[Dixielandjazz] Jazz coming back to the White House

[Stephen G Barbone]

 From jazzfm.com.



Cheers,

Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband


Obama Brings Jazz to The White House
President-elect Barack Obama faces huge political and economic  
challenges when he is sworn into office next month.

But whilst America and the world struggle with a global economic  
crisis, Obama has stated the importance of using the White House as a  
focal point for national pride.

Speaking on NBC's weekly news show Meet The Press at the weekend he  
said that jazz could play a part in doing this:

"Thinking about the diversity of our culture and inviting jazz  
musicians, and classical musicians, and poetry readings in the White  
House so that once again we appreciate this incredible tapestry that's  
America, you know, that, I think, is going to be incredibly important,  
particularly because we're going through hard times.

And historically what has always brought us through hard times is that  
national character, that sense of optimism, that willingness to look  
forward, that sense that better days are ahead."

Obama's love for Jazz was noted in the presidential primary campaign.  
In February 2007, shortly after he announced his candicacy, a profile  
in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin by B.J. Reyes covered his student days  
at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii.

A former classmate named Dean Ando, recalled a time in a record store  
during their school days:

"Barry was into things that other kids our age weren't into.He went  
through the entire jazz section while we were there. ... That affects  
me to this day—he's the one who introduced me to jazz."

On the favourite music section of his Facebook page, Obama lists two  
jazz legends - Miles Davis and John Coltrane - alongside Bob Dylan,  
Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach and The Fugees.

An article in The Independent in June earlier this year quoted him as  
saying which Jazz artists are on his iPod:

"I started getting into jazz [at school in Hawaii], so I've got a lot  
of Coltrane, a lot of Miles Davis, a lot of Charlie Parker. I've got  
all the artists we've already talked about, but I've got everything  
from Howlin' Wolf to Yo-Yo Ma to Sheryl Crow to Jay-Z."

However despite Obama's passion, he isn't the first US president to  
love jazz and there is an interesting historical relationship between  
the musical art form and the most famous house in America.

Although jazz was popular in the U-street area of Washington during  
the 1920's and 30's the earliest performance in the White House did  
not occur until November 19th, 1962.

President Kennedy invited the Paul Winter Jazz Sextet to play during a  
children's program in the East Room. Since then, most Presidents have  
invited jazz musicians to play at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

During the Lyndon Johnson administration in the 1960s, Pearl Bailey  
became the first jazz artist to appear before an adult audience. Under  
Richard Nixon, Duke Ellington performed whilst his successor Gerald  
Ford established jazz performances as a form of entertainment for  
state dignitaries.

President Jimmy Carter took things futher in the late 1970s by  
creating the first large-scale jazz production on the White House's  
South Lawn. The event marked the 25th Anniversary of the Newport Jazz  
festival and saw such luminaries as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel  
Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Papa Joe Jones and
Sonny Rollins play.

The summer of 1993 saw a White House Jazz Festival with the likes of  
Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, Dorothy Donegan, Jon Faddis  
and John Lewis playing in front of President Clinton.

There was also the unusual spectacle of a commander-in-chief playing  
alongside the jazz musicians as Clinton joined in on the saxophone.

The New York Times described his playing by saying:

"....he unfurled a nicely formed improvisation that wasn't half bad,  
at least before it fizzled into silence..."

Clinton also stated the importance of jazz to America's culutral life:

"Jazz is really America's classical music. Like our country itself and  
especially the people who created it, jazz is a music of struggle, but  
played in celebration."

Under Obama it seems 'America's classical music' is back to stay in  
the White House.



Steve Barbone

www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband