From Clarkburg’s Orlando Columbo in the 1940s and ’50s to Pittsburgh’s Joe Negri in the ’60s and ’70s to Morgantown’s Mark Cappellini today, there is a strong tradition of Italian jazz musicians in the Mon Valley, who have made significant contributions to the region as performers and educators.

Mark Cappellini’s Jazz Italiano, a project to pay tribute those great Italian jazz musicians, was so popular in its first year that it will be repeated Friday in Clarksburg’s Washington Square, and Saturday in Morgantown’s Waterfront Marriott Hotel’s restaurant and lounge, Bourbon Prime, and billed as “A Musical Kickoff To the Italian Festival Season” in the I-79 corridor.