The centre's annual honours also paid tribute to Harlem's famed Apollo theatre - the first time an institution has received what is considered the top US 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".
Outgoing US President Joe Biden received a rousing ovation from the Kennedy Center audience. (AP PHOTO)
Biden, who was joined by his wife Jill and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, has attended the event each year of his term.
President-elect Donald Trump, who assumes 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.
Apart from a joke by comedian David Letterman that the Kennedy Center was trying to fit as many honours ceremonies in as possible before Trump's inauguration on January 20, politics took a back seat for the show.
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," actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus said 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 Sheryl Crow on piano.
Next came a tribute to Sandoval, a jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer, who grew up in Cuba before defecting.
Jazz musician and composer Arturo Sandoval grew up in Cuba before defecting to the US. (AP PHOTO)
"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," actor Robert De Niro said.
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," band member Mickey Hart said ahead of the show.
"And the spirit of the music prevails. It still lives."
