Josh White Jr. to Perform at Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Fundraiser

Sewickley, PA (PittsburghNewsWire.com) — The Tuskegee Airmen Memorial of the Greater Pittsburgh Region will sponsor a fundraiser on Saturday, June 23, 2012. 4 to 6pm, reception & 7pm concert.

The Tuskegee Airmen Memorial presents “An Evening with Josh White, Jr.” at Club Café, 56-58 South 12th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203, (412-431-4950).  Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased at the door or by calling 412-741-5130.

Tuskegee Airmen Memorial of the Greater Pittsburgh Region operates to honor & memorialize the Tuskegee Airmen from Western Pennsylvania which is home to the largest number of Tuskegee Airmen.

“We are honored and excited to have Josh White, Jr. perform at our fundraiser”, said Regis Bobonis, Sr., founder and chairperson of the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial.

“The song “Uncle Sam Says” written by his legendary father tells about the discrimination in the U. S. military which he sang for FDR causing the start of military desegregation”, Bobonis continued.

“Our fundraiser will give us the opportunity to celebrate the courageous actions of the Tuskegee Airmen who helped to defeat the Nazi’s and challenged the Jim Crow laws when they came home”, Bobonis said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said of one of Josh White, Jr. performances:

“The musical highlight of the evening was Josh White, Jr.’s set of sophisticated blues-based guitar playing and vocals. White has the harmonic finesse of a jazz performer, and his style is still one of the most recognizable and polished sounds in all folk music.”

Josh White, Jr., became, a ‘hit’ literally over night at the age of four, by performing with his legendary father Josh White one night at New York’s famed “Café Society” night club (America’s first integrated nightclub)

Josh attended New York’s famed Professional Children’s School, along with Elliott Gould, Sandra Dee, Leslie Uggams, Christopher Walken, and Marvin Hamlisch, who co-wrote Josh’s first solo recording for Decca in 1956, “See Saw”.

White’s more recent recordings have included “Jazz Ballads & Blues”, a GRAMMY nominated instrumental jazz album tribute to his father – RYKODISK 1986; “Live at the Soft Rock Café” – RTG/Ocean Song 1990; “House of The Rising Son” (Silverwolf 1999) and “Cortelia Clark” (Silverwolf, 2001)

Following the success of the rave-reviewed CD release tribute to his dad, House of the Rising Son, Josh’s long-awaited live band album JOSH WHITE, JR. LIVE was released in 2003. In 2006, Silverwolf released “Delicate Balance,” and in 2007 “Josh White, Jr. & Ron Coden – “All The Children,” was released, which includes many of his youthful fans’ favorites.

Silverwolf Records subsequently released “By Request” and “Live at the Raven” in 2009 and “Tuning for the Blues” in 2010 featuring more songs in the style of the legendary Josh White, Sr.

A biography on his father’s life, JOSH WHITE “Society Blues,” by Elijah Wald, was published by the University of Massachusetts Press. Josh joined his long-time friends Odetta, Oscar Brand and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott in the Americana touring show, “GLORY BOUND – a historic salute to Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Josh White.

In the wake of America’s tragedy on September 11, 2001, Gateway Records recorded Josh performing two of his father’s patriotic and civil rights classics, “The House I Live In,” and “Free and Equal Blues,” for their 2002 compilation release “CELEBRATE AMERICA.”

Concurrently, with that release Josh White, Jr., was the first artist authorized and invited to sing a set of inspirational songs at New York’s hallowed Ground Zero site.

For more information about the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial and Western PA Tuskegee Airmen
contact Regis Bobonis, Sr. at 412-741-5130.
See www.joshwhitejr.com for additional bio, reviews and discography.
Advance phone interviews with Josh can be arranged: Contact Rich Dieter, 412-773-0899.
Josh White, Jr. CD’s & photos are available upon request.

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