Joe Negri died Saturday at the age of 99. His 100 birthday was to be observed on June 10. Our deep condolences to his family, friends and fans. His gifts to us were many and meaningful.
At WZUM, we’ve been preparing a special programming for this week - and we will although with a touch of sadness over his loss. To celebrate his life, we’ll have a lot of stories and music to share.
Joe Negri was an active and engaged teacher and media personality - as well as television Music Director and, of course, “Handyman Negri” on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He was featured on his own wonderful recordings on vinyl and CD - including a Grammy win with Nancy Wilson.
Joe was an active teacher of guitar at Pitt, Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon. He and his brother Bobby were skilled musicians - but much earlier in their lives, they were popular singer and dancers - enough so that Gene and Fred Kelly stopped by to check them out.
In addition to his notable time at WTAE an WQED, Joe was also a frequent visitor on WDUQ, and later, on WZUM - in fact, Joe served on the board of directors for Pittsburgh Public Media, the license holder of WZUM - and Joe was stalwart in supporting the arduous climb as the Pittsburgh Jazz Channel became an around-the clock jazz portal for this great music.
This coming week, we’ll share “Joe Negri Presents: The History of Jazz Guitar” a 2 part program produced with support from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts in 2008. Hear it Tuesday and Wednesday at noon and 6pm.
We’ll also share more music and stories from Joe on The Scene - Thursday at 6, Friday and Saturday at noon
Joe Negri