Chuck Mangione - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Mangione and his pianist brother Gap led the Jazz Brothers group which recorded three albums for Riverside Records. He attended the Eastman School of Music from 1958 to 1963, and afterwards joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for which he filled the trumpet seat, previously held by greats such as Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, and Lee Morgan.

In the late 1960s, Mangione was a member of the band The National Gallery, which in 1968 released the album Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee. Mangione served as director of the Eastman jazz ensemble from 1968 to 1972, and in 1970, he returned to recording with the album Friends and Love, recorded in concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and numerous guest performers.

Mangione's quartet with saxophonist Gerry Niewood was a popular concert and recording act throughout the 1970s. "Bellavia," recorded during this collaboration, won Mangione his first Grammy Award in 1977 in the category Best Instrumental Composition.

Mangione's composition "Chase the Clouds Away" was used at the 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, Quebec, with a later composition, "Give It All You Got," being used as the theme to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games, held in Lake Placid, New York. He performed it live at the closing ceremonies, which were televised globally. In 1978 Mangione composed the soundtrack for the film "The Children of Sanchez" starring Anthony Quinn. This album won him his second Grammy, in the category Best Pop Instrumental performance in 1979 and the title song, almost 15 minutes long in full version and featuring one of the most recognizable wind section themes, has not lost its popularity to this day. In 1981 Mangione composed/performed the theme for The Cannonball Run starring Burt Reynolds and many more.

In addition to his quartet with Niewood, Mangione also had much success with his later-‘70s ensemble, including Mangione on flugelhorn and keyboard, Chris Vadala on saxophones and flutes, Grant Geissman on guitars, Charles Meeks on bass and James Bradley, Jr. on drums. This version of Mangione’s band recorded and toured behind the hit studio albums “Feels So Good” and “Fun and Games,” as well as the “Children of Sanchez” film soundtrack recordings, and were some of the musicians that played on various songs as part of Mangione's 1980 “Tarantella" benefit concert.

The band was also featured, along with a 70-piece orchestra, on the live album “An Evening of Magic,” which was recorded at the Hollywood Bowl on July 16, 1978, at the height of Mangione’s success from “Feels So Good.” Performances of material new and old included versions of “Main Squeeze,” “Hill Where the Lord Hides” and “Chase the Clouds Away.” Mangione opened and closed the show with “Feels So Good” and its “Reprise” version. “B’Bye” featured a string arrangement from Bill Reichenbach. The horns were arranged by frequent collaborator Jeff Tyzik, who also played trumpet in the horn section that night. Mangione also played material from the just-released “Children of Sanchez” soundtrack album, which made its West Coast concert debut.

The liner notes from the album describe the frenzy in which the performance was put together. Unable to set up on stage the day before (The Los Angeles Philharmonic played the “1812 Overture” on July 15), Mangione and his crew had only the day of show to set up lights, sound and recording gear. He had only nine hours the day before to rehearse at A&M studios with the orchestra's musicians and was never able to run through the entire set list once in its entirety. He and the band stayed at a hotel up the street from the Bowl to make sure they wouldn't miss the performance due to snarled traffic pouring in as showtime neared.

Nevertheless, the show went off without a hitch.

In December 1980, Mangione held a benefit concert in the American Hotel Ballroom in Rochester to benefit the victims of an earthquake in Italy. The nine-hour concert included jazz luminaries such as Chick Corea, Steve Gadd and Dizzy Gillespie, among a host of other session and concert greats. Soon thereafter, A&M released “Tarantella,” named for the Italian traditional dance, a vinyl album of some of the concert’s exceptional moments, which has yet to resurface on CD.

A 1980 issue of Current Biography called "Feels So Good" the most recognized tune since "Michelle" by The Beatles. Recently, smooth jazz stations throughout the United States have recognized Mangione's "Feels So Good" as their all-time number one song. He raised over $50,000 for St. John's Nursing Home at his 60th Birthday Bash Concert, held at Rochester's Eastman Theatre and played a few bars of "Feels So Good.