The National Endowment for the Arts has announced the honorees for the Jazz Masters of 2021. The NEA Jazz Masters award is the highest honor that the United States gives to jazz artists.

The four honorees for 2021 are: Terri Lyne Carrington; Henry Threadgill; Phil Schapp; and Albert “Tootie” Heath.

Each year since 1982, the NEA Jazz Masters program has elevated a select number of living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.

From the NEA Press Release, “Three musicians and one jazz advocate are the 2021 recipients of a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in jazz. For their contributions to the advancement of this art form, the National Endowment for the Arts is honoring Terri Lyne Carrington, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Henry Threadgill, and Phil Schaap, who is the recipient of the 2021 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy. 

In addition to receiving a $25,000 award, the 2021 NEA Jazz Masters will be honored through a tribute concert, which due to COVID-19 will be available in an online-only broadcast on April 22, 2021. The National Endowment for the Arts will again collaborate with SFJAZZ on this virtual event, which will be free to watch, and no registration or tickets are required. More information will be available in early 2021. The archive of last August’s 2020 virtual tribute concert is available to watch at arts.gov.”