Chuck Mangione

[Late]

I mentioned Chuck Mangione over in the current Blakey Trumpet thread — somewhat tongue-in-cheek — but the guy, a Jazz Messenger circa '66-'68 (I think those are the years), really does have solid chops. Cannonball Addereley got the Mangione brothers (and Sal Nistico) onto Riverside, and all their efforts there are worth hearing:

The Jazz Brothers

Hey Baby!

Spring Fever

Recuerdo

Listen to some sound samples online — you might be surprised!

[Jazz Kat]

What's the matter with "after the hat?" He also had solid recordings with Gerry Niewood, Chip Jackson, and Joe Labarbera. Chase the Clouds Away and Bellavia are great albums! They're are no less "jazz" than those Jazz Brother albums. Main Squeeze, a melodic based album has some great soloing. Mangione's guitarist (1977-1981) Grant Geissman was a hell of a player. He put out a few straight ahead jazz albums out before his association with Chuck. Even Feels So Good isn't a bad record. Yes, at times it seems elevator, but there's some great melodies and solos on that album. There's a couple bad records from the late 80's (Disguise, Save Tonight For Me...) but they were just products of the times. Then in the 90's Mangione started playing Brazilian music! There's no smooth jazz in Mangione's horn. He should be up there with Chick Corea, Abercrombie, Wayne Shorter, Weather Report. They were all doing stuff like Mangione, it's just that he had more success. And he did sell out!..............

He sold out the Bowl and The Garden!

Edited April 15, 2006 by Jazz Kat

[Dave James]

Recuerdo is available on e-music. I downloaded it a couple of months ago. It's a solid, straightahead date.

Up over and out.

[johnagrandy]

When I was in High School, Chuck got more musicians interested about jazz than anyone ... including Maynard (which is strange for a HS). Not just interested in listening, but also in trying to learn to improvise. He always baked the good stuff into the brownies. Many killer players in Chuck's popular ensembles.

"... and I'm Chuck Mangione and this is my Main Squeeze !"

Edited April 17, 2006 by johnagrandy

[Kalo]

Maybe it's a chicken and egg type thing, but I'm pretty certain that the hat came first.

[rostasi]

Yes, people can now say

"hat's off to Chuck Mangione"

without really meaning it.

He was a joke during my college days,

tho I have to admit that I liked some of that

live thing called "Together."

Didn't King of the Hill have a whole season

of fun raggin' on ol' Chuck?

[marcello]

Together is one with Steve Gadd, another Rochester boy. Still lives here in the suburbs.

Here's Steve with Basie in 1961, at Birdland:

[marcello]

In 1968, Chuck began his teaching career by creating an all-city/county high school jazz ensemble

and by joining the faculty of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester.

[Chuck Nessa]

CM was a "decent" player at one point, then he took another path to money. That is fine for him. He had a choice of "art/music" or "music/income". He chose one. It worked out for him (for a while) and it might have worked for you. It didn't work for me.

DSFDF.

[marcello]

CM was a "decent" player at one point, then he took another path to money. That is fine for him. He had a choice of "art/music" or "music/income". He chose one. It worked out for him (for a while) and it might have worked for you. It didn't work for me.

DSFDF.

I agree with the caveat that he wrote, at one time, some beautiful melodies.

When he had that youth band, he trained many, young people in Rochester and showed them the love, and fun, in playing music.

The Jazz Brothers

Back Row: Sal Nistico, Roy McCurdy, Larry Combs, Bill Saunders

Front Row: Gap Mangione, Chuck Mangione

Edited April 17, 2006 by marcello

[Dan Gould]

The closest I've come to hearing Chuck Mangione play jazz was at a Roy Haynes concert. At the end of the first set, he stood by each member of the group and held the microphone as they introduced themselves.

Nicolas Payton said, "Chuck Mangione"

[Jazz Kat]

Yes, people can now say

"hat's off to Chuck Mangione"

without really meaning it.

He was a joke during my college days,

tho I have to admit that I liked some of that

live thing called "Together."

Didn't King of the Hill have a whole season

of fun raggin' on ol' Chuck?

He was in an episode where that propaine exploded and killed the daughter's boyfriend. He played taps at his funeral, than played a chorus of Feels So Good. It was pretty hilarious. When I went to see Mangione, one of several times, he mentioned his role on the series. He's a pretty outgoing guy. He wrote a song

"Peggy Hill" which can be found on his newest album, which is some tribute to the show.

Mangione has always been special to me. He was my first musical love. My dad would give me a couple of his albums, when I was about 7 or 8, and I went out and bought every album for about a dollar each in one visit to my local record shop. I played on stage with him when I was 8, for a concert at the Blue Note, where he let the kids go on stage and preform. This will always be a very special memory for me. I met all the guys in the Feels So Good band, and they were really nice to a little 8 year old kid. All my musical memories as a little child are of Mangione. He was my first introduction to jazz. I remember my dad saying, "hey listen to each member of the band soloing for a certain amount of time. This is improvisation, and basis for all jazz music." And all his albums had this. Then I was introduced to his early Jazz Brother records, and this is where I started getting into bop and stuff.

[Larry Kart]

Didn't know that this was where Larry Combs, principal clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for many years, got his start.

[JSngry]

Sal Nistico was a player.

[Soul Stream]

Don't know much about Mangione. But I do know this....In light of the Kenny G. jazz era we live in...Chuck seems downright hardcore! I mean hell, at one point he was in the frickin' Jazz Messengers. I'd like to see Boney James in the Jazz Messengers.

[marcello]

Yes, Larry Combs is a '61 Eastman Graduate:

From Noal Cohen's site:

The Chuck Mangione Quintet rehearsing at Mangione's home in 1960 - Note the Dizzy Gillespie designed trumpet. Left to right: Chuck Mangione, trumpet; Larry Combs, alto saxophone; Paul Tardif, piano; Dick Samson, Bass; Noal Cohen, drums.

The extremely gifted and versatile Larry Combs is prinicipal clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the unique Chicago jazz ensemble known as Ears. On March 5, 1999, Combs appeared in New York with the American Saxophone Quartet to premier Mike Holober's Views From a Train. He can be heard on the recently reissued Riverside album, The Jazz Brothers, with Chuck and Gap Mangione, recorded in 1960.

Photo courtesy of Paul Hoeffler.

Edited April 17, 2006 by marcello

[Soul Stream]

If the guy can be in a band with Art Blakey, Keith Jarrett and Reggie Workman then I don't think I would challenge his jazz credentials. However, what he did with that talent is surely up for discussion.

[marcello]

Sal Nistico was a player.

This is a great example of the music these guys made at that time. Balls out burnin'.

Edited April 17, 2006 by marcello

[Jazz Kat]

If the guy can be in a band with Art Blakey, Keith Jarrett and Reggie Workman then I don't think I would challenge his jazz credentials. .

amen

[rostasi]

However, what he did with that talent is surely up for discussion.

Amen.

[Rooster_Ties]

When did Chuck (Mangione, not our Chuck ) start "wearing the hat"??

Was the process gradual, or sudden??

Where there any interesting (or even moderately interesting) "partial-hat" recordings -- dates that straddle the pre-hat and post-hat eras??

I must admit that I know next to nothing about the man (the hat) - Chuck Mangione.

[Spontooneous]

Where there any interesting (or even moderately interesting) "partial-hat" recordings -- dates that straddle the pre-hat and post-hat eras??

Hats in the Sky ... In A Silent Hat ... Chapeaus de Kilimanjaro ... Bitches Hat ...

[Free For All]

Where there any interesting (or even moderately interesting) "partial-hat" recordings -- dates that straddle the pre-hat and post-hat eras??

Hats in the Sky ... In A Silent Hat ... Chapeaus de Kilimanjaro ... Bitches Hat ...

Don't forget "Big Hat" and "Hat - tah".

[johnagrandy]

The turning point was probably "High Hat". Chuck got into so much doob that things kind of went off in an unexpected direction.

[Free For All]

I did like some of his early 70s stuff- Friends and Love, Together, Land of Make Believe and the small group side Alive. He had some good sidemen- Gerry Niewood was an excellent player, as was Chris Vadala. Wonder what those guys are up to these days?

I liked the big orchestral sound of the large group recordings. I guess I eventually "graduated" to things that were more "significant" in the contemporary sense, but I still enjoy pulling out some of those sides every now and then. When AM radio found him (his Feels So Good era) he lost me though.

EDIT: I also liked Esther Satterfield, a very nice vocalist who worked with Chuck- what ever happened to her?

Edited April 17, 2006 by Free For All