Herbie Hancock Receives NEA Jazz Award

03/31/2004 8:42 PM, AP


Nine-time Grammy winner Herbie Hancock was honored Wednesday with the Jazz Masters Fellowship Award from the National Endowment of the Arts.

Hancock received the award, the government's most prestigious honor for jazz musicians, after performing at halftime of the NBA game between the Washington Wizards and New Jersey Nets.

This year's other Jazz Masters recipients were honored in January, but Hancock was unable to attend the ceremony in New York. Past recipients of the award include Count Basie, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald , Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan .

Hancock released his first album, "Takin' Off" in 1963. His album "Future Shock" in 1983 produced the hit single "Rockit." He also won an Oscar in 1987 for the soundtrack to the movie "Round Midnight."