2026 Jazz Heroes

Rev. Carl Walker and Grant West share a lifelong commitment to music education, community empowerment, and cultural preservation.

Paul Arslanian leads the Northampton Jazz Workshop, a year-round organization that brings leading musicians to Northampton every week.

As the founding executive director of Montavilla Jazz, Neil Mattson has spent more than a decade elevating Portland’s jazz scene.

Michael Mordecai's Elephant Room, and endured and flourished as a bastion of local improvisational creativity.

Lisa Hagen Glynn is known for for her diverse and talented coverage of arts, culture, and justice events in Seattle.

Over the past four decades no one in the San Francisco Bay Area has done more to breathe life into...

As director of jazz programming at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Kevin Struthers shaped one of the nation’s most...

After decades of experience, a strong musical lineage, and a passion for community, Damen Cook continues to be a vital...

Derrick Lucas has been Rochester's voice of jazz as music director and DJ at Jazz 90.1 WGMC, the city's only...

Lauren Parks' work gave rise to the House of Miles, a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring Davis’ legacy.