By Jeff Mason and Allende Miglietta
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, jazz musician Arturo Sandoval and rock band the Grateful Dead were celebrated at the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday.
The Kennedy Center also honored Harlem's famed Apollo theater, the first time an institution has received what is considered the top U.S. award for achievement in the arts.
The audience gave a rousing ovation to outgoing President Joe Biden who earlier on Sunday said artists used their talents to "challenge power freely and without fear".
Biden has attended the event each year of his term. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office in January, did not attend during his first term.
Kennedy Center officials said ahead of the show that they hoped he would attend during his second term.
With the exception of a joke by comedian David Letterman that the Kennedy Center was trying to fit as many Honors ceremonies in as possible before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, politics took a back seat for the show itself.
First up was a tribute to Raitt, who has won 13 Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
"It's her old soul that just grips us," said actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus before a performance by Dave Matthews and Emmylou Harris of Raitt's classic "Angel from Montgomery" and "I Can't Make You Love Me," sung by Brandi Carlile with piano accompaniment by Sheryl Crow.
Next came a tribute to Sandoval, a jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer, who grew up in Cuba before defecting.
"You are the trumpet master," musician Chris Botti said to Sandoval from the Kennedy Center stage before performing "Smile."
For The Apollo, where Black performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown and Gladys Knight launched their careers, actor and comedian Dave Chappelle regaled the audience with a story about his debut there as a teenager. Actress and singer Queen Latifah said it had "birthed some of the greatest artists of all time."
A host of Hollywood stars then feted Coppola, a five-time Academy Award winner whose body of work includes "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," said actor Robert De Niro.
The show concluded with a tribute to the Grateful Dead by performers including Dave Matthews, Maggie Rogers, and Derek Trucks.
"It's really magical. It's amazing that we actually are here. And the spirit of the music prevails. It still lives," said band member Mickey Hart ahead of the show.
The Kennedy Center Honors will be broadcast on CBS on Dec. 22.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Allende Miglietta; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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