Awards and Honors (1954 - 2007) [Download]
º Indiana University Scholastic Achievement Award, 1954
º Indiana University Philharmonic Gold Award, 1954
º Indiana Music Promoters Merit Award, 1959
º down beat magazine Hall of Fame Scholarship Award, 1959
º Best Big Band, Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, 1959
º Indiana University Cream and Crimson Award
º down beat magazine New Star Award: Trombone, 1962
º Cellist with Best Jazz Group, Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival,1964
º Outstanding Musician Award, National Association of Negro Musicians, 1968
º Hall of Fame, Crispus Attucks High School (Indianapolis, IN), 1968
º down beat magazine Award for the Best Composition of the 1970 National Collegiate
Jazz Festival
º Pulitzer Prize Nomination for Levels: A Concerto for Solo Contrabass, Jazz Band, Flute
Quartet, Horn Quartet, and String Quartet, 1973
º Indiana Distinguished Citizen Award, 1976
º National Association of Negro Musicians Special Award, 1976
º Key to the City of Indianapolis, IN
º Member, Indianapolis Jazz Hall of Fame
º Grammy Award Nomination for the liner notes to New World Record
NW-228: Jazz and Black Elements in Art Music
º National Endowment for the Arts grant
º National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award, 1981
º Dr. Martin Luther King Drum Major Award, 1982
º Outstanding Achievement in Business and the Professions Award:
Arts/Music/Theatre. Leadership Development Center, 1983
º President's Award for Distinguished Teaching, Indiana University, 1986
º Jazz Educators Poll Winner, Jazz Educators Journal, 1986
º down beat magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, 1987
º Artistic Achievement Award, Indianapolis Musicians (Local 3) and the
American Federation of Musicians, 1988
º Resolutions in honor of David N. Baker, Jr. by the Indiana General
Assembly, 1989
º Arts Midwest Jazz Masters Award, 1990
º Governor's Arts Award, State of Indiana, 1991
º Honoree, New York Brass Conference for Scholarships, 1991
º Sigma Delta Chi Leather Medal Award, Indiana University School of
Journalism, 1991
º Honorary doctorate, Doctor of Humane Letters, Wabash College, 1993
º down beat magazine Jazz Education Hall of Fame, 1994
º Chevalier du violoncelle, Eva Janzer Cello Center, Indiana University School of Music,
1995
º Citation for outstanding contributions to the field of music in the United
States and worldwide, National Federation of Music Clubs, 1995
º Named an Ambassador to the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, 1995
º Honoree, “Salute to Indiana’s African American Jazz Artists”.
Indianapolis chapter of LINKS, Inc. (philanthropic organization)
º Honoree, “Stars in the Sidewalk”. A star bearing David Baker's name was
placed in the sidewalk outside the historic Walker Theatre in Indianapolis
as a part of the Indiana Avenue Walk of Fame project.
º National Jazz Scholarship Award, International Jazz Hall of Fame, 1997
º Honoree, mural entitled “Indiana Avenue Jazz: The Street of Dreams’", Indianapolis,
IN. David Baker’s portrait appears in this mural of famous jazz musicians from
Indianapolis
º 1998 Teaching Excellence Recognition Award, Indiana University School of Music
º Grammy Award Nomination in the category Best New Work by a
Contemporary Composer for the recording of his composition Sonata
for Clarinet and Piano from the compact disc Welcome Home: A
Collection of American Works for Clarinet and Piano (Arabesque
Recordings Z6703), 1998
º American Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, 2000
º Brown Derby Award, Indiana University Society of Professional Journalists,
2000. This award is given annually to a faculty member who has been
deemed outstanding and popular with his/her students and who merits
their highest respect.
º ”Spirit of the Prairie Award”, Conner Prairie Living History Museum; Indianapolis, IN;
2000
º First Annual Paul Laurence Dunbar Award, Brass Chamber Music
Foundation; Dayton, OH; 2001
º Indiana Living Legend Award, Indiana Historical Society; Indianapolis, IN; 2001
º Al Cobine Award, Jazz From Bloomington; Bloomington, IN; 2002
º James Smithson Bicentennial Medal, Smithsonian Institution; Washington, DC; 2002
º Inductee, Hall of Fame, Indianapolis Jazz Foundation; Indianapolis, IN; 2002
º Outstanding Hoosier Musician Award, Indiana Music Educators Association;2003
º Maria Fisher Founder's Award, The Thelonious Monk Institute; Washington, DC; 2003
º P. A. Mack Award, FACET [Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching],
Indiana University; Bloomington, IN; 2003
º Emmy Award for the music for the television documentary
For Gold and Glory, produced by WFYI-TV/PBS Indianapolis, IN; 2003
º Honorary doctorate, Doctor of Music, Oberlin College: Oberlin, Ohio; 2004
º Living Treasure Award, Bloomington (IN) Arts Council; 2004
º Lowell Mason Award, Music Educators National Conference; 2005
º Honorary doctorate, Doctor of Music, New England Conservatory of Music;
Boston, Massachusetts; 2006
º Tracy M. Sonneborn Award, Indiana University; Bloomington, IN; 2006
º Living Jazz Legend Award, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts; Washington, D.C.; 2007
