    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 18, 1993]
    [Pages 883-884]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the 40th Anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival
    June 18, 1993

        Thank you very much. I can say this, that when she's listening to my
    jazz she wishes I would practice more. [Laughter] I am delighted to have
    all of you here at this, our first televised concert from the White
    House. Both Hillary and I are very excited and pleased to welcome you
    here. It's especially appropriate that we should be together here at
    America's house to celebrate that most American of all forms of musical
    expression, jazz.
        One of the greatest things that ever happened to jazz was a simple
    2-day event that took place in Newport, Rhode Island, way back in 1954.
    The Newport Jazz Festival was an immediate hit, and it grew and grew. It
    captured the imagination of young musicians all across the country and
    eventually across the world. No event has done more to nurture the
    careers of jazz artists; none has done more to thrill and delight jazz
    fans. The festival's influence has been truly profound, inspiring more
    than 2,000 other jazz festivals every year all around the world. Indeed,
    the French Government recently recognized that impact when it awarded
    the festival's producer the Legion of Honor.
        Tonight we're having our own White House jazz festival as a special
    tribute to the 40th year of Newport Jazz and, of course, to its founder
    and its fine producer, George Wein. George, stand up. Where are you?
    There he is.
        You know, jazz is really America's classical music. Like our country
    itself and especially like the people who created it, jazz is a music
    born of struggle but played in celebration. This unique musical and
    cultural art form is now more than a century old. It's paused
    periodically in its evolution to give us ragtime and boogie-woogie and
    swing and bebop and cool and free jazz and fusion, only then to continue
    its restless rebirth into forms that have yet to be named or even
    imagined. Original and enduring, adapting and growing, jazz is simply
    one of our Nation's greatest creations.
        Many good people swing to the sound of jazz and rally to its cause,
    and one of them is our host tonight, the son of a jazz legend. In his
    father's name, he's established an institute which introduces young
    people to the beauty of jazz and encourages up-and-coming jazz
    musicians. And he is a brilliant musician in his own right and a good
    friend of the President and the First Lady. Ladies and gentlemen, please
    welcome Thelonious Monk, Jr.

    [At this point, Mr. Monk hosted the musical program.]

        We want to say a wonderful, heartfelt, happy thank-you to all the
    performers; thank you to Thelonious Monk, Jr., the Thelonious Monk
    Institute of Jazz, and its executive director, Tom Carter; and a very,
    very special thank-you to George Wein, the producer of the Newport Jazz
    Festival. Thank you for the wonderful tradition that you have created.
        You know, if you look at the different ages and backgrounds of all
    the gifted performers assembled on this stage, we're reminded once again
    that jazz is a true reflection of the Amer-

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    ican people, a music of inclusion, a music of democracy, a music that
    embraces tradition and the freedom to innovate. That's a good thought to
    end on.
        Thank you all for coming, and good night; bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:45 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House. He was introduced by Hillary Clinton.