The stakes for the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters are high in this period. Last year, for the first time, a federal budget proposal suggested that the endowment be cut completely. The latest appropriations have renewed the National Endowment for the Arts’ lease on life, but with no guarantees. Of course, even in the worst-case scenario, it won’t be the last accolade that this year’s honorees, pianist Joanne Brackeen, guitarist Pat Metheny, vocalist Dianne Reeves (pictured), and producer Todd Barkan, receive. Each is a living master of the music with transcendent influence on the art form. Still, for those who appreciate the opportunity to see the titans of America’s great musical contribution celebrated with the country’s highest jazz honor and given tributes from their musical comrades-in-arms, this year including Christian McBride, Eddie Palmieri, and Terri Lyne Carrington, among others, concerts like these become something akin to life-or-death events. Read more>>> The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, 2700 F St. NW. Free. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org. (Michael J. West)

OH AND ALSO

Los Angeles hip-hop artist Dumbfoundead brings his Yikes! Tour to Union Stage. 7:30 p.m. at 740 Water St. SW. $20–$65.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum continues its run of Do Ho Suh: Almost Home, an exhibition featuring large-scale fabric sculptures, the first major exhibition of Suh‘s work on the East Coast. 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 8th and F streets NW. Free.

Neuroscientist Barbara K. Lipska stops by Politics and Prose to discuss her new book, The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery, a meditation on being diagnosed with a melanoma that leeched into her brain and her miraculous recovery from it. 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free.

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