About that music

That is, the music at the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center. I thought the performances by Jennifer Hudson, Marc Anthony, and Stevie Wonder were electrifying. Bono, Eddie Vedder: I cried uncle.

I know that the music for this event was not chosen with Elaine or me in mind. However.

Conspicuously missing from an event held on the South Side of Chicago: any trace of blues or jazz. “Sweet Home Chicago” by Buddy Guy or a rousing rendition of Sonny Rollins’s “St. Thomas” (by anyone) might have sufficed. (I would not expect a journey into the world of the AACM.) Also conspicuously missing: any trace of so-called classical music. Elaine and I each thought of Florence Price, the black American composer who lived on the South Side for decades, and whose short composition “Adoration” has become well known as a deeply moving and infinitely adaptable piece of music. It's being performed by the Vienna Philharmonic tonight to mark Juneteenth. It’s good to now know that something by Price (“Adoration”?) is on the program for an orchestra concert at the Obama center in July.

There’s no easy way to contact the center with suggestions for future programming. So I'll just yell as loudly as I can: some blues and jazz, please.

Elaine has some thoughts too.

[Buddy Guy performed at the White House in 2012. Obama honored Sonny Rollins with the National Medal of Arts in 2011.]