The Donostiako Jazzaldia Award was introduced in 1994 to recognise the career and example of enormously important artists in the jazz of yesterday and today.
The 2018 Award will be presented during the Festival to the singer Mary Stallings and the multi-instrumentalist Michel Portal.
The catalogue of names to have won the award constitutes an impressive list of some of the leading jazz talents.
1994: Doc Cheatham
1995: Phil Woods
1996: Hank Jones
1997: Steve Lacy
1998: Chick Corea
1999: Max Roach and Clark Terry
2000: Kenny Barron
2001: Ray Brown
2002: Elvin Jones
2003: Bebo Valdés
2004: Shirley Horn and Fernando Trueba
2005: Keith Jarrett and Charles Mingus (in memoriam)
2006: Herbie Hancock
2007: Wayne Shorter
2008: Ahmad Jamal
2009: Roy Haynes
2010: Ron Carter
2011: Toots Thielemans
2012: Jimmy Cobb and Pierre Lafont (in memoriam)
2013: Lee Konitz and Juan Claudio Cifuentes
2014: Toshiko Akiyoshi
2015: Benny Golson
2016: Ellis Marsalis
2017: Charles Lloyd
