By Jeff Mason and Allende Miglietta
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt, filmmaker Francis Ford (NYSE:) Coppola, jazz musician Arturo Sandoval and rock band the Grateful Lifeless have been celebrated on the Kennedy Heart Honors on Sunday.
The Kennedy Heart additionally honored Harlem’s famed Apollo theater, the primary time an establishment has obtained what is taken into account the highest U.S. award for achievement within the arts.
The viewers gave a rousing ovation to outgoing President Joe Biden who earlier on Sunday stated artists used their abilities to “challenge power freely and without fear”.
Biden has attended the occasion every year of his time period. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes workplace in January, didn’t attend throughout his first time period.
Kennedy Heart officers stated forward of the present that they hoped he would attend throughout his second time period.
Excluding a joke by comic David Letterman that the Kennedy Heart was attempting to suit as many Honors ceremonies in as attainable earlier than Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, politics took a again seat for the present itself.
First up was a tribute to Raitt, who has gained 13 Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 2000.
“It’s her old soul that just grips us,” stated actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus earlier than a efficiency by Dave Matthews and Emmylou Harris of Raitt’s traditional “Angel from Montgomery” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” sung by Brandi Carlile with piano accompaniment by Sheryl Crow.
Subsequent (LON:) got here a tribute to Sandoval, a jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer, who grew up in Cuba earlier than defecting.
“You are the trumpet master,” musician Chris Botti stated to Sandoval from the Kennedy Heart stage earlier than performing “Smile.”
For The Apollo, the place Black performers comparable to Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown and Gladys Knight launched their careers, actor and comic Dave Chappelle regaled the viewers with a narrative about his debut there as a teen. Actress and singer Queen Latifah stated it had “birthed some of the greatest artists of all time.”
A bunch of Hollywood stars then feted Coppola, a five-time Academy Award winner whose physique of labor contains “The Godfather,” “The Godfather Part II,” and “Apocalypse Now.”
“His movies can be challenging and then in the blink of an eye they’re acknowledged as classics,” stated actor Robert De Niro.
The present concluded with a tribute to the Grateful Lifeless by performers together with Dave Matthews, Maggie Rogers (NYSE:), and Derek Vehicles.
“It’s really magical. It’s amazing that we actually are here. And the spirit of the music prevails. It still lives,” stated band member Mickey Hart forward of the present.
The Kennedy Heart Honors will probably be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 22.
