Nearly 40 years ago, a Kenyan father was visiting his son in Hawaii and took him to his first jazz concert. The boy was Barack Obama and the performer was jazz great Dave Brubeck.

"I've been a jazz fan ever since," the president said Sunday, crediting the pianist and composer with bringing jazz into the mainstream and transforming it with new rhythms. "The world that he opened up for a 10-year-old boy was spectacular."

Obama greeted Brubeck at the White House on the musician's 89th birthday. Brubeck was lauded with the Kennedy Center Honors, along with rocker Bruce Springsteen, actor Robert De Niro, comic genius Mel Brooks and opera singer Grace Bumbry.

A surprise list of stars performed as part of the nation's highest honors for those who have defined American culture through the arts. It's part of a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. The show will air nationwide Dec. 29 on CBS.

Jon Stewart opened the tribute to Springsteen, recounting his theory on how The Boss came to be.

"I'm not a music critic, nor historian, nor archivist," Stewart said. "But I am from New Jersey. And so I can tell you what I believe. ... I believe that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby."

As the story goes, Stewart said Dylan and Brown abandoned the child on the New Jersey Turnpike, and the child was raised by "a pack of feral vaudevillians. That child is Bruce Springsteen."

Stewart had first lady Michelle Obama doubled over laughing. And The Boss, seated next to her, even cracked a smile.

John Mellencamp sang "Born in the U.S.A.," Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland did "Glory Days" with a country twist, Melissa Etheridge rocked the house with "Born To Run" to a standing ovation and Sting ended the musical tribute with "The Rising" with help from a choir.

About 300 guests, including Jack Black, Edward Norton, Matthew Broderick, Ben Stiller, Martin Scorsese, Philip Seymour Hoffman celebrated the group with a reception in the East Room of the White House before the show.

"These performers are indeed the best," Obama said. "They are also living reminders of a single truth _ and I'm going to steal a line from Michelle here _ the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are the heart of our national life."

Springsteen, 60, described the honor as different than other accolades.

"We worked really hard for our music to be part of American life and our fans' lives," he said. "So it's an acknowledgment that you've kind of threaded your way into the culture in a certain way. It's satisfying."

The honors were heartfelt for the 66-year-old De Niro. Meryl Streep opened with a tribute to her friend, who she said was exacting with details as an actor, director and producer.