Randy Weston’s African Rhythms Quintet

NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston is an internationally renowned pianist, composer, band leader and cultural ambassador. 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. Randy Weston was selected in 2001 along with John Lewis and Jackie McLean.

Although Weston cites Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum as piano heroes, it was Thelonious Monk who had the greatest impact on him. “He was the most original I ever heard,” Mr. Weston remembers. After contributing six decades of musical direction and genius, Randy Weston remains one of the world's foremost pianists and composers, a true innovator and visionary. "Weston has the biggest sound of any jazz pianist since Ellington and Monk, as well as the richest most inventive beat," states jazz critic Stanley Crouch.