NEA Jazz Masters - 2020

[Dan Gould]

  On 5/22/2019 at 2:30 PM, kh1958 said:

Perhaps they only have funding for four.

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I think this is the issue.  And I am sure that it is political, though not in the sense that healthcare or tax policy is political but in the same sense that the efforts to get Wynton his Pulitzer was political.

[JSngry]

All of the "prestigious" awards involve processes, which by definition involve "politics". It's not like five guys named Moe show up for coffee one day and one Moe says, oh yeah, about these awards, whaddya' say we give Reggie Workman a piece this year, and all the other Moes say, yeah, that'll work. Now who else?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Googling NEA Jazz Masters brought up this really great story: https://www.joealtermanmusic.com/new-page-1

It's a great read.

Most telling was when he was talking about Yusef Yateef just before he took the stage. He wrote that he looked "very thankful that he, and especially he (an often underappreciated and under-recognized, yet more than deserving jazz master) specifically received this award before it was too late".

[bertrand]

Dee Dee Bridgewater's acceptance speech was a travesty. She complained that the $25K was not enough to pay for making her next CD...

[Hardbopjazz]

  On 5/21/2019 at 6:33 PM, bresna said:

Harold Mabern should have gotten this a long time ago. This bugs me.

While I'm sure Dorthann Kirk has done great things for the Jazz world and a well deserved nominee, this is the first time I've heard her name.

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Yeah, Mabern should be recognized. He deserves this.  

[AllenLowe]

Mabern? Too much of a basher for me, dull and repetitive. Kirk was an odd choice, because she occupies a category that fits about 1,000 people.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

So the NEA Jazz Masters selection committee waited long enough - Harold Mabern died... So they saved money!! Yay for them!

[JSngry]

No, they didn't save any money. They spent it elsewhere. But it definitely got spent, not saved.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Up to 7 artists can be elected each year. They never elect 7. So yes, they did save money. They were budgeted for $175,000 and they only spent $100,000. They saved $75,000.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

BTW - even with Trump's threats to de-fund the National Endowment For The Arts, their budget has steadily increased in each of the past 5 years.

2015	$146,021,000
2016	$147,949,000
2017	$149,849,000
2018	$152,849,000
2019	$155,000,000

And in case you are wondering, $75,000 is .048% of their budget.

[bertrand]

Did anyone nominate Mabern?

[JSngry]

  On 9/21/2019 at 3:33 AM, bertrand said:

Did anyone nominate Mabern?

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This.

Also, my exposure to departmental budgets has always been that you spent every penny you have been given because "savings" are a signal that they gave you too much this year and you're letting them know that you don't need that much next year.