B.B. King, a friend of the band since The Love Town tour of the 1980s, will receive the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Founders Award while Microsoft Co-Founder Paul G. Allen, another good friend, will be presented with the 2008 Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award.

It all takes place at the Kodak Theatre in LA next Sunday, October 26th.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, a nonprofit jazz education organization, was founded in memory of the legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Sphere Monk. 'The Institute fosters the next generation of jazz greats by offering the world's most promising young musicians college level training by internationally recognized jazz masters, educating young people around the world about jazz through innovative public-school initiatives, and presenting a wide range of programs that help expand and perpetuate America's indigenous musical art form.'

More on the Awards and the Institute here.