awards Mose Allison, Lou Donaldson, Eddie Palmieri, and Lorraine Gordon Jazz's Highest Honor

Written by Ronaldo Oregano

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Mose Allison © Andrea Camter

Dizzy Gillespie. Count Basie. Ella Fitzgerald. Herbie Hancock. These are names of the greatest purveyors of America's homegrown art form, jazz--and all NEA Jazz Masters. The National Endowment for the Arts adds four new names to the list with the announcement of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters: Mose Allison, pianist, vocalist, composer; Lou Donaldson, saxophonist; and Eddie Palmieri, pianist, bandleader, arranger, composer. Lorraine Gordon is the recipient of the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, which is bestowed upon an individual who has contributed significantly to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the art form of jazz. Like the 124 honorees who came before them, these four individuals are recognized for their lifetime achievements and significant contributions to the development and performance of jazz. They will each receive a one-time award of $25,000.

Lou Donaldson © Andea Canter

Lorraine Gordon

Mose Allison is not just a superior talent as an instrumentalist and singer, but also as a songwriter. Adept in both the blues and jazz, he defies categorization and has been a major influence on musicians, regardless of genre, for more than 50 years. Lou Donaldson's distinctive blues-drenched alto saxophone has been a bopping force in jazz for more than six decades. His early work with trumpeter Clifford Brown is considered one of the first forays into hard bop, and his recordings with organist and NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Smith led to the groove-filled jazz of the 1960s and '70s. Known as one of the finest Latin jazz pianists of the past 50 years, Eddie Palmieri is also known as a bandleader of both salsa and Latin jazz orchestras. His playing skillfully fuses the rhythm of Puerto Rico with the melody and complexity of his jazz influences: Thelonious Monk and NEA Jazz Masters Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner. A jazz haven for more than 55 years, the Village Vanguard is the longest-running jazz club in New York City and is still going strong under the ownership of Lorraine Gordon. Since 1957, when NEA Jazz Master Sonny Rollins recorded one of the first recording sessions at the club, the Vanguard has been the place to record a live jazz album, with its exceptional acoustics and intimate space.

Eddie Palmieri

The NEA will again partner with Jazz at Lincoln Center to produce an awards ceremony and concert in honor of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters, to be webcast live on Monday, January 14, 2013 on arts.gov and jalc.org/neajazzmasters. The ceremony will also be simulcast on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

Full profiles of the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters are located on the NEA's website.

About NEA Jazz Masters

Each year since 1982, the Arts Endowment has conferred the NEA Jazz Masters Award to living legends who have made major contributions to jazz. With this new class, 128 awards have been given to great figures of jazz in America, including Count Basie, George Benson, Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Betty Carter, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, John Levy, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and Teddy Wilson.

NEA Jazz Masters are selected from nominations submitted by the public and receive a one-time fellowship award of $25,000, are honored at an awards ceremony, and may participate in NEA-sponsored promotional, performance, and educational activities. 173 nominations were considered for the 2013 NEA Jazz Masters. Only living musicians or jazz advocates may be nominated for the NEA Jazz Masters honor.

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