It's been eight long years of literally no music in our beautiful White House. Eight years is a very long time to deprive the American people of our amazing diverse music in this country. I know that all of this is about to change, and I for one am hoping that President Obama and our new First Lady, Michelle Obama will make up for lost time. Apparently I'm not the only one wondering what is in store for us in terms of bringing back music, arts and celebrating the vast cultural artistic history of our nation. I caught a wonderful commentary tonight on just that subject.
Aren't cha just starving for it? I know I am.
Howard Reich in the Chicago Times is taking about the same thing. Here is some of what he's saying:
If President-elect Barack Obama wants to make a bold cultural statement—one that resonates deeply with his autobiography and with the legacy of his adopted hometown, Chicago—there's a compelling way to do it:
Teach the White House to swing (again). That's what President Jimmy Carter did in spring 1978, casting the unique brilliance of a presidential spotlight on a distinctly American art form. Carter convened a galaxy of jazz luminaries at the White House, to spectacular effect. Eubie Blake (at 95), Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Teddy Wilson, Max Roach, Louie Bellson and other giants performed jubilantly on the White House South Lawn, basking in the kind of official recognition jazz richly deserves but rarely receives.
President Bill Clinton picked up on the theme, inviting jazz virtuosos back to the South Lawn 15 years to the day after Carter's soiree. This time, icons such as Joe Williams, Dorothy Donegan and Illinois Jacquet shared the spotlight with a new wave of emerging masters: Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis and Joshua Redman among them. Once again, the musicians were galvanized by the experience. Pianist Donegan, a native Chicagoan who did not grow up in luxury, swore she would title her memoirs, "From the Out House to the White House." And once again, a sitting president sang the praises of jazz. "It's especially important that we should be together here in America's house to celebrate that most American of all forms of musical expression, jazz," Clinton told the crowd. "Jazz is really America's classical music. Like the country itself, and especially like the people who created it, jazz is a music born of struggle but played in celebration." There haven't been any White House nights quite like that in the last eight years, which means President-elect Obama—who has said he's partial to John Coltrane and Frank Sinatra—finally could heat up the place again. Indeed, it would be difficult to imagine a president better suited to re-igniting jazz at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and not because he's African-American.
More specifically, Obama's mixed-race heritage reflects the genome of jazz, which first blossomed when multiple cultures and classes converged in New Orleans at the turn of the previous century. No city (New Orleans included) has given more to jazz than Chicago, the place where Armstrong, Morton and generations thereafter have launched their international careers. If Obama hopes to bring the sound of Chicago and the spirit of cooperation to Washington, he could start with jazz—and not simply by holding another grand concert on the South Lawn (though that would be fine).Better still, Obama could insist that the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts builds on the achievements of outgoing Dana Gioia, who expanded the Jazz Masters program with national tours, educational initiatives and radio programming. Further, Obama could ensure that jazz greats, including Chicago's, bow at the White House when heads-of-state come to call. Let them hear what American musical ingenuity sounds like. Perhaps Obama even could persuade the Kennedy Center Honors to pay belated attention to America's jazz creators. Incredibly, none has won since Benny Carter, in 1996 (unless you count classic-pop vocalist Tony Bennett, in 2005). Any recognition for jazz from an Obama administration would have a galvanizing effect on the art form while expressing, in music, Obama's message of hope and unity. At a time when credit is tight and budgets are tighter, why not loosen things up a bit—with jazz?
I performed jazz for over 20 years as a vocalist and I simply cannot wait to see the likes of Wynton Marsalis (and the Lincoln Center Orchestra), Quincy Jones, Terrance Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Diana Krall, Huston Person and so many other great musicians grace the halls of our very own White House again. What about you? Who would you love to see? I dream of Michelle Obama taking the same strides that Jackie Kennedy did, and bringing our nation up to speed in all the arts.
We need a art Renaissance in our country, starting with one of the things this country is all about: Jazz (the other is baseball). I'm starving to hear and see America at it's very best, so let the music back into the White House, and let's remember where we came from, and who we are.