Joe Negri


Joseph Harold Negri is an American jazz guitarist and educator. He appeared on the 1959 children's television program Adventure Time.
Negri appeared, along with pianist and fellow Pennsylvanian Johnny Costa, on the 1954 TV series, 67 Melody Lane, hosted by Ken Griffin. They played two songs: "After You've Gone" and "Little Brown Jug" the latter accompanied by Griffin at the organ. He also recorded with the Three Suns.
He appeared as himself and as "Handyman Negri" in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe segments on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Negri taught jazz guitar for 49 years at the University of Pittsburgh, where jazz guitar was first offered as a discipline in higher education. He also taught for 46 years at Duquesne University, as well as at Carnegie Mellon University.

Biography

Joe Negri began performing on radio at age three, playing the ukulele and singing. He joined the local musicians' union and began playing his first professional engagements. In the 1940s, he toured nationally and was featured with the Shep Fields Orchestra for several years. Then he entered the Army for two years.
After returning home, he performed locally with his brother, pianist Lonfellow Negri. He enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University. He concentrated on music composition and taught guitar to students, including Ralph Patt, the inventor of major-thirds tuning; Negri and Patt recorded in 1989.
Negri spent the next twenty-two years working in television as music director. He met Fred Rogers and appeared as a regular, Handyman Negri, in the children's program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for nearly 40 years.
In 2010 he recorded an album with Michael Feinstein and performed with him during the next year at the Newport Jazz Festival. Negri was the subject of a profile in the September 2010 issue of Vintage Guitar magazine, written by Rich Kienzle. He has donated his works and other documentation related to his music to the University of Pittsburgh Archives.

Joe Negri archives

The Joe Negri archives consist of the collection of manuscripts, recordings, memorabilia, and original hand-written scores that document his life, work and influence. The collection was donated by Negri in 1999 to the Center for American Music within the University Library System at the University of Pittsburgh. The donation became the 1,000th collection at the ULS to have an electronically accessible finding aid. The archives contains correspondence, commissioned commercial musical compositions, scores, recordings and television archival footage. His donation also included his college coursework, compositions written for the River City Brass Band, television scores, commercial jingles, and film work. Companies that commissioned work from Negri included McDonald's, Alcoa, Kaufmann's, and Westinghouse.

Discography

As leader