Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant Among 2020 MacArthur Fellows

  I  
Image

Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant is among the 2020 MacArthur Fellows.

(Photo: MacArthur Foundation)

After receiving a Doris Duke Award in September, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant has been named a MacArthur Fellow, joining a cohort of 21 scientists, engineers, writers, scholars and artists.

The award, which recognizes “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction,” comes with a $625,000 prize.

“Through her wide-ranging choices in musical material and her manifold powers of expression, Salvant is reaffirming the timelessness of jazz as an art form and demonstrating its continuing cultural relevance in a fast-changing world,” according to the nonprofit MacArthur Foundation.

During the past several years, McLorin Salvant has won Grammys in the Best Vocal Jazz category for The Window and Dreams And Daggers, recorded with the Blue Note ensemble Artemis and topped a number of DownBeat polls.

​In 2019, guitarist Mary Halvorson and choreographer Sarah Michelson were among the MacArthur fellowship recipients. DB



  • Hal_Galper_Courtesy_halgalper.com_copy.jpg

    Galper was often regarded as an underrated master of his craft.

  • DownBeat_May_8%2C_1975_2.jpg

    Chuck Mangione on the cover of the May 8, 1975, edition of DownBeat.

    Chuck Mangione, Rest in Peace

    Chuck Mangione, one of the most popular trumpeters in jazz history, passed away on July 24 at home in Rochester, New…

  • Sheila_Jordan_by_Mark_Sheldon_copy.jpeg

    Jordan was a dyed-in-the-wool bebopper whose formative musical experiences were with Charlie Parker.

  • DownBeat_palmieri.jpg

    “I don’t guess I’m going to excite you; I know I’m going to excite you,” Palmieri said in an August 1994 DownBeat feature.

  • 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.