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Washington Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Chuck Mangione, dead at 84, was no hack with a horn
A healthy segment of Americans knew Chuck Mangione as an object of kitsch. The shoulder-length hair and beard, the colorfully banded fedora, the warm, glossy sound of his flügelhorn (all of which he happily sent up in his self-portrayals on the animated sitcom 'King of the Hill'): Mangione represented not just a weird limbo between hipness and squareness, but an outdated one. Yet if Mangione, who died Tuesday at 84, was game to make fun of himself in that way, it was because he'd already achieved what any artist strives for: He'd made his work an indispensable part of our world. Specifically, his hit 'Feels So Good,' an instrumental pop-jazz crossover that reached #4 on the Billboard charts during the summer of 1978, has unexpectedly had as much staying power as 'Stayin' Alive,' 'I Will Survive' or any other anthemic tune from that era. So much so, in fact, that we didn't always notice it. The melodic, ever-so-gently funky record is played in restaurants and grocery stores, in hotel lobbies and elevators. It has powered more TV and radio commercials than anyone could count. Those of us who aren't pop-music nerds, or just not old enough to remember when it reigned supreme on top 40 radio, know 'Feels So Good's' barrage of hooks by heart without even realizing the song has a name. Those are the qualities that make it easy to mock, of course. It's catchy but toothless, inoffensively pleasant, so of course it's ubiquitous. That was part of the 'King of the Hill' bit. Mangione was a celebrity pitchman (for Mega Lo Mart, the big-box store of the show's universe) who, no matter what he played on his horn, always segued into 'Feels So Good.' Through no fault of its own, the record became a cornerstone of smooth jazz, that intersection of jazz, rock, soul and easy listening that conquered the realm of background music in the 1980s and 1990s. The genre is much despised. 'Feels So Good,' by association more than any actual element of the song, has thus taken its lumps. It wasn't because he couldn't play anything edgier. The Rochester, New York, native was a graduate, and later a faculty member, of that city's Eastman School of Music. He also did time in the mid 1960s as the trumpeter in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the most prestigious finishing school in postwar jazz. Before earning those two distinctions, he and his brother Gap, a pianist, had some early-1960s success leading the hard-swinging Mangione Brothers sextet, recording an album before he was 20 years old (with two more to follow). Dizzy Gillespie was both a fan of and mentor to the trumpeter. They remained close until Gillespie's death in 1993. Chuck Mangione was no hack with a horn. But he came to jazz when it had split into two poles: a populist one, which was trending ever lighter to suit mainstream tastes, and an arty one, which was increasingly inaccessible. Mangione wanted to reach the people. He saw nothing wrong with that. But he wasn't interested in success for its own sake: 'I didn't want to record something I didn't like, because if it became a hit I wouldn't be happy playing it,' he told JazzTimes magazine. It's a sentiment that was also expressed by the likes of Paul McCartney — who, as a solo artist, had been on the receiving end of the same kind of kitsch accusations as Mangione. But it's also resulted in the horn player getting the same kind of world-class work: In 1980, for example, Mangione was invited to compose a theme song for that year's Winter Olympics. He played the resulting tune, 'Give It All You Got,' live at the Closing Ceremonies in Lake Placid, New York, for a worldwide television audience. (It was another Billboard Top 20 hit, too.) Talk about reaching the people. The comparison with McCartney is apt in another sense. Say what you will about 'Feels So Good' and its particular kind of ubiquity; it means that Mangione achieved, without exaggeration, Beatle-level cultural saturation. More people know his music than know him. He reached this point without, in his own words, having to resort to music he didn't want to play. In the wake of Mangione's passing, there will be plenty of people who are ready to pile on and crack jokes about the kitschy side of his legacy. The joke will be on them. Mangione was perfectly content with that aspect of himself. Meanwhile, he infiltrated our environment and our lives in a way that many of his critics can only dream of.
ABC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Chuck Mangione, jazz musician and King of the Hill actor, dies aged 84
Two-time Grammy-winning musician Chuck Mangione, who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-flavored single Feels So Good and later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy King of the Hill, has died aged 84. Mangione died in his sleep at his home in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday, his attorney Peter S Matorin said. The musician had been retired since 2015. Perhaps his biggest hit — Feels So Good — is a staple on most smooth-jazz radio stations. It hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart. "It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level," Mangione told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008. He followed that hit with Give It All You Got, commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, which he performed at the closing ceremony. Mangione, a flugelhorn and trumpet player and jazz composer, released more than 30 albums during a career in which he built a sizeable following. He won his first Grammy award in 1977 for his album Bellavia, which was named in honour of his mother. Another album, Friends and Love, was also Grammy-nominated, and he earned a best original score Golden Globe nomination and a second Grammy for the movie The Children of Sanchez. Mangione introduced himself to a new audience when he appeared on the first several seasons of King of the Hill, appearing as a commercial spokesperson for Mega Lo Mart, where "shopping feels so good". Mangione, brother of jazz pianist Gap Mangione, with whom he partnered in The Jazz Brothers, started his career as a bebop jazz musician heavily inspired by Dizzy Gillespie. Mangione earned a bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music — where he would eventually return as director of the school's jazz ensemble — and left home to play with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He donated his signature brown felt hat and the score of his Grammy-winning single Feels So Good, as well as albums, songbooks and other ephemera from his long and illustrious career to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2009. AP
USA Today
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Chuck Mangione was always one of King of the Hill's secret weapons
King of the Hill spent 13 seasons giving famed flugelhorn musician Chuck Mangione a hallowed home among the citizens of Arlen, and the show was all the better for it. His death at the age of 84 makes you so grateful for what the gave to the show while he was on it. Giving a random celebrity a prominent place in the sitcom is a proud tradition in American television, ranging from Carl Weathers' appearances on Arrested Development and Mayor Adam West's tenure on Family Guy. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels choosing Mangione of all people to recur in the series, primarily as Arlen's Costco spoof Mega Lo Mart's spokesperson, always felt as inspired as it possibly could be. Mangione didn't hang out by the fence with Hank and the gang drinking beers, but he added genuine character to the show's backdrop. At any given moment, you could get a sick Chuck Mangione joke out of nowhere because that's how Arlen functioned. A compilation of his King of the Hill appearances shows the character's range and his importance to the show. His constant need to insert his seminal "Feels So Good" into any public appearance was always a joy. His best laugh in the entire show? Smacking a guy with his flugelhorn at an anger management session. He played Luanne and Lucky's wedding; he played a song for the show's original series finale. He was a staple. With King of the Hill's return imminent, you have to hope Mangione pops in from occasion to play the flugelhorn for the people of Arlen one last time. His death is incredibly sad, but the muzak lives on.
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Jazz legend Chuck Mangione, known for ‘Feels So Good,' dies at 84
'It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level,' Mangione told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up He followed that hit with 'Give It All You Got,' commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, and he performed it at the closing ceremony. Advertisement Mangione, a flugelhorn and trumpet player and jazz composer, released more than 30 albums during a career in which he built a sizable following after recording several albums, doing all the writing. He won his first Grammy Award in 1977 for his album 'Bellavia,' which was named in honor of his mother. Another album, 'Friends and Love,' was also Grammy-nominated, and he earned a best original score Golden Globe nomination and a second Grammy for the movie 'The Children of Sanchez.' Advertisement Mangione introduced himself to a new audience when he appeared on the first several seasons of 'King of the Hill,' appearing as a commercial spokesman for Mega Lo Mart, where 'shopping feels so good.' Mangione, brother of jazz pianist Gap Mangione, with whom he partnered in The Jazz Brothers, started his career as a bebop jazz musician heavily inspired by Dizzy Gillespie. 'He also was one of the first musicians I saw who had a rapport with the audience by just telling the audience what he was going to play and who was in his band,' Mangione told the Post-Gazette. Mangione earned a bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music — where he would eventually return as director of the school's jazz ensemble — and left home to play with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He donated his signature brown felt hat and the score of his Grammy-winning single 'Feels So Good,' as well as albums, songbooks and other ephemera from his long and illustrious career to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in 2009.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chuck Mangione, Jazz Musician Whose ‘Feels So Good' Stormed the Pop Top 10 in the Late '70s, Dies at 84
Jazz musician Chuck Mangione, who had one of the biggest pop-jazz instrumental crossover hits of all time with 'Feels So Good' in the 1970s, died Tuesday at age 84. The death was reported by multiple news outlets out of his native Rochester, NY. The city's WROC-TV reported that the Bartolomeo & Perreto Funeral Home said the musician died in his sleep at home on Tuesday. The flugelhorn and trumpet player won two Grammys, out of 14 nominations, in a career that spanned 30 albums. Beyond his musical success, the musician was also familiar to millions for his recurring voice role on the animated series 'King of the Hill.' A ubiquitous hit in 1978, 'Feels So Good' reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys. That success led to Mangione being commissioned to write and perform 'Give it All You Got,' the theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. On 'King of the Hill,' he played himself, as a celebrity pitchman for the fictional Mega Lo Mart, and was portrayed wearing an outfit that was familiar to many from the cover for the hit album 'Feels So Good.' Mangione was born in Rochester on Nov. 29, 1940. He starting music lessons at age 8, starting out on piano but switching instruments after seeing the film 'Young Man With a Horn.' He formed his first jazz band while he was in high school, along with his pianist brother, Gap. He graduated in 1963 from the Eastman School of Music, where he later came back as a teacher and the director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Mangione's parents were jazz buffs who would often invite the stars of the genre over to dinner in their home, including Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae and Art Blakey — whose Jazz Messengers group he would later join, establishing his serious chops. He was also a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the group the National Gallery. With his brother Gap, he was part of the act the Jazz Brothers, who released three albums in 1960-61. Mangione's solo career took off with the 1970 album 'Friends & Love… A Chuck Mangione Concert,' which was nominated for a 1971. The first of his releases on the Mercury label, it was recorded at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester. A single from the album, 'Hill Where the Lord Hides,' marked his first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. He moved to A&M with the 'Chase the Clouds Away' album in 1975. The title song was used at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He won his first Grammy for 'Bellavia,' a 1976 album, and his second for the 'Children of Sanchez' soundtrack, which also earned him a 1978 Golden Globe nomination. 'Feels So Good' was released as a single in December 1977, soon topping Billboard's adult contemporary chart and making it to No. 4 on the Hot 100. The album version clocked in at 9 minutes and 42 seconds and required what he called 'major surgery' to be cut down to 3:31 for radio and single release purposes. The 'Feels So Good' album was a smash in its own right, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, held back only by the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack. He released nine albums for A&M between 1975-82, thereafter switching to Columbia for his next five releases before forming his own Feels So Good imprint in the late 1980s. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Final Emmy Predictions: Talk Series and Scripted Variety - New Blood Looks to Tackle Late Night Staples
