On November 17, 2008, not quite two weeks after he saw the first black President elected to the highest office in the land, Hank Jones and I visited the White House. He was invited to receive the nation's highest honor: The National Medal of Arts.
Of course, we were greeted by George and Laura (a jazz lover, it turns out), as the transition to the nation's first black President would only happen the following January (2009). In any case, we were exhausted, having played the night before at Dizzy's in NYC. We had slept only a few hours, so the day spent at the WH felt dream-like to us both. Also being honored were living legend Olivia de Havilland and Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman).
I will add to this album when time permits (I took hundreds of photos).
Enjoy!
- jpl
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