she was forced to give up playing in 1985 after a stroke left her partially paralyzed, but she continued to arrange music with randy weston. in 1987, she was awarded the jazz masters fellowship of the national endowment for the arts. after suffering repeated strokes, she died in los angeles, california in 1999 a few days after a tribute to her and randy weston's music at harvard university. her funeral at st. peter's in manhattan featured performances by weston with jann parker as well as by chico o'farrill's afro-cuban ensemble and by lorenzo shihab (vocals).