2020 NEA JAZZ MASTER
"It is indeed a humbling and inspiring experience to be acknowledged and awarded by the NEA, one of our nation's most prestigious institutions, which has been known for years to be supportive of this nation's artists. I am glad to join the illustrious NEA alums as we collectively work toward the world's harmonious existence through music." - Reggie Workman
National Endowment For The Arts
2020 NEA JAZZ MASTERS TRIBUTE CONCERT
THU, AUG 20 2020 | 5:00 PM PT (8PM ET)
Live Streaming
Watch online Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 5 PM PT (8 PM ET) from arts.gov and sfjazz.org
The National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, will host a special online-only concert in honor of the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters—Dorthaan Kirk, Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman. 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater will host this premier event coordinated by Music Director, drummer, and composer Terri Lyne Carrington, which will include performances by acclaimed jazz musicians—including honorees McFerrin, Mitchell, and Workman—recorded from locations around the country. The 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert is free to watch, and will replace the previously-scheduled concert at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco that was postponed due to COVID-19.
The concert will feature remarks by the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters, as well as Chairman Mary Anne Carter and Randall Kline, Founder and Executive Artistic Director of SFJAZZ. In addition to the musician honorees, performers include Ambrose Akinmusire, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Christian McBride, Lisa Fischer, James Carter, Vincent Davis, Gerald Clayton, Morgan Guerin, Oliver Lake, Jevon McFerrin, Madison McFerrin, Taylor McFerrin, Kanoa Mendenhall, Junius Paul, and Steve Turre, as well as the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars.
The 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert will broadcast at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET from arts.gov and SFJAZZ.org, as well as from the websites for All About Jazz and Jazz Near You, BMI, Inc., the National Endowment for the Humanities, NPR Music, Smithsonian Jazz, Voice of America’s Khmer, Chinese, and Tibetan services, KQED, Jazz Times, and WBGO. The concert will also be available via radio broadcast in California on KCSM 91.1 FM and KALW 91.7 FM, in Washington, DC on WPFW 89.3 FM, and on Sirius XM.
An archive of the concert will be available following the event at arts.gov.
You can join in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #NEAJazz2020.
Honoring
Bobby McFerrin vocalist, composer, conductor, & educator
Roscoe Mitchell saxophonist, composer, & educator
Reggie Workman bassist, composer, educator, & producer
Dorthaan Kirk jazz advocate
MEET THE JAZZ MASTERS
w/ 2020 NEA Jazz Masters and SFJAZZ Founder & Executive Artistic Director Randall Kline
Virtual Reception + Q&A Session
6:10 PM - 7:00 PM PT (9:10 PM - 10:00 PM ET)
Immediately following the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert, join an in-depth discussion with honorees Dorthaan Kirk, Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman, hosted by SFJAZZ Founder & Executive Artistic Director Randall Kline. This live event will include an interactive Q&A session, in which the online audience, through the broadcast's YouTube stream, will be able to ask questions to the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters.
ABOUT THE NEA JAZZ MASTERS
Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded 157 fellowships to great figures in jazz, including Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, Dianne Reeves, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, and George Wein. The NEA’s website features resources and content about them, including video biographies, and tribute concert videos, podcasts, and more than 350 NEA Jazz Moments audio clips.
For more information about the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, visit arts.gov/honors/jazz.
A Q&A With Reggie Workman (On The Corner)
May 21, 2019
Washington, DC—Today the National Endowment for the Arts announced the four newest recipients of the nation’s highest honor in jazz. Innovative jazz musicians Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman, as well as Dorthaan Kirk—who is receiving the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy—are the 2020 recipients of NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships. They will be celebrated at a tribute concert on April 2, 2020, at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, California, in collaboration with SFJAZZ.
Acting Chairman of the Arts Endowment Mary Anne Carter said, “The 2020 NEA Jazz Masters have made an incredible impact on jazz, whether it’s through their artistic work to expand the musical boundaries of the genre, their educational contributions, or their efforts to reach new audiences for jazz. The National Endowment for the Arts is excited to celebrate these recipients, and to partner with SFJAZZ for the first time, bringing the NEA Jazz Masters events to a different part of the country.”
Reggie Workman—Bassist, Educator, Composer, Producer
Workman is one of the premier bassists in jazz, performing in mainstream jazz as well as in the avant-garde scene, and a member of two of jazz’s most important groups: the John Coltrane Quartet and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. He also is a professor at the New School’s College of Performing Arts in New York City, where he has been teaching since 1987.
For the first time since 2005, the NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert will take place in California. This free and open to the public event will honor the 2020 class on April 2, 2020—at the start of Jazz Appreciation Month—at the SFJAZZ Center’s Robert N. Miner Auditorium in San Francisco. The concert will once again be available to worldwide audiences via a live webcast. More information about this event, as well as other related NEA Jazz Masters events in San Francisco, will be available at a later date.
“SFJAZZ is honored to partner with the National Endowment for the Arts to host the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters concert and festivities at the SFJAZZ Center,” says SFJAZZ Founder and Executive Artistic Director Randall Kline. “We are proud to have the National Endowment for the Arts on the West Coast to present this new class of Jazz Masters.”
https://www.arts.gov/news/2019/national-endowment-arts-announces-2020-nea-jazz-masters
THE PROGRAMMING BELOW WAS CANCELED DUE TO COVID-19
Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 - NEA Jazz Masters Listening Party - 7:30pm at Miner Auditorium at SFJAZZ, 201 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 - This free listening party precedes the April 2nd, 2020 NEA Jazz Masters tribute party. TICKETS ON SALE: FRI, FEB 14 at 11 AM
This listening party will include a panel conversation featuring 2020 NEA Jazz Masters honorees Dorthaan Kirk, Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman, and will be moderated by Randall Kline, founder and executive artistic director of SFJAZZ.
This free event offers listeners the chance to get behind-the-scenes and hear about music from the artist’s perspective. The format is an on-stage conversation in the Robert N. Miner Auditorium, accompanied by the artist’s pick of recorded, and sometimes live, excerpts. The conversation closes with a Q&A session.
For more information about the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, visit arts.gov/honors/jazz.
Thursday, April 2nd, 2020 - NEA Jazz Masters Award and Tribute Concert - 7:30pm at Miner Auditorium at SFJAZZ - 201 Franklin Street, San Fransisco, California 94102
The National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, will honor 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, Reggie Workman, and Dorthaan Kirk—who is the recipient of the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy— with the nation’s highest honor in jazz. This free and open to the public concert event will feature performances by stars of the jazz and music world. The concert will once again be available to worldwide audiences via a live webcast.
The 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert is free to the public, but will require tickets for entrance.
TICKETS AVAILABLE: THU, FEB 13 at 11 AM
Limit 2 tickets per household
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 2020, the annual NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert makes debut at SFJAZZ, hosted by vocalist and 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater and coordinated by Musical Director, drummer, and composer Terri Lyne Carrington.
For more information about the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, visit arts.gov/honors/jazz.
Honoring
Bobby McFerrin vocalist, composer, conductor, & educator
Roscoe Mitchell saxophonist, composer, & educator
Reggie Workman bassist, composer, educator, & producer
Dorthaan Kirk jazz advocate
The evening’s event will include appearances by each of the honorees, video tributes, special guests, and tribute performances by musicians including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lyne Carrington, Steve Turre, Oliver Lake, Sullivan Fortner, Ambrose Akinmusire, Taylor McFerrin, Junius Paul, Kanoa Mendenhall, and others.
NEA JAZZ MASTERS AT SFJAZZ: During the 2019-20 Season, SFJAZZ will present numerous NEA Jazz Masters throughout the year including Ahmad Jamal, Bobby McFerrin, Dianne Reeves, Kenny Barron, Jack DeJohnette, Eddie Palmieri, Abdullah Ibrahim, Benny Golson, Maria Schneider, and Jason Marsalis.
TICKETS: https://www.sfjazz.org/tickets/events/2020-jazz-masters-tribute-concert/