Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione is a composer, arranger jazz pianist, flugelhorn and trumpet player who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.
Chuck 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. In the late sixties, 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.
From 1968 to 1972, Mangione served as director of the Eastman jazz ensemble 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," 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 a well known wind section themes.
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.
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.”
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