Penn State of Greater Allegheny in McKeesport celebrated its tenth year scholarship with a fantastic jazz benefit entitled “All That’s Jazz.”
Since 2004, they have raised more than $730,000 for student scholarships. On the evening of Nov. 9, they hoped to raise enough money to provide scholarships for even more students.
To assist in this campaign, Penn State of Greater Allegheny invited two of the best known natives of Pittsburgh to entertain the donating audience; the beautiful Tamara Tunie, vocalist, actor, producer, director, philanthropist and a star of the “Law & Order: SVU,” along with Jeff “Tain” Watts, multi-Grammy Award winning drummer, bandleader, producer and star of TV and film. Bill Flanagan, served as Master of Ceremonies for the evening, as Chancellor Curtiss E. Porter, PhD, kept things moving with the live auction. Some of the items for auction were: Pittsburgh Pirates memorabilia, Steelers memorabilia, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tickets, a vacation at Kiawah Island, SC; a Super Bowl hat signed by Steelers’ greats and a vacation in Costa Rica, valued at $3,300.
While the audience dined and discussed choices at the auction, the wonderful voice of Tamara Tunie and her accompanying quartet of, Roger Humphries on drums, Max Leake, Jr. on keyboards, Dave Pellow, on bass and Roby “Supersax” Edwards on saxophone, blew the roof off the place, with classic tunes and something special for all veterans.
Tunie looked fabulous in a black sequined gown, harkening to the classic ballroom era of the Cotton Club. Her stylish voice and tempo moved the audience, along with the searing sounds of the quartet. After Tunie finished her set, the auction continued briefly. Then once again it was, “All That’s Jazz,” with Jeff “Tain” Watts and band. His progressive rhythms on the skins, “cooked the house without grease” as musicians say. The evening’s goal was for the scholarship fund to reach $20,000 for education for the students.
