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Joe Negri

In 1999, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust honored me by naming me the "Established Artist of the Year." I remember telling them that my career has been a "work in progress" since age three.

As a child performer, I performed on radio and appeared in theatrical and stage productions throughout the tri-state area. I was even chosen to become one of Pittsburgh's "Stars of Tomorrow." A voice change shattered my confidence and I stopped performing. Shortly after, I began to seriously study the guitar.

By age sixteen, I was playing well enough to win a job with one of the country's top swing bands. I soon became a featured member of the band and traveled nationally with them for about two years. Though the army briefly sidetracked my career, it by no means stopped it. I was fortunate enough to meet up with several top-notch jazz musicians and together we continued to develop our musical skills.

In the early 50's, I enrolled at CMU (Carnegie Tech) and I picked up some important musical training and overall grooming. I feel very strongly that these years rounded me as a person and prepared me for the work that was still to come. Following CMU, I landed a job in the "brand new" media of television. It was the start of a forty-year career. My TV work began at KDKA-TV where I headed up my own trio and following that, I spent some twenty years at WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh's ABC affiliate) as an "on the air performer" and musical director.

Love and Marriage

It was during this time that I met, feel in love with, and married Joni Serafini. Shortly after that, Joni and I began to seriously consider moving to NYC even though my career was beginning to take shape here in Pittsburgh. New York City has always been the mecca for artist and music was no exception. The recording studios, the major radio stations, and major TV networks represented the "Holy Grail" of the music business in the middle of the last century. Our first daughter, Lisa, was born a few years after we were married. A year or so later, we decided that we should look into opportunities in the Big Apple!

We visited with several musician friends and we surveyed the music scene closely. Even though the opportunities seemed abundant, we chose to return to Pittsburgh. The thought of raising Lisa and a family in that environment discouraged any ideas of becoming a New York studio musician.

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398
Album Review

Joe Negri: Dream Dancing

Read "Dream Dancing" reviewed by Jack Huntley


Veteran guitarist Joe Negri has nothing to prove to anyone. He's been a professional musician since the late '40s, played with a wide variety of musicians in countless musical settings, taught crops of aspiring musicians through his university positions, worked as a musical director and on-air performer for television, and weathered the ups and downs of the jazz world with his melodic, sophisticated musical style. On Dream Dancing, Negri displays his seemingly effortless chops over a set of aptly chosen ...

677
Album Review

Joe Negri: Guitars For Christmas

Read "Guitars For Christmas" reviewed by Ken Hohman


Mention the name of guitarist Joe Negri to any Pittsburgh native and you'll invariably be greeted with a smile. Negri is a Pittsburgh jazz legend who has gigged with countless performers and symphonies over the decades. He's also loved by millions of baby boomers through his role as “Handyman Negri" on the renowned PBS TV series Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. As endearingly modest as he is brilliant, Negri has unwittingly created one of the finest modern Christmas recordings I've ever heard ...

225
Album Review

Joe Negri: Afternoon In Rio

Read "Afternoon In Rio" reviewed by Jim Santella


While serving for more than twenty years as a musical director for television station WTAE in Pittsburgh, guitarist Joe Negri has written and performed for a variety of situations. He's equally at home with the jazz standard as he is with this collection of Brazilian music. The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, having sponsored live jazz in Pittsburgh for eleven years, produces recordings (the MCG Jazz label) whose proceeds benefit Jazz Education with a focus on high school after-hours exposure. ...

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Radio

Joe Negri: Guitars for XMAS

Joe Negri: Guitars for XMAS

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

It's that time of year again, when I introduce you to the newest member of the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame. This is the Hall's 13th season. Just think, kids who were born the year I started this feature are now getting their braces removed. Time flies. My choice this year is guitarist Joe Negri's Guitars for Christmas (2003). A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Negri recorded just four albums as a leader, most of them for Pittsburgh's nonprofit ...

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Performance / Tour

Joe Negri's Jazz "Mass" Gives Range To Its Message

Joe Negri's Jazz "Mass" Gives Range To Its Message

Source: All About Jazz

Joe Negri's performance with his trio and the newly formed Saint Vincent Jazz Choir on Saturday was a match made in heaven. Sort of. The music was an hour-long performance of “Mass of Hope: The Mass in the Jazz Idiom," which Mr. Negri, of Scott, wrote years ago and continued to develop into an entire performance of sacred music for Catholic liturgy. It has been performed as part of liturgical worship, and has been performed in other venues as sacred ...

"Joe is not only the best royal handyman in the neighborhood, he's a consummate jazz musician who delights us all." --Fred Rogers

"Hey Joe, Wow these cd's are a home run! These are among the best jazz guitar cd's I've ever heard. I've never heard a jazz guitar improvisor with so much taste, class, and swing in their playing. I just thought I'd send you an email. Great job!" --Tom Mowrey, Guitarist, Singer and Songwriter

"Negri is a master jazz guitarist who converses with the Brazilian lexicon with the ease, rhythm and flair of a hard working Carioca musician, It's obvious from the opening statement, Jobim's "O Grande Amor" that here's a musician steeped in the technical know-how of his instrument, but what's surprising about Afternoon In Rio, is how warm, beautifully understated and smooth most of the album is." --Mark Ruffin, The Brazilian Music Review

Andy Bianco
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