Crescent city stomp dave brubeck biography

President and Mrs. Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were seated with the honorees in the Presidential Box of the Kennedy Center Opera House, after having just hosted the traditional White House reception for the honorees.

Host Caroline Kennedy commenced the festivities by quoting her father, President John F. Kennedy, who said, “I look forward to an America that will not be afraid of grace and beauty. I look forward to an America that will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft.” She described the five 2009 honorees as “a piano virtuoso from the California hills whose inspired rhythms made him America’s herald of a new age of jazz; a goodfella from the mean streets of New York who redefined acting and made movie audiences an offer they couldn’t refuse; the little girl from a St.

Louis church choir who could hit high C and became the diva we cheered in the houses of grand opera