[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[June 26, 2006]
[Pages 1213-1215]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Reception for Black Music Month
June 26, 2006

    Glad you're here. Thank you all. Welcome to the White House, and 
thank you for joining us as we celebrate Black Music Month.
    I wish Laura were here, but she's got a good 
excuse. She's in New Orleans. She went down there to talk to the 
American Library Association's Annual Conference, and she spoke about 
the importance of rebuilding school libraries up and down the gulf coast 
of our country. She sends her best. I wish she could be here to hear the 
music. I know she's going to love it as much as I will love it.
    I'm looking forward to introducing our artists here in a second. I 
do want to recognize Alphonso Jackson, 
who's a member of my Cabinet. Thank you for coming, and thank you for 
bringing us here. And it's good to see the Federal coordinator for the 
gulf coast rebuilding effort, Don Powell. 
Thank you for being here, sir. I welcome Chip Pickering from Mississippi and Congresswoman 
Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee. Thank you 
both for coming. I'm proud you're here.
    It is always a special treat to be in the presence of Dr. Dorothy 
Height. Good to see you, Dr. Height.
    And with us we have two great athletes, Alana Beard--thank you for coming, Alana--and Kareem Abdul-
Jabbar. Proud you're here. I don't know 
whether you know this, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a jazz expert, and he 
is working on a documentary about the connection between jazz and 
basketball. [Laughter] Pretty good combination. [Laughter]
    During this month, we recognize the great contributions that black 
music has made to our Nation. That's why we're here. We express our 
gratitude to the artists whose works have inspired our Nation and have 
brought such beauty into the world.
    Black music was often born of great pain, from the music of slaves 
who sang to warn others that the master was coming to the music of faith 
that helped African Americans endure tremendous suffering and overcome 
injustice. Black music is a really important part of our Nation's 
history and culture, and that's why we're celebrating it here today.
    Some of the finest performances by black musicians have been heard 
right here in the White House, and we're going to continue that 
tradition today. During--in 1878, during the administration of 
Rutherford B. Hayes, soprano Marie Selika became the first black artist 
to perform here in the White House. A few years later, the Jubilee 
Singers of Fisk University became the first black choir to perform here. 
They moved President Chester Arthur to tears with a rendition of ``Safe 
in the Arms of Jesus.'' Like the man they sang about, the Jubilee 
Singers could not find an inn that would welcome them here in 
Washington, DC. Those times have changed, thank goodness.
    In more recent times, the White House has been graced by 
performances by artists like Louis Armstrong and Pearl Bailey, Ella 
Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Shirley 
Caesar, Duke Ellington, and Lionel Hampton. 
These men and women created some of the greatest music America has ever 
produced, and they honored our country by sharing their gifts right here 
in the people's house. We're about to have the same type of performances 
here, if I can ever quit talking. [Laughter]
    This year, Black Music Month celebrates the music of our Nation's 
gulf coast, soul and blues and jazz. And I'm honored that we've got 
three tremendous performers who represent the best of these three great 
traditions.

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    Patti Austin is one of America's most 
talented singers and songwriters. Her extraordinary career began at the 
age of 4 when she made her debut alongside her godmother, Dinah 
Washington, at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater. Since then, she's recorded 
16 solo albums featuring everything from soul to standards. Recently 
Patti earned her sixth Grammy nomination with her tribute to Ella 
Fitzgerald. Patti is an incredible artist. Laura 
and I have been privileged to see her perform at the Kennedy Center. I 
think you're going to like her a lot. [Laughter]
    She's sung at the White House for every President since Ronald 
Reagan. When she was rehearsing her performance 
for President Reagan, Patti was singing so powerfully the piece of 
molding fell from the ceiling here in the East Room. [Laughter] Be 
forewarned. [Laughter] When Patti sings, she brings down the house. 
[Laughter] I'm proud to join the distinguished line of Presidents who 
have welcomed her here to the White House.
    With us today is B.B. King, ``King 
of the Blues.'' B.B. was raised in the Mississippi Delta, where he 
picked cotton for 35 cents a day, and then he played after work on the 
street corners for dimes. He says that when he sang gospel songs, 
``They'd pat me on the head but wouldn't ever put anything in the hat.'' 
[Laughter] So he would change, ``my Lord'' to ``my baby''--[laughter]--
and then they always gave him a tip. [Laughter]
    One night in the 1950s, B.B. King 
was playing in an Arkansas town called Twist when two men got in a fight 
over a woman and knocked over a kerosene stove and set the whole place 
on fire. B.B. got out, but then he realized he had left his guitar 
behind. And so he went back inside; he braved the flames; and he rescued 
the guitar. Later, he learned that the lady who had inspired the brawl 
was named Lucille. So that's what he named his guitar.
    Since then, B.B. and Lucille have 
played more than 10,000 shows. They have thrilled audiences all over the 
world. B.B. has notched an incredible 74 entries on the Billboard 
charts, and his work has influenced virtually every major guitar player 
over the last half-century. He remains gracious and humble, what folks 
in Mississippi call ``free-hearted.''
    B.B. says this about his career: 
``I'm trying to get people to see that we are our brother's keeper.'' He 
went on to say, ``Red, black, brown, yellow, rich, and poor, we all have 
the blues.'' It's hard to have the blues when you're about to hear B.B. 
King perform. At 80, this ageless star is still going strong, and we are 
thrilled to welcome him back to the White House.
    We're also pleased to welcome Irvin Mayfield. Irvin is the cultural ambassador of New Orleans and 
artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. At just 28 years 
old, Irvin has already become one of America's finest trumpet players, 
in the great New Orleans jazz tradition. He's more than a musician; he's 
a decent, big-hearted man.
    Last year, as Hurricane Katrina roared through New Orleans, the 
rising water took his dad, Irvin, Sr. The pain of losing his father was 
suddenly unimaginable. Yet in his father's name, Irvin pushed back his grief, and he went to work. He pulled 
out his trumpet; he pulled together his orchestra and started performing 
to help others who had lost homes and loved ones. He helped dry New 
Orleans's tears through the inspiring power of his music, and he hasn't 
stopped.
    He's using his God-given talent to help 
rebuild his beloved homeland--his hometown, one brick and one note at a 
time. After the storm, Irvin made this solemn vow: No breached levee 
will wash away the culture of New Orleans.
    There's a wonderful and unique tradition in New Orleans called the 
jazz funeral. The funeral procession parades slowly through the streets 
followed by a band playing a mournful dirge as it moves to the cemetery. 
Once the casket has been laid in place and

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the mourners have moved out of the cemetery, the music begins to speed 
up and the procession is joined by a joyful second line, with crowds of 
people dancing and celebrating the triumph of spirit over death.
    Today Irvin Mayfield will play a song in 
the great tradition called ``Just a Closer Walk With Thee.'' It's the 
first song he learned from his dad. He played it at his dad's--in his 
dad's memory after Hurricane Katrina, and then he retired the song. 
We're honored that he's decided to play it one last time, right here in 
the White House.
    Irvin, we thank you for your personal 
courage and your dedication to others in a time of adversity. I have no 
doubt that with every good deed you perform and every note you play, 
your dad is smiling down on you. God bless you, Irvin.
    Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Irvin Mayfield.

Note: The President spoke at 5:23 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to civil rights leader Dorothy I. 
Height; Alana Beard, guard and forward, Women's National Basketball 
Association's Washington Mystics; and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, former 
National Basketball Association center. The Black Music Month 
proclamation of May 25 is listed in Appendix D at the end of this 
volume.