Images(8)

Award

Object number2021.124.2

Date2001

MediumGlass; Adhesive; Plastic; Silicone(?)

Credit LineGift of Joe Negri

DescriptionGlass award comprised of blown twisted glass cone in colorless, blue, and purple glass mounted upon rectangular black glass base. Base has etched text next to the cone.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 5.5 × 8.5 × 6.75 in. (14 × 21.6 × 17.1 cm)
InscriptionsProper left half of base has etched text on top "MELLON / Jazz / FESTIVAL / [logo] Mellon / 2001 / Mellon Jazz / Community / Award / presented to / Joe Negri / in recognition of your / significant contributions / to jazz in the / Pittsburgh region."
Historical NotesJoseph Negri won this Mellon Jazz Festival Community Award in 2001. The jazz festival was sponsored by Mellon Bank and ran from 1964-2003. Joseph Negri, a renowned jazz guitarist, was born in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He demonstrated a gift for music at a young age and performed in acts on the amateur circuit. As a fifteen-year-old, he joined the musicians’ union and went professional with the Shep Fields Orchestra at seventeen. After WWII, Negri worked as a musical director at WTAE in the 1950s, which is where he first worked with Fred Rogers. Rogers left WTAE and developed his program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which aired on WQED from 1968-2001. He asked Joseph to portray a character named Handyman Negri, a general contractor who worked in the Land of Make-Believe, mostly for King Friday. Negri had a long and successful career as a professional musician and worked as a music teacher at the Manchester Craftsman Guild, Duquesne University, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Previous owner Joseph Negri (born 1926)

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