Press Release – Carmen Lundy

Carmen Lundy is named 2026 NEA Jazz Master

Nate Jones — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 02:47:07 +0000

Washington, DC—The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest award bestowed by our nation on jazz musicians and advocates. On November 21, 2025, the NEA announced the newest recipients of this honor: Carmen Lundy, Airto Moreira, Patrice Rushen, and A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy recipient Rhonda Hamilton.

NEA Senior Advisor Mary Anne Carter said, “As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary in 2026, the NEA is proud to also honor these individuals who have played a significant role in jazz, considered one of our country’s greatest cultural gifts to the world. As with our nation, jazz is an art form with a rich heritage that continues to evolve, thanks to those who have dedicated their lives and creativity to this music over generations.”

Jazz broadcaster Rhonda Hamilton, recipient of the 2026 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy, played a key role in the early days of jazz radio station WBGO-FM and has served as a trusted guide for generations of jazz listeners, including in her current role as host of a weekday radio show on KKJZ-FM in Los Angeles.
Vocalist, composer, and arranger Carmen Lundy’s multifaceted artistry has significantly influenced modern jazz over a career spanning more than five decades and including more than 150 published songs.
Drummer, percussionist, composer, and educator Airto Moreira is a defining voice in jazz percussion, with skills on instruments ranging from the tambourine to the bongos.
Pianist, composer, musical director, and educator Patrice Rushen has led a pioneering career that bridges jazz, R&B, classical, and pop genres. Her distinctive sound blends melodic sophistication and instrumental prowess.

In response to receiving this honor, Carmen stated: “I would like to thank the NEA for this meaningful recognition. My life’s work is a sum of many parts. Throughout my 50 plus years as a jazz musician I have been shown the world through this music and feel proud to be an American ambassador to this original art form. I’m truly grateful to be standing on the shoulders of the teachers, the ancestors, the veteran musicians and singers who have come before me and helped shape the beautiful, rich sounds and stories revealing the infinite possibilities and power in the art of creating great jazz music.”

Visit arts.gov for more information about the 2026 NEA Jazz Masters. High-resolution photos of the 2026 NEA Jazz Masters are available for media use.

The NEA will honor the 2026 Jazz Masters at a free concert on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and streamed online. More information, including how to reserve tickets, will be available in early 2026.

About the NEA Jazz Masters

Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has awarded 181 fellowships to great figures in jazz, such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Kenny Barron, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dave Brubeck, Regina Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, Bobby McFerrin, Dan Morgenstern, Maria Schneider, Wayne Shorter, Henry Threadgill, and Chucho Valdés.

The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are awarded to living individuals on the basis of nominations from the public including members of the jazz community. NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships are $25,000 and can be received once in a lifetime.

Explore the NEA’s website for photos and bios of all of the NEA Jazz Masters, as well as archived concerts, video tributes, podcasts, and more than 350 NEA Jazz Moments audio clips. The National Endowment for the Arts has also supported the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, an effort to document the lives and careers of nearly 100 NEA Jazz Masters.

[original source]

Carmen Lundy is Named Recipient of the 2025 Jazz Legacies Fellowship

Nate Jones — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 03:04:25 +0000

JazzTimes once proclaimed that “musicians as diversely gifted as Carmen Lundy, who has excelled as a vocalist, composer, lyricist, arranger and pianist for more than three decades, remain far and few between.” Having composed and published more than 150 original songs, with 16 albums as a bandleader, she has not only been a consummate interpreter of the jazz repertoire; she has contributed significantly to expanding it.

Twice nominated for a Grammy for Modern Ancestors and Fade To Black, Lundy is also the recipient of the RoundGlass Music Award, as well as the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz by Black Women in Jazz and the Arts. She was awarded the inaugural Centennial Medal of Honor in 2023 from the University of Miami as a distinguished alumna; among her other awards and recognitions, especially rewarding was Miami-Dade’s County Office of the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners proclaiming January 25th “Carmen Lundy Day,” along with handing Ms. Lundy the keys to the City of Miami.

Throughout her journey, Lundy has kept her focus on how she can expand her beloved art form. “Some of the greatest contributors to the music that we call jazz are no longer with us, so what do we do?” she has said. “We can ‘boo-hoo’ or we can pick up the torch and the mantle and keep pressing.”

Learn more about her legacy.

Congratulations, Carmen, for receiving the Jazz Legacies Fellowship from the Mellon Foundation . We are proud to honor and celebrate the groundbreaking musicians who have shaped the very nature of jazz.

For Your Grammy Voting Consideration: Carmen Lundy – Code Noir

Elisabeth — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 18:47:24 +0000

Lundy’s ruggedly conversational lyrics and welcome social commentary inhabit territory Abbey Lincoln and Marvin Gaye both might recognize. Her voice swoops down and provides a focal point. It’s sensuality. It’s wisdom, it’s curiosity – they all roll into a fetching package.” – DownBeat

“Musicians as diversely gifted as Carmen Lundy, who has excelled as a vocalist, composer, lyricist, arranger, guitarist and keyboardist for more than three decades, remain far and few between.” – Jazz Times

Los Angeles, California. On the heels of her celebrated CD “CODE NOIR” released earlier this year, Jazz vocalist Carmen Lundy has announced additional tour dates to take place this Fall and Winter. With stops in New York City November 11th (a live PBS special taping, The Historymakers Honor Franklin Thomas), a four night run at The Jazz Showcase in Chicago November 30th-December 3rd, December 9th at Scullers in Boston and South Jazz in Philadelphia on December 16th and 17th, Lundy will close out 2017 on a high note following rave reviews of the album and her accompanying live performances. Also slated for February is a date at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden on Valentine’s Day 2018 and a featured spot at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival in Baltimore on February 18th.

Never one to limit her creative journeys, Lundy explores the realms of Jazz, Blues, Brazilian Samba and Pop on CODE NOIR with a multitude of messages that reflect not only the complexities of her own mindset, but the disparity of the world at large. Poignant, heartfelt, angry, joyous, shocked, and saddened are just a few of the emotions conveyed by this wonderfully evocative singer on CODE NOIR via this highly personal musical voyage.

“These songs encompass the musical and artistic influences from the African diaspora and its influence on jazz and other musical genres – the bossa nova, the blues, swing, funk, the exploration into the avant-garde,” says Carmen. “Yet they also encompass the many emotions that are currently prevalent in this country. We are going through tough times with a country that is sorely divided and many of these tracks reflect the feelings that we as human beings are going through on an individual level. CODE NOIR actually refers to the first law ever written by a person in power of a sovereign nation/empire – the King of France Louis XIV – the first law to disallow and make illegal the integration of the African race into white European society.

Lundy either wrote or co-wrote all twelve tracks on the record which features Patrice Rushen on piano, Ben Williams on bass, Jeff Parker on electric guitar, Kendrick Scott on drums and percussion and Elisabeth Oei on background vocals. In addition to vocals, Lundy also plays keyboards and guitar.

For additional information please visit www.CarmenLundy.com. For media and interview requests, please contact:
Alisse Kingsley / Muse Media
323-467-8508
AlissetheMuse@aol.com

CODE NOIR, the new album from vocalist/composer CARMEN LUNDY, due for release on February 17, 2017

Elisabeth — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 21:37:32 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Los Angeles, California. CODE NOIR, the stunning new CD from critically-lauded vocalist Carmen Lundy, is slated for release February 17th via Afrasia Productions. Never one to limit her creative journeys, Lundy explores the realms of Jazz, Blues, Brazilian Samba and Pop with a multitude of messages that reflect not only the complexities of her own mindset, but the disparity of the world at large. Poignant, heartfelt, joyous, shocked, saddened and impassioned are just a few of the emotions conveyed by this wonderfully evocative singer on CODE NOIR in a highly personal musical voyage.

“These songs encompass the musical and artistic influences from the African diaspora and its influence on jazz and other musical genres – the bossa nova, the blues, swing, funk, the exploration into the avant-garde,” says Carmen. “Yet they also encompass the many emotions that are prevalent in this country right now. We are going through tough times with a country that is sorely divided and many of these tracks reflect the feelings that we as human beings are going through on an individual level. CODE NOIR actually refers to the first law ever written by a person in power of a sovereign nation/empire – the King of France Louis XIV – the first law to disallow and make illegal the integration of the African race into white European society.”

Having written or co-written all twelve tracks on the album, Carmen envelops her listeners from the start with the questioning opening song, “Another Chance” – a thought-provoking title truly pertinent in the world today. “Live Out Loud” encourages us to do just that while “Black And Blues” is about our present affairs, “the legacy of the black experience in America,” says Carmen. “The unplanned fallout and result of legislating and legalizing systemic racism.” She adds, “The electric guitar in the song illustrates its contribution to all things defining American culture through song.”

On another heartfelt level the glories of love at first – and second – sight are explored on “Second Sight” while “The Island, The Sea and You,” a song Carmen wrote while on a trip to Hawaii, is an ode to the love of Lundy’s life. The infectious “Have A Little Faith” explores the rhythms born of the African experience and originating from the African continent which the singer has always loved – and as an African American, has always identified with – while the lyrics of “Whatever It Takes” implore us to be strong in the face of this imperfect world.

The tracks “I Got Your Number,” “I Keep Falling” and “You Came Into My Life” are keen observations on the state of the modern-day romantic relationship in all its various stages. The CD closes with the inspired “Kumbaya,” originally spoken as ‘Come By Here’ in the south, “perhaps in the Gullah language of slaves from Angola brought to the Carolinas, to my understanding,” says Carmen. “It’s a song to my family. A plea to humanity.”

Masterfully accompanying Carmen on the new album is Patrice Rushen on piano who once again joins Carmen on this outing, Ben Williams on acoustic and electric bass, Jeff Parker on electric guitar, Kendrick Scott on drums and percussion and Elisabeth Oei on background vocals. In addition to vocals, Lundy also plays keyboards and guitar and arranged all the songs.

The release of CODE NOIR will be accompanied by tour dates both here in the US and abroad. For additional information please visit www.CarmenLundy.com. For media and interview requests, please contact Alisse Kingsley at Muse Media, 323-467-8508: e: AlissetheMuse@aol.com.