TOOTS THIELEMANS BECOMES 2009 NEA JAZZ MASTER

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2009 NEA JAZZ MASTER

The highest American distinction

National Endowment for the Arts announces the

2009 NEA Jazz Masters.

Washington, DC – The National Endowment for the Arts announced the recipients of the 2009 NEA Jazz Masters Award—the nation’s highest honor in this distinctly American music. The six recipients will each receive a $25,000 grant award, and will be publicly honored in an awards ceremony and concert at the Lincoln Center NY on Friday, October 17, 2008, where the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis dedicates the program to the honorees’ works .

The six 2009 NEA Jazz Masters are: George Benson //(vocalist and solo instrumentalist, guitar), Jimmy Cobb (rhythm instrumentalist, drums), Lee Konitz// (solo instrumentalist, saxophone), Toots Thielemans (solo instrumentalist, harmonica and guitar), and Snooky Young (solo instrumentalist, trumpet). Recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder will receive the 2009 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.

More information is available at :

http://www.nea.gov/national/jazz/press/JazzMasters2009.html