A few years ago, Joe Negri received the Outstanding Achievement in Media Award from the Media Association of Pittsburgh (formerly the Pittsburgh Radio and Television Club)
WZUM’s President and CEO Chuck Leavens was asked to introduce Joe for the occasion:
Good evening, everyone. I am Chuck Leavens
When Joe asked me to speak here tonight, I was honored and delighted at the chance to take part in this celebration of a friend and his life’s work.
And then, the panic set in: How on EARTH do you do justice to this man in just a few minutes?
Think about it. If Joe had never set foot in front of a television camera, his accomplishments would still be staggering. He is an extraordinary guitarist. His talents have made him in demand as a professional musician since the age of 16. Over the course of his career, he has played with some of the top touring acts in the country, as a solo performer, and with his own bands. He has composed an impressive body of secular and sacred music.
But we’re here tonight because Joe is not just a world-class musician, but a world-class broadcaster. And his effectiveness on camera lies partly in his sheer musical genius, partly in his warmth as a person, but I think from something else.
If there’s one defining fact about Joe Negri, one thing about him that steered the course of his life, it is that he came from a musical home.
His parents, Mike and Rose, brought up their young sons with the Italian music of their heritage, but also American jazz and Dixieland. The Negris taught their boys a new pop song every week. An amateur musician himself, Mike Negri enjoyed playing fiddle and banjo. Young Joe and brother Bobby absorbed these influences into every pore.
From very early on in their lives, the Negri brothers had a knack for entertaining. A 4-year-old Joe made his first radio appearance singing on a KQV amateur hour. A year later, Joe and his then 3-year-old brother Bobby impressed another pair of talented brothers—Gene and Fred Kelly. A visit to the Negri home so impressed the Kellys that the boys were hired on the spot.
And Mike Negri bought his eldest son his very first guitar so he could sing and play at the Kelly’s studio.
Over the next few years, the Negri brothers built up their chops performing in local lodges and halls. And it didn’t take long for Joe to draw the notice of national musicians. At the age of 16—16!—Joe went on tour with Shep Fields’ band as a featured soloist.
Joe and Bobby formed the first Joe Negri Trio in 1946. That same year, a full three years before Pittsburgh had a TV station, Joe appeared on a closed-circuit TV program at Kaufmann’s.
And when commercial TV broadcasts started in Pittsburgh, Joe was ready to plant the jazz flag in local living rooms. The Negri Trio appeared on KDKA’s “Buzz and Bill Show” five nights a week starting in 1952. Eventually moving to WTAE, Joe was that station’s music director for two decades. On top of that, Joe composed a number of documentary scores, and continued to perform live.
Joe stayed busy, to be sure. And Joe chose to stay in Pittsburgh. There were lucrative career options in larger cities.
But Joe and Joni wanted to raise their children here. And, as we all know, there are children throughout the world whose lives were changed for the better by that decision.
For all of Joe’s blazing guitar skills, for his wide-ranging broadcast achievements, Joe’s best-known gig was as a Handyman.
Was there ever a greater embodiment of television’s potential than Mister Roger’s Neighborhood?
Fred Rogers, David Newell, Johnny Costa, Joe… Gentle souls with curious and adventurous minds—and an infectious sense of fun. They created a space that could only have existed on television and in the imaginations of children. “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was more than an educational program. It was more than a collection of sets and puppets. It was even more than the people who created it. The Land of Make Believe was a product of sheer alchemy.
For generations of children, the music that Joe Negri and Johnny Costa created was nothing less than the soundtrack of childhood. It was the sound of adventure, and yet the sound of being safe and loved.
All this from that same hot jazz guitarist who cut his teeth on Charlie Christian and Django Reinhart.
Watching Joe perform, in person or on camera, is seeing the heart and the passion of the music. And, especially in his work on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” he used the medium of broadcast television to create an experience that was truly, wonderfully, genuinely, profoundly, personal.
That’s Joe’s power. There is not a self-important bone in Joe’s body. His technical skill is nothing short of stunning, yes. But when you watch Joe play, you are swept up in the power of his joy. Joe brought top-notch jazz into the lives of generations of children by treating it as exuberant, playtime music. Joe has shown through his life’s work that creativity and integrity and sheer, glorious, entertainment can and should coexist.
Yes, Joe Negri came from a musical home. And through his work, he has made OUR homes musical.
We are here tonight to celebrate a true musician, a true broadcaster, and a true friend. Our lives are all so much richer for Joe’s influence.
From the bottom of my heart, Joe, thank you.
Chuck Leavens, Joe Negri