Chuck Mangione
b. Charles Frank Mangione, 29 November 1940, Rochester, New York, USA. Mangione began playing trumpet as a child, studying formally at the Eastman School of Music. He gained experience accompanying visiting jazzmen, then in 1960 went to New York where he formed a band with his brother, pianist Gap Mangione. The band, the Jazz Brothers, remained in existence for five years, playing hard bop. In 1965, Mangione played in the trumpet sections of the Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson bands and later that year he joined Art Blakey, with whom he remained until 1967. After leaving Blakey, Mangione taught at his old school and again formed his own small band. He began making albums with which he achieved considerable popular success. He had started to dabble on fluegelhorn and eventually abandoned the trumpet altogether in favour of the more mellow-sounding instrument. Throughout the '70s and into the '80s Mangione continued to capitalize upon his successful recordings, appearing widely in concert and making more records which again appealed to a wide audience. To a great extent, Mangione achieved his popular success by offering melodic and uncluttered music, sometimes with interesting hints of Latin influence. Although much of his popular material failed to excite the hardcore jazz audience, there can be little doubt that he helped to introduce the music to many who might otherwise have passed it by. His compositions have appealed to a wide range of musicians, being played by artists as different as Percy Faith and Cannonball Adderley. Perhaps the best known of his compositions is Land Of Make Believe, which has frequently been recorded. Additionally, Mangione has written for films, notably The Children Of Sanchez (1978).