Performances + Events
NEA Jazz Masters
Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded annual Jazz Masters Fellowships, described as “the highest honor that our nation bestows upon jazz musicians.”
The fellowships are given “in recognition that this magnificent art form, so profoundly based in American culture, is one of America’s greatest gifts to the world.”
NEA Jazz Masters
Masters with NEC Affiliations
2021
NEC jazz faculty member Billy Hart was named a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master, alongside other honorees Stanley Clarke, Cassandra Wilson, and Donald Harrison Jr.
2017
Dave Holland ’03 hon. DM was a full-time member of NEC’s jazz faculty from 1987 through 1990, then returned beginning in 2005 as Visiting Artist-in-Residence. Each semester, he visits NEC for an intensive week of masterclasses, coachings, rehearsals, and performances with NEC students, drawing on his award-winning catalog of compositions as well as other artists with whom he has deep-rooted associations.
2008
Gunther Schuller ’78 hon. DM was NEC’s president from 1967–77 and founded NEC’s jazz and Third Stream programs.
2006
Bob Brookmeyer taught at NEC from 1997–07 and founded NEC’s Jazz Composers’ Workshop Orchestra.
1998
Ron Carter taught at NEC from 1996–99 as Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz Performance.
1990
George Russel ’05 hon. DM served on the NEC faculty from 1969–04. He was a Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Emeritus.
Cecil Taylor ’51 DP was a pianist noted for their unique improvisational style and wide-ranging collaborations.
