Kennedy Center presents 2017 NEA Jazz Masters Concert

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts will celebrate the 2017 NEA Jazz Masters with a free concert, Monday, April 3, 2017 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The performance will honor the recipients of the nation's highest honor in jazz, highlighting their lifetime achievements and exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz music. The concert, held during Jazz Appreciation Month, will also be streamed online at www.kennedy-center.org. In addition to the April 3 concert, the NEA Jazz Masters will hold a listening party at National Public Radio headquarters on Sunday, April 2, and a master class for young musicians to learn from the Jazz Masters themselves at Howard University on Tuesday, April 4.

"This will be another special celebration for people who have been integral to the ever evolving stage of jazz," said Jason Moran artistic for Jazz at the Kennedy Center. "From the journalist, to the innovator, each of the honorees has demonstrated a timeless devotion to jazz ethics. Each honoree arrives at the music from a different avenue and helps focus the audience's vision of as the music continues to evolve. Kudos to the NEA for continuing to honor artists who have devoted their livelihoods to contributing to the cultural fabric of America."

The 2017 NEA Jazz Masters are:

· Dee Dee Bridgewater - Vocalist, Producer, Broadcaster

· Ira Gitler - Author, Editor, Producer, Educator (2017 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy)

· Dave Holland - Bassist, Cellist, Composer, Bandleader

· Dick Hyman - Keyboardist, Composer, Arranger

· Dr. Lonnie Smith - Organist, Composer

The program will include remarks by the 2017 NEA Jazz Masters (representing Ira Gitler will be his son, Fitz Gitler); as well as Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; Deborah F. Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center; Jason Moran, pianist and Kennedy Center artistic director for Jazz; NEA Jazz Masters Dan Morgenstern and Kenny Barron; jazz and film critic Gary Giddins; and National Medal of Arts recipient and Kennedy Center Honoree Jessye Norman. Additional performers include: NEA Jazz Master Paquito D'Rivera, Bill Charlap, Theo Croker, Aaron Diehl, Robin Eubanks, James Genus, Donald Harrison, Booker T. Jones, Sherrie Maricle and the Diva Jazz Orchestra, Peter Martin, Mike Moreno, China Moses, Steve Nelson, Kassa Overall, Chris Potter, Nate Smith, and Dan Tepfer.

Tickets to the 2017 NEA Jazz Masters concert are free. On Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 10 a.m. up to four tickets per household may be reserved in person at the Kennedy Center Box Office, by calling InstantCharge at (202) 467-4600or through the Kennedy Center website at www.kennedy-center.org.

Reservation confirmations should be printed at home and will be valid until 7:15 p.m. Monday, April 3, 2017. Patrons with reservations should present printed reservation confirmations to Box Office personnel at time of pick-up.

Reserved tickets will be available for pick-up from 5:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. on Monday, April 3, 2017, at the Kennedy Center Hall of Nations Box Office.

Seating locations for reserved tickets will be assigned at the Kennedy Center Hall of Nations Box Office starting at 5:30 p.m. on the evening of Monday, April 3, 2017.

Additional tickets will be available the night of the concert and all reserved tickets not picked up by 7:15 p.m. on April 3will be released and distributed to a ticket standby line.

ABOUT NEA JAZZ MASTERS

Each year since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has conferred the NEA Jazz Masters award. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships. With this new class, the NEA has awarded 145 fellowships to great figures in jazz. More information about the NEA Jazz Masters and the agency's collection of free jazz content is available here. NEA Jazz Master Fellowships are bestowed upon living individuals on the basis of nominations from the public including the jazz community. The NEA encourages nominations of a broad range of men and women who have been significant to the field of jazz, through vocals, instrumental performance, creative leadership, and education. The NEA also supports the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, an effort to document the lives and careers of NEA Jazz Masters. In addition to transcriptions of the comprehensive interviews, the website also includes audio clips with interview excerpts. This project has transcribed the oral histories of nearly 100 NEA Jazz Masters.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America's rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more about NEA.

ABOUT KENNEDY CENTER JAZZ
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 in hundreds of performances a year. The KC Jazz Club, launched in 2002 and dubbed "the future of the jazz nightclub" by JazzTimes, hosts many of these artists in an intimate setting; while the Crossroads Club, launched in 2012, is a nightclub dance venue. 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's jazz concerts are frequently recorded for future broadcast on NPR.

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