Pittsburgh jazz guitarist Joe Negri has died

Joe Negri, a Pittsburgh jazz guitarist who spent a lifetime bringing the warmth of the swing tradition to concert stages, university classrooms, and children’s television, died on May 30, 2026, in Scott Township, Pennsylvania, just eleven days before what would have been his 100th birthday.

Born in Pittsburgh to Italian immigrant parents on June 10, 1926, Negri picked up the guitar at age eight and was touring nationally with swing bands by sixteen. He served in the U.S. Navy, then returned to Pittsburgh to anchor the city’s jazz scene across more than seven decades. He became one of Pittsburgh’s most beloved and versatile musicians. He was a first-call sideman for Tony Bennett and a regular on the same stages as Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, and Johnny Costa, the legendary jazz pianist who served as musical director of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

That connection to Fred Rogers defined Negri’s public face for millions of viewers. Beginning in 1968, he played “Handyman Negri” on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood for nearly four decades, operating Negri’s Music Shop in the show’s “real” neighborhood and introducing children to live jazz and world-class guests. It was, as Rogers recognized, a perfect vehicle for the show, Negri’s swinging, accessible style made jazz feel like a neighborly thing.

As an educator, he was equally consequential. He taught jazz guitar for 49 years at the University of Pittsburgh, where jazz guitar was introduced as a formal discipline in higher education for the first time anywhere, and for 46 years at Duquesne University, as well as Carnegie Mellon. He was inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Society Hall of Fame.