The following year he was recognized as a jazz master by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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Pulitzer panelists used their prerogative to skirt traditional rules by purchasing the CD and nominating the 77-year-old jazz master.

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In 2000, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Byrd as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor.

WSJ: Innovative jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd dies at 80

Now, Brackeen is a professor at Berklee College of Music, with piano master classes and jazz ensembles.

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And then like in a band called the Jazz Masters, it was conducted by Slide Hampton, I met Jimmy and he told me I'm working the program, jazz program at Queens College, so if you want to finish your Master's, maybe we can work out something.

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In the 1960s, Byrd, who had received his master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, turned his attention to jazz education.

WSJ: Innovative jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd dies at 80