NEA Announces 2003 Jazz Masters

  I  

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced that saxophonist Jimmy Heath, percussionist Elvin Jones and vocalist Abbey Lincoln will receive the 2003 American Jazz Masters Fellowships. The awards recognize significant contributions to jazz, artistic excellence and impact on the music field. Every year, a panel of experts selects up to three artists from a pool of nominations submitted by the national jazz community and the public. Each artist receives a one-time fellowship of $20,000.

A.B. Spellman, a Deputy Chairman at the Arts Endowment and author of Four Lives in the Bebop Business, made the announcement at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. “The National Endowment for the Arts is honored to recognize these great artists not only for their exceptional talent, dedication and hard work but also for the outstanding contributions they have made to the uniquely American art form that is jazz,” Spellman said.

The American Jazz Masters Fellowship awards will be presented at an Arts Endowment-supported concert on January 10, 2003, in Toronto, Canada during the 30th annual conference of the International Association for Jazz Education. To date, 67 artists have been named American Jazz Masters, among the nation’s most prestigious honors in the jazz field. These jazz masters form an unofficial jazz hall of fame and include Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie.



  • Buster_Williams_by_Jimmy_Katz_copy.jpg

    “What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.

  • Don_and_Maureen_Sickler_by_Richard_Halterman_copy_2.jpg

    Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.

  • 241e91ef-80d3-7409-17b8-d66ab05d21a1_EE.jpg

    ​The Free Slave, Cosmos Nucleus and Sunset To Dawn: three classic Muse albums being reissued this fall by Timer Traveler Recordings.

  • Darius_Jones_JazzEmAgosto_2025_By_Petra_Cvelbar.jpg

    ​This year’s Jazz em Agosto set by the Darius Jones Trio captured the titular alto saxophonist at his most ferocious.

  • Trio_aRT_courtesy_Trio_aRT_copy_3.jpg

    Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.