REGINA CARTER
Lifetime Achievement Award
MacArthur “Genius” Award Winner, Violinist & Composer

Trying to fit Regina Carter into a neatly defined musical category is pointless. She enjoys performing many styles of music—jazz, R&B, Latin, classical, blues, country, pop, African, and on and on. In each she explores the power of music through the voice of the violin.

A recipient of the MacArthur “genius” award and a Doris Duke Artist Award, Regina has been widely hailed for her mastery of her instrument and her drive to expand its possibilities. In 2018 she was named artistic director of the New Jersey Performing Arts All-Female Jazz Residency, a unique summer immersion program for aspiring women jazz professionals. In December of that year she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Improvised Solo for “Some of That Sunshine,” the title track on vocalist Karrin Allyson’s album. She is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. Past positions have included artist in residence at the Oakland University School of Music, Theatre, and Dance; resident artist for San Francisco Performances; and resident artistic director for SFJAZZ.

Born in Detroit, Regina began studying violin at the age of four using the Suzuki method. She attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, and her training continued at the New England Conservatory of Music and at Oakland University in Michigan for jazz. She taught violin in public schools in Detroit and on a U.S. military base in Germany. She first gained attention with Straight Ahead, an all-female jazz quintet that recently celebrated its 25-year reunion at the Detroit Jazz Festival. She also recorded and toured for six years with The String Trio of New York.

A winner of multiple readers’ and critics’ poll awards from DownBeat, JazzTimes, and other publications, Regina tours with her own group and has appeared frequently as a guest soloist, including with such performers as Kenny Barron, the late bassist Ray Brown, Akua Dixon, Steve Turre, Stefon Harris, George Wein, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jackson, Billy Joel, Dolly Parton, Omara Portuondo, Cassandra Wilson, and Chieli Minucci and Special EFX.

BILL FRISELL
Lifetime Achievement Award
Doris Duke Artist, Guitarist & Composer

Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings, whose catalog has been cited by Downbeat as "the best recorded output of the decade.

In recent years, Frisell has forged a distinctive and fruitful collaboration with the Blue Note label, releasing HARMONY, Valentine and FOUR to great acclaim.

"Frisell has had a lot of practice putting high concept into a humble package. Long hailed as one of the most distinctive and original improvising guitarists of our time, he has also earned a reputation for teasing out thematic connections with his music... There’s a reason that Jazz at Lincoln Center had him program a series called Roots of Americana."  - New York Times

Recognized as one of America’s 21 most vital and productive performing artists, Frisell was named an inaugural Doris Duke Artist in 2012.  He is also a recipient of grants from United States Artists, Meet the Composer among others.  In 2016, he was a beneficiary of the first FreshGrass Composition commission to preserve and support innovative grassroots music.  Upon San Francisco Jazz opening their doors in 2013, he served as one of their Resident Artistic Directors.  Bill is the subject of a documentary film by director Emma Franz, entitled Bill Frisell: A Portrait, which examines his creative process in depth, as well as an extensive biography by Philip Watson, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed The Sound of American Music.

NELBA MARQUEZ-GREENE
Contribution to the Arts Award
Activist, Therapist & YWCA Women’s Leadership Award Recipient

Nelba Marquez-Greene holds a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School and a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from St. Joseph College. Nelba taught and supervised the Family Therapy program at the University of Winnipeg’s Aurora Family Therapy Centre and later worked as the Coordinator for Klingberg Family Therapy Center’s outpatient child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. She also served as adjunct faculty at Central Connecticut State University.

Nelba founded the CTAMFT (Connecticut Association for Marriage and Family Therapy) Diversity Committee and served on the CTAMFT Board of Directors. For her advocacy, she received the 2004 Minority Fellowship Award by the AAMFT, the 2004 Distinguished Professional Service Award, and the 2013 Service to Families Award by the CTAMFT.   In 2017 she was awarded the Key to the Centre award at the Aurora family Therapy Centre in Winnipeg, MB.

In 2018, she was profiled as one of “100 Women of Color” and a YWCA (CT) Women’s Leadership Award recipient. She was featured in People Magazine’s October 2019 issue as one of Ten Women Changing the World and also recognized by Chelsea Clinton and Hillary Clinton in their Book of Gutsy Women.

Nelba has testified and advocated at the state and federal levels on many different mental health initiatives, hosted TEDx talks, and is a nationally sought after speaker.  In the many years that have followed, stints in advocacy, public policy, community care, etc. have affirmed her core belief that in order to change the world we must take care of people. First- that grief  must be allowed in the room and is a normal response to loss. Second- that tools, language, skills, resources and acceptance should be available to all grievers.  And lastly, that the intersection of grief when tied to injustice (as with violence and other traumatic loss) must be addressed.

The success of any non-profit, large or small, especially those associated with the arts, often depends on the combined efforts, advice and financial support of its Board of Directors. The Jazz Gallery is fortunate that its Board is both diverse and unusually supportive. And no Director has been more supportive than Noel L. Silverman, Esq. Drawing on the experience he has gathered from over fifty years as a prominent entertainment lawyer, his expertise has guided TJG through various legal thickets and TJG has been litigation free for 30 years and counting. It is unclear if he attends so many concerts at TJG because he just loves the music or merely wants to contribute by way of admission fees or he just wants to keep watch over and listen once again to Paul Desmond’s grand piano, a priceless instrument he arranged to have donated to TJG all those years ago. No matter what the reason, all have made a difference and he will be honored with TJG’s Founders Award at The Honors Gala presented by The Jazz Gallery on April 28, 2025.

NOEL L. SILVERMAN, ESQ.
Founder’s Award
TJG Board Member & Entertainment Lawyer

Noel, a transactional attorney with offices in New York City, is currently in his sixth decade representing musicians and songwriters, authors, actors, film makers, dancers, sound and lighting designers, graphic artists, and the directors and producers who bring the results of the creativity ​of all of the foregoing to the public.  His work principally involves the formalization of interrelationships in the areas of entertainment and intellectual property..

He is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Brown University (Phi Beta Kappa and a Francis Wayland Scholar) and the Harvard Law School, as well as a non-matriculant at the Julliard School of Music, where he studied jazz piano with John Mehegan.  He briefly had ideas about playing varsity football in college, but size and talent led him to WBRU, the Brown University radio station, where he hosted a once-a-week evening of jazz recordings.  (Arguably, both the football team and the radio station were pleased with the decision.)

Much as he loved jazz piano, it became clear to him that he was a more effective lawyer than he was a piano player, that he could communicate constructively with the creative and performing communities as well as the business and legal communities where they sometimes had problems talking with each other, and that his time might be well spent helping the two sides to facilitate their respective conversations.

One thing led to another, as it always does, and Noel ended up representing, though not all at once and in addition to others, Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Gil Evans, Jim Hall, Charles Mingus and Nat Adderly.  He even found himself, as things turned out, a member of the Board of Directors of The Jazz Gallery, a not-for-profit organization that showcases up-and-coming jazz talent as well as already-arrived jazz talent with ideas about expanding horizons.  He has served on and chaired the Entertainment Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and over the years been a member of its Copyright Law, Communications Law, Art Law, and Arts and Sports Law Committees.  He has been a member of the Copyright Society of the United States since the early 1960s and has served as a Trustee of that organization.

He has co-produced several Off-Broadway plays, written and conducted a number of musical evenings for young people, and directed several plays when the opportunities arose. 

Happily married, two splendid children, four grandchildren all of whom are worth keeping. Not everyone can play college football or jazz piano.

DIANNE REEVES
Lifetime Achievement Award
NEA Jazz Master, Vocalist

Five-time Grammy winner DIANNE REEVES is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. As a result of her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess, and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings – a Grammy first in any vocal category.

Featured in George Clooney’s six-time Academy Award nominated Good Night, and Good Luck, Reeves won the Best Jazz Vocal Grammy for the film's soundtrack. 

Reeves has recorded and performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. She has also recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim and was a featured soloist with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the first vocalist to ever perform at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Reeves worked with legendary producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) on the Grammy winning A Little Moonlight, an intimate collection of standards featuring her touring trio. When Reeves’ holiday collection Christmas Time is Here was released, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times raved, “Ms. Reeves, a jazz singer of frequently astonishing skill, takes the assignment seriously; this is one of the best jazz Christmas CD's I've heard.”

In recent years Reeves has toured the world in a variety of contexts including “Sing the Truth,” a musical celebration of Nina Simone which also featured Lizz Wright and Angelique Kidjo. She performed at the White House on multiple occasions including President Obama's State Dinner for the President of China as well as the Governors’ Ball. 

Reeves’ most recent release Beautiful Life, features Gregory Porter, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and Esperanza Spalding. Produced by Terri Lyne Carrington, Beautiful Life won the 2015 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Reeves is the recipient of honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the Juilliard School.  In 2018 the National Endowment for the Arts designated Reeves a Jazz Master — the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists. 

REGGIE WORKMAN
Lifetime Achievement Award
NEA Jazz Master, Bassist

Reginald “Reggie” Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is recognized as one of the most technically gifted American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassists in history. He is a teacher, composer, and jazz advocate whose style ranges from Bop, Post Bop and beyond.

Workman, a “Sound Scientist” is a 2020 recipient for the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowship Award, the nation’s highest honor in jazz.

In 1961, Workman joined the John Coltrane Quartet, replacing Steve Davis. He was present for the saxophonist's Live at the Village Vanguard sessions, and also recorded with a second bassist (Art Davis) on the 1961 albums, Olé Coltrane and Africa/Brass. Workman recorded frequently through the 1960s and performed with such icons as Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Eric Dolphy, Gigi Gryce, Booker Little, Roy Haynes, Wayne Shorter, Red Garland, James Moody, Abbey Lincoln, Alice Coltrane, Jeri Allen, Marilyn Crispell, Jeanne Lee, Booker Ervin, Horace Silver, Benny Golson, Cedar Walton, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Curtis Fuller, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Mann, Archie Shepp, Clifford Jordan, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Fortune, Billy Harper, and David Murray. Workman, with pianist Tommy Flanagan and drummer Joe Chambers formed The Super Jazz Trio in 1978.

In the 1980s, he was the founding member of “Great Friends” and began leading his own groups: Top Shelf, and The Reggie Workman Ensemble. 

Workman co-founded the historic Collective Black Artists and was Musical Director of the New Muse Community Museum (Brooklyn, NY). In the 1970s, he created the “Top Shelf” quartet. In 1978 he formed a Super Trio, with pianist Tommy Flanagan and drummer Joe Chambers. In 1983 he co-created the “On Time Jazz Series” and produced at the Village Gate. In 1985 he created Trio Transitions with Freddie Waits and Mulgrew Miller. In 1998 he created Trio Three with Oliver Lake and Andrew Cyrille. In 1990 he created the Reggie Workman Ensemble with John Purcell, Jeanne Lee, Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway, and Don Byron and Jason Hwang. He created Ashanti’s Message (septet), and ”Brew” as well as “Groove Ship.” In 1998, Reggie Workman inaugurated The Montclair Academy of Dance & Laboratory of Music (for students from ages three to eighteen).

In recognition of Reggie Workman's national and international performances and recordings spanning over 40 years, he was named a Living Legend by the African-American Historical and Cultural Museum in his hometown of Philadelphia; he is also a recipient of the Eubie Blake Award. Workman's additional awards include Meet the Composer, MidAtlantic, NYFA Opportunity Grant and Doris Duke Impact Award 2015. His community work includes the East, New Muse, LAI, Co-Founder of MADLOM, African American Legacy Project, AALP Community, and Youth Workshops.

Reggie Workman, in tandem with choreographer Maya Milenovic Workman, has been awarded a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship for music composition, the organization announced on April 9, 2020.

On August 20th, 2020 The National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, honored 2020 NEA Jazz Masters Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, Reggie Workman, and Dorthaan Kirk—who is the recipient of the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy— with the nation’s highest honor in jazz.

TANIA LEÓN
Contribution To The Arts Award
Composer, conductor, educator

Tania León (b. Havana, Cuba) is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations. Her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2022, she was named a recipient of the 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. In 2023, she was awarded the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition from Northwestern University. Most recently, León became the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s next Composer-in-Residence—a post she will hold for two seasons, beginning in September 2023. She will also hold Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for its 2023-2024 season.

Recent premieres include works for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Grossman Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Modern Ensemble, Jennifer Koh’s project Alone Together, and The Curtis Institute. Appearances as guest conductor include Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Gewandhausorchester, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuba, among others. Upcoming commissions feature a work for the League of American Orchestras, and a work for Claire Chase, flute, and The Crossing Choir with text by Rita Dove.

A founding member and first Music Director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, León instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series, co-founded the American Composers Orchestra’s Sonidos de las Américas Festivals, was New Music Advisor to the New York Philharmonic, and is the founder/Artistic Director of Composers Now, a presenting, commissioning and advocacy organization for living composers.

Honors include the New York Governor’s Lifetime Achievement, inductions into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and fellowship awards from ASCAP Victor Herbert Award and The Koussevitzky Music and Guggenheim Foundations, among others. She also received a proclamation for Composers Now by New York City Mayor, and the MadWoman Festival Award in Music (Spain).

León has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Colgate University, Oberlin, SUNY Purchase College, and The Curtis Institute of Music, and served as U.S. Artistic Ambassador of American Culture in Madrid, Spain. A CUNY Professor Emerita, she was awarded a 2018 United States Artists Fellowship, Chamber Music America’s 2022 National Service Award, and Harvard University’s 2022 Luise Vosgerchian Teaching Award. In 2023, Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library acquired Tania’s León’s archive.

DAN MORGENSTERN
Contribution To The Arts Award
NEA JAZZ MASTER, Jazz Historian, Archivist, Author, Editor, Educator

Dan Morgenstern is a jazz historian and archivist, author, editor, and educator who has been active in the jazz field since 1958, and the recipient of the 2007 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy. The Institute of Jazz Studies is the largest collection of jazz-related materials anywhere.

Born in Germany and reared in Austria and Denmark, Morgenstern came to the United States in 1947. He was chief editor of DownBeat from 1967 to 1973, and served as New York editor from 1964; prior to that time he edited the periodicals Metronome and Jazz. Morgenstern is co-editor of the Annual Review Of Jazz Studies and the monograph series Studies In Jazz, published jointly by the IJS and Scarecrow Press, and author of Jazz People. He has been jazz critic for the New York Post, record reviewer for the Chicago Sun Times, and New York correspondent and columnist for England's Jazz Journal and Japan's Swing Journal. He has contributed to reference works including the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Dictionary of American Music, African-American Almanac, and Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year; and to such anthologies as Reading Jazz, Setting The Tempo, The Louis Armstrong Companion, The Duke Ellington Reader, The Miles Davis Companion, and The Lester Young Reader.

Morgenstern has taught jazz history at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Brooklyn College (where he was also a visiting professor at the Institute for Studies in American Music), New York University, and the Schweitzer Institute of Music in Idaho. He served on the faculties of the Institutes in Jazz Criticism, jointly sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the Music Critics Association, and is on the faculty of the Masters Program in Jazz History and Research at Rutgers University.

Morgenstern is a former vice president and trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; was a co-founder of the Jazz Institute of Chicago; served on the boards of the New York Jazz Museum and the American Jazz Orchestra; and is a director of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation and the Mary Lou Williams Foundation. He has been a member of Denmark's International JAZZPAR Prize Committee since its inception in 1989.

A prolific annotator of record albums, Morgenstern has won seven Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes (1973, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1991, 1995, and 2006). He received ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award for Jazz People in 1977 and in 2005 for Living with Jazz.

JOANNE BRACKEEN
Lifetime Achievement Award
NEA Jazz Master, Pianist

Whatever the musical setting—whether solo, duo, trio, quartet, or quintet—pianist Joanne Brackeen's unique style of playing commands attention. In addition to her captivating and complex improvisations, she has written intricate, rhythmically daring compositions in a wide stylistic range. She is a full-time professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and a Berklee guest professor at the New School in New York City.

Brackeen was a child prodigy who at age 11, learned to play the piano in six months by transcribing eight Frankie Carle solos. By 12, she was already performing professionally. Some of her musical constituents at the time were Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, Bobby Hutcherson, Scott Lafaro, and Charles Lloyd. Simultaneously, the Los Angeles Conservatory heard of her musicianship and offered her a full scholarship. She attended classes less than one week before deciding the bandstand was more significant.

Brackeen married and moved her family, including four children, to New York in 1965. She began her career there with such luminaries as George Benson, Paul Chambers, Lee Konitz, Sonny Stitt, and Woody Shaw among others. She joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1969, becoming the first and only female member of the group, staying until 1972. Brackeen then performed extensively with Joe Henderson (1972-75) and Stan Getz (1975-77). After leaving Stan Getz' quartet, she emerged as a leader.

Traveling and performing mainly with her own band was a delightful and enriching experience for both Brackeen and her band members, which included Terence Blanchard, Michael Brecker, Ravi Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette, Eddie Gomez, Billy Hart, Horace "El Negro" Hernandez, Branford Marsalis, Cecil McBee, John Patitucci, Chris Potter, and Greg Osby. She has recorded more than two dozen recordings as a leader, which include 100 of her 300 original compositions. She appears on nearly 100 additional recordings.

Sharing her musical knowledge and passing on the tradition have been important parts of Brackeen's career. In addition to teaching at Berklee College of Music and the New School, she has led clinics, master classes, and artistic residencies worldwide.

Berklee College of Music has recognized Brackeen with the following prestigious honors: a Distinguished Professor Award, an Outstanding Achievement in Education Award, and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Award. Worldwide, she received an Outstanding Educator Award from the International Association for Jazz Education, a Living Legend Award from the International Women in Jazz, and the BNY Mellon Jazz 2014 Living Legacy Award. She also received two National Endowment for the Arts grants for commissions and performances and received a U.S. Department of State sponsorship for a tour of the Middle East and Europe in the mid-1980s. She continues to teach and tour internationally, and to date, she has played in 46 different countries.

TOM HARRELL
Lifetime Achievement Award
Trumpeter

Tom Harrell, (born June 16, 1946, Urbana, Illinois, U.S.), American jazz trumpet player and composer who was recognized for his lyrical improvisations and for his facility in both traditional and experimental styles of jazz.

Harrell spent most of his youth in the San Francisco Bay area, where he began playing in jazz groups when he was 13.

He graduated from Stanford University in 1969 with a major in music composition, and he also studied with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz.

His highly varied résumé included tours with a number of big bands, including those of Stan Kenton (1969) and Woody Herman (1970–71); work with pianist Bill Evans (1979); and performance in Konitz’s latter-day cool-jazz nonet (1979–81). It was as a trumpet soloist in the hard-bop (an extension of bebop) combos led by Horace Silver (1973–77) and Phil Woods (1983–89), however, that he attracted the most attention. All the while, Harrell was composing prolifically, and by the time he left Woods’s combo in 1989, he was recording with his own combo.

While fronting various groups in the 1990s, he also toured the United States and Europe as a freelance sideman, most notably with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra.

Harrell was ranked as top trumpet player in the 1996 Down Beat magazine critics poll, an honor that not only acknowledged his artistic accomplishment but ultimately vindicated his decision to lead his own groups and play his own compositions. The 1996 album Labyrinth, his first for a major label (RCA Victor), featured his compositions for quintet and nonet. The collection included works with standard chord changes, as well as “Cheetah,” a free jazz experiment with a spontaneous harmonic structure and shifting tempi, and “Darn That Dream,” a one-man duet, with Harrell’s flugelhorn solo accompanied by himself on piano.

Over the next few years, Harrell’s recordings—such as The Art of Rhythm (1998) and Paradise (2001)—tended to focus on large ensembles. He then began to shift his emphasis toward smaller groups on albums such as Light On (2007), Prana Dance (2009), and Infinity (2019).

HENRY THREADGILL
Lifetime Achievement Award
NEA Jazz Master, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Saxophonist, Flutist

Only three jazz artists have won a Pulitzer Prize. In spring 2016, Henry Threadgill joined Ornette Coleman and Wynton Marsalis as Pulitzer laureates, when he was honored for In For A Penny, In For A Pound (Pi, 2015), the latest album by Zooid, his unconventional quintet (reeds, acoustic guitar, cello, tuba, drums).

“Unconventional” describes not just Henry Threadgill’s music, but his life.

Born in Chicago in 1944, Henry grew up on the South Side, where parade bands and the blues filled the air. He played percussion, then clarinet in the Englewood High School band, but switched to sax at 16. Idolizing Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Lester Young, he adored Fritz Reiner’s Chicago Symphony and avant-classical composers like Luciano Berio. He was 17 when he joined the Muhal Richard Abrams’ Experimental Band, which later expanded into the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM); there he found like-minded musical explorers.

When bebop broke, most swing players thought it was nonsense and claimed boppers couldn’t play “real” jazz. The members of what became the AACM faced a similar reaction. So Henry performed at dances and parades, joined polka and Latin bands, sat in theater pits, and raised the roof in churches. He played the blues at joints like the South Side’s Blue Flame with local heroes like Left Hand Frank. All the while, he kept studying Berio, Stravinsky, and Debussy.

In 1967, he enlisted in the Army as a clarinetist-saxophonist, was upgraded to composer-arranger, and then shipped to Vietnam to join the 4th Infantry Division Band. Injured during the 1968 Tet offensive on his way back from guard duty, he was sent home and honorably discharged with two campaign ribbons.

He returned home for Chicago and reenlisted with what was now the AACM, but in 1970 left for the perennial lure of jazz’s Big Apple, New York City. For the next 40 years, while Henry challenged bedrock ideas about jazz, he settled into New York City, where he lives with his wife. Around the East Village, he’s a familiar face on the streets and in the cafes; old friends like Philip Glass and Allen Ginsburg and total strangers alike engage him in animated conversation. But he regularly decamped for months at a time to Goa to recharge his creativity in a faraway, very different world. That openness to ideas and experiences has always been vital to who Threadgill is and how his music works. As Charlie Parker put it, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.”

It was in the East Village—long a seedy, tumultuous haven for outsiders of all types—that Henry Threadgill launched the unconventional concepts that led to his Pulitzer-winning art. AIR (Artists In Residence), his 1970s trio, reimagined ragtime without the piano—a lot like dropping the electric guitar from rock. His 1980s Sextett, pairing complex compositions and dynamic soloists, combined heft and agility, and birthed the “little big band” sound. In the 1990s, Very Very Circus stepped deeper into unorthodoxy, with two electric guitars, two tubas, a trombone/French horn, drums, Henry’s alto sax and flute, and frequent add-ons. With Make A Move, a fluid lineup mixing French horn, tubas, electric and acoustic guitars, and cello, he began exploring the approaches to composing and improvising that led to Zooid. From 2000 on, Zooid became his primary vehicle.

As a composer and improviser, Henry sees artistic process and product as inseparable, the essence of jazz. Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus strove toward the same goal. Rooted in that history, Henry’s solutions have taken radical new tacks. For Zooid, the Pulitzer committee explained, “A set of three note intervals assigned to each player…serves as the starting point for improvisation.” Zooid’s musicians make in-the-moment decisions about structure, shaping the work-in-process. The unpredictable results are jazz’s “sound of surprise” updated for the 21st century.

After decades of probing music, cult status, and critical acclaim, Threadgill’s Pulitzer Prize caps growing high-culture recognition: 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award; 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award; 2008 United States Artist Fellowship; 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship. He is especially proud of being the first black non-classical musician to get a Copland House Residency Award. In July 2016, the annual Leadership Conference of the Vietnam Veterans of America honored him with their Excellence in the Arts award—a very special moment for the only Vietnam veteran ever awarded a Pulitzer for music.

ROBIN BELL-STEVENS
Contribution To The Arts Award
Director, Jazz Mobile

“Robin Bell-Stevens has spent decades as one of jazz’s most important behind-the-scenes figures –particularly in Harlem, where she now directs the Jazzmobile…” Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times

A talented arts administrator, marketing executive, fundraiser; special events producer, and a jazz impresario, Robin Bell-Stevens currently serves as director, and the executive producer of Jazzmobile, Inc., the oldest not-for-profit arts organization created with a mission, solely, to present, preserve and promote America’s classical music, jazz. Prior to joining Jazzmobile, Ms. Bell-Stevens served as Director of Marketing and Creative Services, Jazz at Lincoln Center; previously she was the Executive Producer of the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s “An Afternoon of Jazz” festival, where she worked with music director Dr. Billy Taylor, jazz writer George T. Simon, jazz impresarios Joyce and George Wein, and founder of the JRF, Rachel Robinson - presenting jazz greats and the occasional R&B artist such as Chaka Khan or Aretha Franklin. Bell-Stevens also created and produced a nine-day jazz festival in Dakar, Senegal, bringing dozens of jazz artists and nearly 500 tourists into this historic city in West Africa.

A daughter of a Jazz advocate and a community organizer; and a former Duke Ellington bassist, educator, composer, arranger, and band leader, Bell-Stevens grew up in a family that encouraged and fostered the importance of family, education, social justice, music, arts and in giving back to your community. As a volunteer, some of the governing and advisory boards she currently serves on are: The Jazz Forum for the Arts, The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation (Vice President), Jazz Studies at Columbia University, PJS Jazz Society, the Carter Burden Network, The Women’s Committee Board of Directors of the Central Park Conservancy, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (Senior Co-Chair, Arts & Culture Committee); and she is a former president of The New York Coalition of 100 Black Women—the flagship chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

A distinguished professional, some awards she has received include the, “Fan’s Decision Honoree of the Year – “Jazz Women of Courage,” Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium; Jazz Award,” Hot House Magazine; “Jazz Hero” Jazz Journalists Association; Pioneering Spirit Award, National Black Theater; “Amazing Woman In Jazz Award” International Women in Jazz; and a Citation for Community Service from Congressman Charles B. Rangel. 

She earned a master’s degree in education from Cambridge College.

JANET LUHRS
Founders Award
Executive Director, The Jazz Gallery

Since June of 2013, Janet Luhrs, assumed the position of Executive Director of The Jazz Gallery. As a former television producer, Executive Director, and General Manager, Janet has brought to the position management expertise in budgeting and financial oversight, fundraising, strategic planning, board governance and development, membership development and concert marketing.

Previously, Janet served as the Executive Director and General Manager of Musica Sacra of New York, a professional choral music organization (9 years) as well the Executive Director of Friends of FAWE – Forum for African Women Educationalists (3 years). Prior to that Janet served as the Executive Director of the International Teleproduction Society (11 years). Ms. Luhrs was the senior producer in charge of public affairs programming for WPIX-TV for fourteen years where she was nominated for an Emmy Award. Her awards and honors have included being named a CAE, Certified Association Executive by ASAE – the American Society of Association Executives, An Emmy Nomination, and listings in The World Who’s Who in Women, Who’s Who in American Politics, Who’s Who in Media, Who’s Who in Community Leaders, Who’s Who in Entertainment, and the Dictionary of International Biography.

Janet received a BA from Valparaiso University where she later was elected to serve on their Alumni Board. Her continuing education has included: Columbia University, The New School for Social Research, as well as Emory University Business School, Center for Leadership and Career Studies. She has attended numerous management conferences conducted by ASAE including the invitational Leadership Conference. 

She has served as a committee chair and vice chair for the New York Society of Association Executives.

KENNY BARRON

Honored by The National Endowment for the Arts as a 2010 Jazz Master, Kenny Barron has an unmatched ability to mesmerize audiences with his elegant playing, sensitive melodies and infectious rhythms. The Los Angeles Times named him “one of the top jazz pianists in the world” and Jazz Weekly calls him “The most lyrical piano player of our time.”

Philadelphia is the birthplace of many great musicians, including one of the undisputed masters of the jazz piano: Kenny Barron. Kenny was born in 1943 and while a teenager, started playing professionally with Mel Melvin’s orchestra. This local band also featured Barron’s brother Bill, the late tenor saxophonist.

While still in high school. Kenny worked with drummer Philly Joe Jones and at age 19, he moved to New York City and freelanced with Roy Haynes, Lee Morgan and James Moody, after the tenor saxophonist heard him play at the Five Spot. Upon Moody’s recommendation Dizzy Gillespie hired Barron in 1962 without even hearing him play a note. It was in Dizzy’s band where Kenny developed an appreciation for Latin and Caribbean rhythms. After five years with Dizzy, Barron played with Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, and Buddy Rich. The early seventies found Kenny working with Yusef Lateef who Kenny credits as a key influence in his art for improvisation. Encouraged by Lateef, to pursue a college education, Barron balanced touring with studies and earned his B.A. in Music from Empire State College, By 1973, Kenny joined the faculty at Rutgers University as professor of music. He held this tenure until 2000, mentoring many of today’s young talents including David Sanchez, Terence Blanchard and Regina Bell. In 1974 Kenny recorded his first album as a leader for the Muse label, entitled “Sunset To Dawn.” This was to be the first in over 40 recordings (and still counting!) as a leader.

Following stints with Ron Carter in the late seventies Kenny formed a trio with Buster Williams and Ben Riley which also worked alongside of Eddie Lockjaw” Davis, Eddie Harris, Sonny Stitt and Harry “Sweets” Edison. Throughout the 80’s Barron collaborated with the great tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, touring with his quartet and recording several legendary albums including “Anniversary”, “Serenity” and the Grammy nominated “People Time” Also during the 80’s, he co-founded the quartet “Sphere,”
along with Buster Williams, Ben Riley and Charlie Rouse. This band focused on the music of Thelonious Monk and original compositions inspired by him. Sphere recorded several outstanding projects for the Polygram label, among them “Four For All” and “Bird Songs.” After the death of Charlie Rouse, the band took a 15-year hiatus and reunited, replacing Rouse with alto saxophonist Gary Bartz. This reunion made its debut recording for Verve Records in 1998.

Kenny Barron’s own recordings for Verve have earned him nine Grammy nominations beginning in 1992 with “People Time” an outstanding duet with Stan Getz followed by the Brazilian influenced “Sambao and most recently for “Freefall” in 2002. Other Grammy nominations went to “Spirit Song”, “Night and the City” (a duet recording with Charlie Haden) and “Wanton Spirit” a trio recording with Roy Haynes and Haden. It is important to note that these three recordings each received double-Grammy nominations (for album and solo performance.) His CD, “Canta Brasil” (Universal France) linked Barron with Trio de Paz in a fest of original Brazilian jazz, and was named Critics Choice Top Ten CDs of 2003 by JazzIz Magazine. His 2004 release, Images (Universal France) was inspired by a suite originally commissioned by The Wharton Center at Michigan State University and features multi-Grammy nominated vibraphonist Stefon Harris. The long awaited trio sequel featuring Ray Drummond and Ben Riley, The Perfect Set, Live At Bradley’s, Part Two (Universal France/Sunnyside) was released October 2005.

In Spring 2008 Mr. Barron released The Traveler (Universal France), an intoxicating mix of favorite Barron tunes set to lyrics and newly penned compositions. For his first vocal based recording, Barron invited Grady Tate (who sheds his drumsticks for this special appearance), Tony award winner Ann Hampton Calloway and the young phenom Gretchen Parlato, winner of the Thelonious Monk International Competition for Jazz. On “Um Beijo”, Mr. Tate’s warm, leathery voice balanced by Mr. Barron’s poignant touch make for a beautifully textured conversation, underscoring their longtime on stage collaboration. Another Barron original, “Clouds” is a lush vehicle for Ann Hampton Calloway’s romantic pitch-perfect yearnings matched with Barron’s trademark mastery of subtlety. The dramatic “Phantoms” intertwines Parlato’s ephemeral intimacy and syncopatic rhythms in an emotional escapade between Barron’s haunting notes, the West African stylings of guitarist Lionel Loueké, drummer Francisco Mela (who also adds a Cuban flavor to the vocals) and the driving bass of Kiyoshi Kitagawa. The journey continues with the aptly named “Duet” an improvisation with Benin-born Loueké who also joins the trio for a rousing version of Barron’s “Calypso”. A composer who relishes in the moment, Barron’s modern approach is highlighted by alto saxophonist Steve Wilson’s open musings on “Illusion” and “The Traveler” who also brings an urgency to the fun-paced “Speed Trap”.

After a successful musical meeting of the minds with bassist Dave Holland, the two masters decided to collaborate on a duet project to be released on Impulse/Universal records in 2014 followed by a tour.

Barron consistently wins the jazz critics and readers polls, including Downbeat, Jazz Times and Jazziz magazines. The famed Spanish ceramist Lladro honored Mr. Barron with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater SUNY Empire State in 2013 and from Berklee College of Music in 2011. In 2009 he received the Living Legacy Award from Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame and won a MAC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. He is a six-time recipient of Best Pianist by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Whether he is playing solo, trio or quintet, Kenny Barron is recognized the world over as a master of performance and composition.

MARIA SCHNEIDER

Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, imaginative, revelatory, riveting, daring, and beyond categorization.” Blurring the lines between genres, her varied commissioners stretch from Jazz at Lincoln Center, to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, to the American Dance Festival, and include collaboration with David Bowie. She is among a small few to receive GRAMMYS in multiple genres, having received the award in jazz and classical, as well as for her work with David Bowie.

With her first recording, Evanescence (1994), Schneider began developing her personal way of writing for her 18-member collective made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring her compositions to the uniquely creative voices of the group. They have performed at festivals and concert halls worldwide, and she herself has received numerous commissions and guest-conducting invites, working with over 90 groups in over 30 countries.

Unique funding of projects has become a hallmark for Schneider through the trend-setting company, ArtistShare. And, in 2004, Concert in the Garden became historic as the first recording to win a GRAMMY with Internet-only sales. Even more significantly, it blazed the "crowd-funding" trail as ArtistShare’s first release, and was eventually inducted into the 2019 National Recording Registry.

Schneider’s many honors also include: 14 GRAMMY-nominations, 7 GRAMMY Awards, numerous Jazz Journalists Association awards, DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES Critics and Readers Polls awards, an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, the University of Minnesota, ASCAP’s esteemed Concert Music Award (2014), the nation's highest honor in jazz, “NEA Jazz Master” (2019) (NEA Jazz Master Speech found here), and election into the 2020 American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A strong voice for music advocacy, Schneider has testified before the US Congressional Subcommittee on Intellectual Property on digital rights, has given commentary on CNN, participated in round-tables for the United States Copyright Office, has been quoted in numerous publications for her views on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Google, digital rights, and music piracy, and has written various white papers and articles on the digital economy as related to music and beyond.

Her latest double-album, Data Lords (2020), a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, winner of two GRAMMY Awards, named Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association and NPR, and winner of France's prestigious Grand Prix de l'Académie du Jazz, has melded her advocacy and art: Nate Chinen of NPR writes: “Now it's finally here, in the form of a magnificent double album, Data Lords. . . it parses into thematic halves, "The Digital World" and, as an antidote, "The Natural World." On the whole and in the details, it amounts to the most daring work of Schneider's career, which sets the bar imposingly high. This is music of extravagant mastery, and it comes imbued with a spirit of risk."

David Hajdu for THE NATION writes, “Beyond the dualism in its format, Data Lords is a work of holistic creativity. The music of outrage and critique in the first album has all the emotion and conceptual integrity that the music of melancholy and reverence does in the second. I can’t conceive of anyone else creating this music, unless Delius has been writing with Bowie on the other side.”

JEFF ‘TAIN’ WATTS

Jeff Watts, the drummer they call "Tain," spent his formative years with Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and his compositional skills now command equal attention. 

Jeff initially majored in classical percussion at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University, where he was primarily a timpanist, followed by enrollment  at the Berklee School of Music.

Jeff joined the Wynton Marsalis Quartet in 1981 and proceeded to win  three Grammy Awards with the ensemble: Black Codes From The Underground,  J Mood and Marsalis Standard Time - Vol. 1. Watts left Wynton Marsalis in 1988.  After working with George Benson, Harry Connick. Jr. and McCoy Tyner, he joined the Branford Marsalis Quartet in 1989, winning Grammy's for I Heard You Twice the First Time and Contemporary Jazz. 

In the film and television industry Jeff has appeared as both a musician on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and as an actor, Rhythm Jones in  Spike Lee’s "Mo Better Blues". Jeff joined Kenny Garrett's band after  returning to New York in 1995 and continued to record and tour with  Branford Marsalis as well as Danilo Perez, Michael Brecker, Betty  Carter, Kenny Kirkland, Courtney Pine, Geri Allen, Alice Coltrane, Greg  Osby, McCoy Tyner, Steve Coleman, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Harry Connick Jr,  and Ravi Coltrane.

Jeff has an extensive discography as a side-man, as well as ten albums as a leader: 
Citizen Tain (Sony 1999) 
Bar Talk (Sony 2002) 
MegaWatts (Sunnyside 2003)
Detained, Live at the Blue Note (Half Note 2004)
Folk's Songs (Dark Key Music 2007)
WATTS (Dark Key Music 2009)
Family (Dark Key Music 2011)
Blue, Vol. 1 (Dark Key Music 2015)
Wattify (Dark Key Music 2016)
Blue, Vol. 2 (Dark Key Music 2016)
Travel Band, Detined in Amsterdam (Dark Key Music 2018)

Along with explosive power, blinding speed and mastery of complex  rhythms and time signatures, Watts brings a rare sense of elegance,  tried-by-fire composure, and a gritty street funk to his music. His  artistic ingenuity expresses itself in his incomparable technique,  sweltering sense of swing, and an extraordinary ability to imbue his  music with majestic grace and elegant repose.

A true jazz innovator, Watts never fails to deliver the percussive magic  that has been his trademark since his emergence on the contemporary  jazz scene.

RIO SAKAIRI

A leader and advocate in equal measure, Rio Sakairi has worked as Artistic Director for New York’s award-winning Jazz Gallery since 2000. In the past two decades, she’s transformed the humble art space into the city’s incubator for emerging talent. Countless artists who first cut their teeth at the Gallery have gone on to headline the music’s most distinguished festivals, venues and concert halls, from North Sea and Newport Jazz Festivals to the Village Vanguard and Carnegie Hall. 

Rio became a champion of the scene’s future heroes by embracing uncertainty as the prelude to transformation. After traveling to New York in 1990 from Tsuchiura, Japan, she earned a dual degree in music and liberal arts from the New School for Social Research. In 2000, she committed to raising $5,000 for an AIDS vaccine bike ride across Alaska, but letter writing and party hosting failed to raise the full amount. Undeterred, Rio began cobbling together a concert fundraiser—contacting Dale Fitzgerald to use his then-newly acquired performance space. The concert raised more than $2,000 and, overnight, Rio’s grit and focus became indispensable to the Gallery’s long-shot success. 

Spot-cleaning the bathroom and collecting tickets at the door soon gave way to Rio’s primary responsibility and true passion: programming. In a full-throttle effort to “present quality music with a non-existent budget,” she would rummage through boxes of CD submissions that included yet unknown names Jean-Michel Pilc, Gretchen Parlato, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Lizz Wright, Robert Glasper and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Vijay Iyer, among others. 

Rio’s own individualism reflects what she’s always sought in the Gallery’s programming selections. “When I hear you play, I want to know who you are,” she says. That spirit is the centerpiece of the dynamic, sprawling community she’s fostered within the four walls of The Jazz Gallery. Her commitment to supporting unique, deeply personal expression over technical mastery has positioned the Gallery as the home for the next generation of talent. 

But offering emerging artists a space of their own comes with its own setbacks. No stranger to destitution, Rio often found herself struggling to put together a weekend show with less than $20 in her own checking account. But her will to keep all the Gallery’s stakeholders happy persisted—especially the artists themselves. “When I started in 2000, I had a goal,” she says, “that getting a gig at The Gallery would mean something special for young cats—like their first step to being recognized. I think we achieved that goal.”

Under Rio’s leadership, the space has grown to produce more than 300 shows each year. Those performances include essential links to community building that comprise The Jazz Gallery Artist Mentorship Series and The Jazz Gallery Residency Commission Series. She has also spearheaded a multitude of programming initiatives over the years, including the Gallery’s Large Ensemble Commissioning Series, Composers Series, “New Voices” vocal series and the recurring “Trumpet Shall Sound” series featuring one of the Gallery’s co-founders, the late Roy Hargrove. Through the years, Rio’s instincts and hard work have garnered critical attention and praise, including  the Jazz Journalist Association Jazz Hero Award, multiple ASCAP/CMA Awards for Adventurous Programming, New York Magazine’s “The Best Jazz Den” award, TimeOut New York’s “#1 Live Music Venue in NYC” award and a nod from The New York Times for “The most imaginatively booked club in the city”.  Nate Chinen (WBGO, The New York Times) called Rio, “one of the most influential arts programmers of our times.”

Fulfilling a lifelong commitment to fostering creative expression beyond the Gallery stage, Rio has served on major advisory boards and panels for North Sea Jazz Festival, AIR Serenbe, So What's Next? Jazz Festival, Doris Duke Performance Award, Jerome Foundation and Chamber Music America. 

After nearly 20 years serving The Jazz Gallery community, Rio is only beginning to flex her leadership muscles. She looks forward to producing more large-scale performances and programs outside the Gallery—her attitude of accomplishment already in place. “Having a clear picture of where you want to be and what you want to do is really important,” she says. “If your destination is clear and you are not scared of hard work, I think pretty much anything is doable.”