It's the USA's top jazz honour becoming an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Master and thus has global significance given the worldwide renown of many US jazz musicians from any number of generations. For 2024 the new Masters just announced are trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, saxophonist and composer Gary Bartz, pianist-singer-organist-composer Amina Claudine Myers and jazz writer and broadcaster Willard Jenkins whose book Ain't Book a Few Of Us we reviewed last year. A ceremony celebrating the new NEA Jazz Masters will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in April next year. Amina Claudine Myers, photo: publicity shot
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