WASHINGTON: First lady Michelle Obama, joined by from left, Terence Blanchard, Bobby Watson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Herbie Hancock, speaks to high school students from across the Washington D.C. area in State Dining Room of the White House on Friday.— AP photos

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are celebrating International Jazz Day a day early with a concert at the White House. Borrowing a line from trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie, who ran for president in 1964, Obama says he intends to turn the White House into the “Blues House” with Friday night’s concert.

Obama says he first obtained an appreciation of jazz when a father he “barely knew” came to visit him for about a month in Honolulu. He says his father took him to see jazz pianist Dave Brubeck in 1971. Obama says the world that concert opened up for a 10-year-old boy was spectacular, and he was hooked. The concert features Aretha Franklin, Al Jarreau, Herbie Hancock and others and it was televised yesterday on ABC. — AP