2025 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert: CHUCHO VALDES!

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), established in Congress in 1965, is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States.

The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest honor that our nation bestows on jazz artists. Each year since 1982, the program has elevated to its ranks a select number of living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.

Taking place at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater and hosted by Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz Jason Moran, the concert feature performances by and in honor of the 2025 NEA Jazz Masters—Marshall Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Gary Giddins, and Chucho Valdés.

Thus, pianist, composer and bandleader Chucho Valdes joins Dizzy Gillespie (1982), Paquito D'Rivera (2005), Ray Barretto (2006), Candido Camero (2008) and Eddie Palmieri (2013) as those recognized to date with this valuable award.

Viva The Latin Jazz!!

www.jazzcaribe.blogspot.com

Note: The bestselling book "The Bible of Latin Jazz" by writer and musicologist Dr. Luis Raul Montell is available on Amazon.