The National Endowment for the Arts has named bassist Stanley Clarke, drummer Billy Hart and vocalist Cassandra Wilson to the 2022 class of NEA Jazz Masters.

Saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr., was also announced as the recipient of the 2022 A.B Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy.

Awarded annually since 1982, these fellowships are the United States’ highest honour bestowed upon jazz musicians, broadcasters and advocates. Recipients are regarded as “living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.”

The year’s four honourees will each receive a $25,000 award to go along with their title.

The 2021 NEA Jazz Masters were drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, percussionist Henry Threadgill, saxophonist Albert “Tootie” Heath and historian Phil Schaap. Other past honourees include Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Dianne Reeves.

The four recipients will be honoured with a concert on March 31, produced by SFJAZZ in San Francisco in front of a live audience. It will also be livestreamed online.