America’s highest jazz honours have been awarded to vibraphonist Gary Burton, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp who all become the NEA Jazz Masters for 2016 and to Wendy Oxenhorn, executive director and vice chair of the Jazz Foundation of America, who is awarded the 2016 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.

Each year since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has conferred these awards to distinguished recipients in recognition of their lifetime achievements and exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.

A concert honouring the recipients will take place in April 2016 at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall.

Archie Shepp, above