Remarks for Jazz at Lincoln Center Reception (11/19/07)
Remarks for Jazz at Lincoln Center Reception
DCM Thomas M. Countryman
The Residence (Jefferson House)
November 19, 2007
Καλωςήρθατε στο Jefferson House, την κατοικία του Αμερικανικού Πρέσβη.
I would like to do an entire speech in Greece, but I am concerned that it would be unintentionally entertaining. But if you’re here as jazz fans, I think you have an appreciation for improvisation. Still, I don’t want to put you through it.
Jazz is different. As my friend Barry Levin has instructed me, a jazz musician is somebody who never plays a piece the same way once.
Tonight we are thrilled to have so many friends gathered together here, so many of our friends from the cultural world, from the diplomatic, business, artistic worlds, in order to celebrate a really great event whether you’re American or Greek or anywhere in between.
You’ll have a chance in just a moment to meet Mr. Arturo O’Farrill, but let me tell you a little bit about him. I’ve just met him, but I know from before that he is a legend in jazz, playing for decades piano with the Carla Blay Big Band since 1979 – not so many decades, excuse me.
He has collaborated with artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Belafonte, and Wynton Marsalis. He is a symbol, really, of the cultural exchange and fusion that have made jazz one of America’s oldest native forms of music and has made jazz an international phenomenon. And believe me, whether we’re political or cultural or economic specialists in the United States Government service, there’s nothing we like exporting more than jazz and feeling it reverberating around the world.
Arturo was born in Mexico, grew up in New York, and has artfully blended Latin music into big band jazz, pioneering both Afro-Cuban jazz and Afro-Latin jazz. And, he’s got a unique position at Lincoln Center, because it’s the place where, for the first time ever, a performing arts center was built, designed and built, specifically for the purpose of jazz performance. The Frederick P. Rose Hall on Broadway is the home of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra.
Last night in Thessaloniki, the band got three encores. From what I hear, you could have milked it for more, so I admire your restraint.
Let me say thank you to the people who made this possible tonight: the Municipality of Athens, ATTRACT Productions, and, of course, the American Farm School for working with both the Embassy and the Consulate in Thessaloniki to bring Arturo and his orchestra here. It’s a great joint effort, a great bilateral effort. When we do this together, Americans and Greeks, it’s what we do best.
And I need to say a word about one of my favorite places in Greece, The American Farm School. It has been operating here in Greece for over 100 years, since 1904. It has more than 200 students from Greek villages and villages in other Balkan countries – all of them studying on full-tuition scholarships to develop the agricultural and economic skills to bring back home. It is one of the great examples of what is truly the strongest point in Greek and American relations, which is the contribution we make to each other in education. So let me introduce Bill McGrew. He’s been the leader of the school since 2005, and he has undertaken some major expansion of the school’s services. The General Lyceum, the Technical Vocational Lyceum, and the Technical Vocational School have all started operations, and the School’s Dimitris Perrotis College has expanded its degree programs during his time. Bill has worked very closely with our Consulate General in Thessaloniki and with the Embassy here. He is an educator. He is a friend. He is a leader, and I thank you very much for coming here tonight to honor him. I want us to have a good time, as well. And now let me introduce to you, President of the Farm School, Bill McGrew.