WASHINGTON—Pianists Mose Allison and Eddie Palmieri, saxophonist Lou Donaldson and New York jazz club owner Lorraine Gordon are being honored with the nation's highest honor in jazz.

The National Endowment for the Arts announced Wednesday that four will receive its 2013 Jazz Masters Award. They will be honored in January at New York's Lincoln Center and receive $25,000 fellowships.

Allison has influenced jazz for more than 50 years. The Mississippi native is a songwriter adept in blues and jazz. Palmieri used his Puerto Rican heritage as a bandleader of salsa and Latin jazz orchestras. He lives in Las Vegas.

Donaldson has been bopping with his saxophone for six decades. And Gordon has provided a jazz haven for 55 years at the Village Vanguard, New York's longest-running jazz club.