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News Updates – White House

  • Wynton Marsalis awarded the National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment of the Humanities

    Posted on September 14th, 2016 in News

    President Barack Obama today announced the distinguished recipients of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. The awardees include authors, a poet, physician, historian, chef, and a higher education program. President Obama will award the 2015 National Humanities Medals in conjunction with the National Medal of Arts during a White House ceremony on September 22. First Lady Michelle Obama will attend. The ceremony will stream live at WH.gov/live.   Keep reading »

  • President Obama Talks About Jazz

    Posted on June 23rd, 2009 in Video | 1

    Check out this clip of President Obama talking about jazz around the 2:35 mark. It features my recent trip to the White House.

      Keep reading »

  • At the White House, a Blend of Jazz Greats and Hopefuls

    Posted on June 15th, 2009 in Review

    It was not the full-force, let-a-thousand-saxophones-bloom, this-is-our-music festival that some might have wished from a White House where the language of jazz seems to have a place, at least in the president’s iPod. But it was a good start. On Monday afternoon, Michelle Obama invited about 150 high school jazz students to the White House for a program called Jazz Studio. There was a student clinic including five members of the Marsalis family and the clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, and then a short concert introduced by the first lady.   Keep reading »

  • White House Music Series Begins with Jazz Hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama

    Posted on June 11th, 2009 in Concerts | 18

    First Lady Michelle Obama will introduce the White House Music Series which will feature artists of all ages who will perform, educate and interact with young people. The series will begin with the Jazz Studio on Monday followed by country and classical music events this summer and fall.

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  • Wynton played for President Obama at White House

    Posted on January 21st, 2009 in Photo | 27

    On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the Wynton Marsalis Quintet played at the White House for President Barack Obama and 100 of his guests during a private party celebrating his inauguration.

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  • Photo report: Wynton honoured with the National Medal of Arts at White House

    Posted on November 11th, 2005 in Photo

    Yesterday, President George W. Bush honored Wynton and other authors, musicians and historians from New York and elsewhere, with the National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medal.

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  • Jazz at the White House: A Metaphor for Democracy (and a Help to the Boss)

    Posted on September 21st, 1998 in Review

    It was everywhere, rustling through conversations the way a breeze moves through trees, in the smirks and jokes of some, in the extended, slightly nervous ovation the President and Mrs. Clinton received as they walked into the East Room of the White House on Friday night for a Millennium lecture on jazz.   Keep reading »

  • Jazz at the White House (Home of a Serious Fan)

    Posted on June 21st, 1993 in

    It had to happen, and when it did, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. After President Clinton gave his final remarks tonight at the White House jazz festival, the saxophonist Illinois Jacquet handed him a saxophone, and off the band went into Miles Davis’s blues waltz, “All Blues.” Happy to say, the President (who in his early career as a saxophonist had committed Mr. Jacquet’s landmark improvisation on “Flying Home” to memory), didn’t equivocate, change his mind or buckle to pressure, though he did look a bit uncomfortable.   Keep reading »

  • A Red, White and Blues Evening at the White House

    Posted on June 21st, 1993 in Review

    Her’s was the opening salvo Friday evening at the White House in a heady two-hour mix of entertainment and artistry. It was one of those magic evenings when the blues in the night met the green of the lawn—specifically the South Lawn, where a large area was covered with a canopy, under which 30 artists tried to encapsulate much of the music’s history.   Keep reading »

  • Joyfull Jammings at The Blue House

    Posted on June 19th, 1993 in Review

    At night’s end, the First Saxophonist contributed a cool solo to what could be a signature tune for a president—“Every Day I Have the Blues.” Luckily, it’s already the signature tune of jazz vocalist Joe Williams, and while a poll-conscious Bill Clinton clearly might empathize with lyrics like “nobody seems to love me,” his presence last night on a stage with several dozen jazz greats was not weary confession but jubilant confirmation of his regard for the form.   Keep reading »