Jazz legend and Hilton Head Island resident Mose Allison was among those honored by the National Endowment for the Arts earlier this week at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Allison, 86, was among four other musicians and composers who received the NEA's Jazz Masters award, an honor previously shared by more than 120 musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Herbie Hancock.
Allison's career has spanned 60 years, and his songs have been covered by The Who, The Clash, Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison.
In presenting the honor, which also includes a $25,000 cash prize, the NEA said though Allison is best known for blues and jazz, his work "defies categorization and has been a major influence on musicians regardless of genre for more than 50 years."
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"Mose Allison's fusion of jazz and blues has created a new sound uniquely his own, influencing scores of musicians and songwriters after him," NEA chairman Rocco Landesman said.
The other honorees this year included saxophonist Lou Donaldson, pianist and bandleader Eddie Palmieri and Lorraine Gordon, owner of the famed Village Vanguard jazz club in New York City.
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