In an annual celebration of trailblazing artistry, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in collaboration with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, honored four individuals with America’s highest honor given for jazz April 24-26.
The 2025 NEA Jazz Masters are Marshall Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Chucho Valdés, and the recipient of the 2025 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy Gary Giddins.
“We are delighted to welcome these four luminaries to the ranks of NEA Jazz Masters—they have each in their own way played a crucial role in the nurturing and development of this art form and demonstrate the immense diversity and creativity found in jazz today,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson.
The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are awarded to living individuals on the basis of nominations from the public, including members of the jazz community.
Events included a Master Class at Howard University with Chucho Valdés, a Listening Party at National Public Radio (NPR), and an all-star concert at the Kennedy Center, available at arts.gov.
The listening party event was held at NPR headquarters in a format of one-on-one conversations with the honorees, and sharing hosting duties were Sunny Sumter, president and CEO for the DC Jazz Festival, and Felix Contreras, co-creator and host of NPR’s “Alt. Latino” radio show and podcast.
A critical part of the listening party was hearing the artists’ share details about their life, career and journeys.
“This class of NEA Jazz Masters represents the finest in free-thinking musicians,” said Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran in a statement last year. “Each has been an active and integral part of communities that have pushed the music forward to new heights.
The Music is Still Energizing at Age 100
At the age of 100, saxophonist Allen still performs. He will be 101 years old on May 25.
Though he was not at the listening session, he did perform later that evening at the Kennedy Center with the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Allen’s friend, musical collaborator, and multi-instrumentalist Kash Killion, spoke with Sumter about making music known as “free jazz” and avant-garde jazz.
Sumter told Killion about being with hundreds of college students seven years ago who were into the Sun Ra Arkestra music, with which Allen is closely affiliated with.
“Everybody was dressed like aluminum foil with a lot of improvisation. I was thinking ‘What’s happening,’” said Sumter.
“There are a lot of elements in the music. It takes you somewhere you’ve never been before,” said Killion about being exposed to music created by Sun Ra, and continuing today with Allen. “It’s one thing to hear a big band play many tunes and arrangements. When you hear something that is ‘unnormal,’ people are walking around, playing in the audience, and jumping onto the stage.”
Sumter emphasized Allen’s trailblazing contributions to jazz.
“Marshall Allen has led us toward new sonic dimensions with every note,” Sumter said. “We thank him for showing us that music is a vessel for liberation.”
From Classical Pianist to Jazz Improvisation
Sumter introduced the audience to NEA Jazz Master Crispell, trained as a classical pianist at the New England Conservatory. Moving into jazz in the 1970s, she was greeted as an original and sought-after “avant-garde” jazz pianist and composer. Crispell described how she approaches her compositions.
“You’re aware of what’s going on and guiding the music in a way that makes sense,” said Crispell, who admitted to being influenced by saxophonist John Coltrane. “Often, I find the music takes me to a place I’m not expecting to go.”
In describing Crispell’s approach, Sumter quoted Moran’s reflections on her talent and immense contributions to jazz.
“She’s a storyteller,” Sumter said, quoting Moramn, “but she also makes peace with the instrument.”
Blend of Latin and African Rhythms
NPR producer and host Contreras led a bilingual conversation with Cuban-born Valdés.
The audience learned that the pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger was the son of pianist Bebo Valdés, and thus, music was part of his life from a very early age.
The relationship between American jazz artists and Cuba has been harmonious for a long time.
“It’s been a healthy, vital exchange. There’s always been a back and forth,” said Valdés through interpretation by Contreras. “For example I was in the Havana Hilton with my Dad and we saw Stan Getz sitting at the bar.”
Getz was a saxophonist known for his recordings of the Brazilian bossa nova style of music.
American jazz musicians like vibraphonist Cal Tjader were heavily into Latin rhythms in New York with their jazz performances. After Tjadar and others completed their music sets, they would go to another New York venue called the Palladium, where Tito Puente and other Latin musicians performed.
Going back to when he co-founded the group Irakere in the 1970s, Valdés is still an essential musician in the evolution of the Afro/Latin sound.
“Chucho Valdés represents a forward thinking Cuban piano and ensemble tradition that has inspired musicians and audiences globally,” Moran said in a statement.
A Jazz Journalist, Author, Producer and Educator
Giddins’s writing can be read and heard through magazines, broadcast scripts, and the many books he authored. Though not a musician, the A.B. Spellman Jazz Master for Jazz Advocacy has taken part in organizing musical ensembles for a variety of music genres.
In his conversation with Contreras, Giddins illustrated a perceived value of jazz compared with rock music, with an incident in the early 1970s that he experienced as a student at Grinnell College in Iowa.
“I think Grinnell hosted the first college concert by the group Jefferson Airplane,” said Giddins, which was a big deal. “A few months later, the school brought in jazz trumpeter Clark Terry’s group. Due to costs, he could only bring one other musician, perform as a duo, and assemble other musicians from nearby as the band.”
With the Grinnell concert incident early in his life, Giddins gave another, more current happening of the devaluation of jazz in the media. Jazz critics are not on the radar with the media today, especially with many major daily newspapers like The New York Times, as cited by Giddins.
Contreras concluded his time with Giddins by citing the available resources he relied on to explore jazz.
“When I first got this job, I was doing some jazz programming, and your books were on the shelf,” said Contreras about Giddis. “They still are as a resource, because journalists are only as good as their sources.”
The NEA Jazz Masters concert is now available to view at arts.gov.
