1986 – Thelonious Monk 1987 – Stan Kenton 1988 – Stevie Wonder 1989 – Billie Holiday 1990 – Ray Charles 1991 – Chris Connor, From Kenton to Rediscovery 1992 – Mahalia Jackson 1993 – Aretha Franklin 1994 – Sarah Vaughan 1995 – Al Green 1996 – Abbey Lincoln 1997 – Duke Ellington 1998 – Horace Silver 1999 – Charles Mingus 2000 – Miles Davis, the unpopular 2001 – Bill Evans 2002 – George Russell 2003 – Ornette Coleman 2004 – Mahalia Jackson 2005 – John Coltrane 2006 – Dmitri Shostakovich 2007 – Chris Connor, New Again 2008 – Gunther Schuller Sign Up for Ran’s Monthly E-Newsletter