{"id":163,"date":"2009-02-27T17:58:01","date_gmt":"2009-02-27T22:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/2009\/02\/obama_and_soul_rock_folk_pop_b\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T16:34:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:34:21","slug":"obama_and_soul_rock_folk_pop_b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/02\/obama_and_soul_rock_folk_pop_b.html","title":{"rendered":"Big Ears in the White House: Obama’s boomer soul, and predecessors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to President Barack Obama, January-February 2009 has been a great time for American popular music. It’s well known he’s got big ears<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0But Pete Seeger<\/a>, Bruce Springsteen<\/a> and Herbie Hancock<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0at the\u00c2\u00a0Lincoln Memorial, Aretha Franklin<\/a> singing at the Inauguration, Paul Simon<\/a> and Esperanza Spaulding<\/a> among those paying tribute to Stevie Wonder, winner of the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize<\/a> — who himself tore it up on “Superstition”<\/a> and “Signed, Sealed and Delivered”<\/a> — \u00c2\u00a0at the White\u00c2\u00a0House!?! What other U.S. leader has so valued and spotlit our internationally popular vernacular music?<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n


\nW. seems to have been as tone deaf<\/a> to music as to public policy — he certainly didn’t do much to exploit one of our country’s most powerful arts-for-export<\/a>.Bill Clinton plays tenor sax\u00c2\u00a0badly,\u00c2\u00a0digs\u00c2\u00a0others<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0who do it better and remains a deeply\u00c2\u00a0soft-rock kinda guy,<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
George H.W. “Daddy” Bush gave a National Medal\u00c2\u00a0of the Arts to Dizzy Gillespie, but there’s no evidence he ever listened to “Night In Tunisia”<\/a> — in remarks<\/a> at the ceremony in 1989 he said, “The music of the frontier led to the blues of the bayou and the swing bands of the cities,” which seems ahistorical if not simply inaccurate. At Ronald Reagan’s funeral, the American music was strictly religious — by William Bolcom<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and\u00c2\u00a0Stephen Paulus<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0— or iconic \u00c2\u00a0(“Battle Hymn of the Republic<\/a>,” “Amazing Grace<\/a>“), though his campaign manager, the odious Lee Atwater, loved the blues<\/a> (while disdaining<\/a> what they’re all about).\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
Jimmy Carter<\/a> earned my enduring admiration for hosting the best jazz concert<\/a> ever to take place at the White House on June 18, 1978, with Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Eubie Blake, \u00c2\u00a0Mary Lou Williams and many others playing, ailing Charles Mingus in the attending crowd. He’s been quoted as saying, “Whenever we visit New Orleans or St. Louis or Chicago, we go out of our way to attend a jazz concert of nightclub.” Ok, Pops<\/a>!<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Gerald Ford proclaimed<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0October “Country Music Month” in 1976 — is it still celebrated as such? Unbelievable though it is, Richard Nixon composed a piano concerto — here<\/a> playing it on the Jack Paar tv show.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n<\/object>
\n\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Post-Watergate, Nixon seems to have disassociated<\/a> himself with music. Lyndon Johnson’s major contribution to America’s sonic arts seems to have been the war in Viet Nam, which inspired many a rousing\u00c2\u00a0protest song<\/a>. In November 1961 John F. Kennedy<\/a> invited Elliott Carter, Aaron Copeland, Henry Cowell, Roy Harris, Alan Hovhaness, Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, Virgil Thomson and Leonard Bernstein, among other highbrow American composers to the White House<\/a> for a Pablo Casals<\/a> concert, and was the first to present jazz there, though it was the soft-core Paul Winter Sextet<\/a>; he may be even better remembered as the object of Frank Sinatra’s “High Hopes”<\/a> and “Happy Birthday” as sung here<\/a> by Marilyn Monroe.\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n<\/object>
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
None other than Irving Berlin<\/a> was responsible for the “I Like Ike” campaign song and slogan that elevated Dwight Eisenhower from General of the Army to civilian Commander-in-Chief. Harry Truman played piano, but is most famous for his critique of a music critic <\/a>who dumped on his daughter.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I’ll stop there, about the time I was born, except to add the anecdote reported by eye-and-earwitness John Hill Hewitt regarding the unfortunate experience of mid-19th century autodidact composer Anton Philip Heinrich<\/a> upon performing “Dawning of Music in America” in the White House parlor for John Tyler, 10th POTUS:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The composer labored hard to\u00c2\u00a0give full effect to his weird production; his bald pate bobbed from side to side, \u00c2\u00a0and shone like a bubble on the surface of a calm lake. At times his shoulders would be raised to the line of his ears, and his knees went up to the keyboard, \u00c2\u00a0while the perspiration rolled in large drops down his wrinkled cheeks.<\/p>\n

The ladies stared at the maniac musician, as they, doubtless, thought him, and the\u00c2\u00a0president scratched his head, as if wondering whether wicked spirits were not\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0rioting in the cavern of mysterious sounds and rebelling against the laws of\u00c2\u00a0acoustics. The composer labored on, occasionally explaining some\u00c2\u00a0incomprehensible passage, representing, as he said, the breaking up of the frozen\u00c2\u00a0river Niagara, the thaw<\/i> of the ice, and the dash of the mighty falls.\u00c2\u00a0 Peace <\/i>and\u00c2\u00a0plenty <\/i>were represented by soft strains of pastoral music, while the thunder of our\u00c2\u00a0naval war-dogs and the rattle of our army musketry told of our prowess on sea\u00c2\u00a0and land. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

The inspired composer had got about half-way through his wonderful production\u00c2\u00a0when Mr.\u00c2\u00a0Tyler restlessly arose from his chair, and placing his hand gently on\u00c2\u00a0Heinrich’s shoulder, said;\u00c2\u00a0“That may all be very fine, sir, but can’t you play us a good old Virginia reel?” \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of the musician, he could not have been more\u00c2\u00a0astounded.\u00c2\u00a0 He arose from the piano, rolled up his manuscript, and, taking his hat\u00c2\u00a0and cane, bolted towards the door, exclaiming; \u00c2\u00a0“No sir; I never plays dance music!”\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

Fortunately, Stevie Wonder has no such qualms. President Obama and his charming First Lady sat in the front row holding hands, maybe bobbing heads and shoulders as Wonder and ensemble funked it up, but the notably young and pan-ethnic White House staff, as seen on the PBS<\/a> broadcast, was movin’ hips\/with a feeling\/from side to side<\/a>. Could this spectacle possibly disconcert any American with life still in ’em? Isn’t it a glorious, immediate manifestation of the stimulus package?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Subscribe by Email <\/a>
\nSubscribe by RSS<\/a>
\n All JBJ posts <\/a>
\n