The National Arts Club (NAC), founded in 1898 to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts while educating the
American people in the fine arts, will present the distinguished Jazz Medal of Honor to world-renowned trumpet player, composer, arranger and educator Jon Faddis at a black tie dinner on June 13, at the historic Tilden Mansion in New York City.
Faddis, musical director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band for the past decade and Artist-in-Residence at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College (SUNY), is the fifth honoree to receive the jazz award, joining pianist Dick Hyman, the JVC Jazz Festival, pianist George Shearing and saxophonist Benny Carter in taking home the coveted medal. The National Arts Club also annually presents the Gold Medal of Honor for Music; and since 1957, has bestowed the award upon Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers, Sir Rudolf Bing, Alice Tully, Avery Fisher, Isaac Stern, Marian Andersen, Placido Domingo, Roberta Peters, Benny Goodman and other renowned musicians and patrons of the arts.
"Jon Faddis – a man whose lifetime contributions to jazz have enriched our cultural landscape – is the perfect recipient of the club's highest recognition," said O. Aldon James, Jr., president of the National Arts Club.
"I'm extremely pleased and proud to be the 2001-2002 recipient of the Jazz Medal of Honor," said Faddis. "To have my name placed among such luminaries of jazz and music is truly an honor and a blessing. Thanks to my parents, my instructors and my mentor and dear friend, the late Dizzy Gillespie, I learned early to dedicate myself to excellence. However, to achieve excellence and a true sense of purpose, a musician has to give out as much as he or she takes in. That's why it is so important for me to work with young people and push them toward their dreams. I'm honored that the National Arts Club has looked at my life's work and deemed it worthy to receive this award."
