Chuck Mangione
Charles Frank Mangione (man-JOH-nee; November 29, 1940 – July 22, 2025) was an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter, actor, and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap, achieving international success in 1978 with his jazz-pop single "Feels So Good". He released more than 30 albums, beginning in the 1960s.
Also recorded as Charles Mangione · Charles Frank Mangione
Chuck Mangione

John Mathew Smith and celebrity-photos.com from Laurel, Maryland · Chuck Mangione · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Full name
- Charles Frank Mangione.
- Born
- 1940. · Rochester.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- conductor, trumpeter, composer, musician, flugelhorn player and bandleader.
- Fields
- trumpet performance, music composition, music and jazz.
- Education
- Eastman School of Music.
- Known for
- Feels So Good.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Charles Frank Mangione (man-JOH-nee; November 29, 1940 – July 22, 2025) was an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter, actor, and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap, achieving international success in 1978 with his jazz-pop single "Feels So Good". He released more than 30 albums, beginning in the 1960s.
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Note VALÉORINE
Chuck Mangione (1940–2025) was a bandleader, composer and conductor, among other activities, of American nationality. The bandleader was born Charles Frank Mangione in Rochester and died in Rochester.
Chuck Mangione was educated at Eastman School of Music. The bandleader was a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Chuck Mangione Quartet and The Jazz Messengers. Activity centred on jazz, music and music composition.
Among the works is Feels So Good. The work spans jazz, jazz fusion and jazz-funk, among others. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
gnd · 10289104-7 · museum · 4861e415-2a6e-4682-98c0-ae212683faf4 · wikidata · Q945778 · wikipedia · Chuck Mangione
In this article
Early life
Early life
He also appeared in various television shows, including a recurring role on King of the Hill.
Chuck Mangione studied at Eastman School of Music. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is trumpet performance, music composition and music. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are jazz, jazz fusion, smooth jazz and jazz-funk. Works named in the authority record are Feels So Good.
Mangione was born to Italian-American parents on November 29, 1940, in Rochester, New York, where he grew up. His parents were jazz enthusiasts who owned a grocery store, Mangione Grocery. While at elementary school Mangione began music lessons, beginning with piano, but later switching to trumpet after watching the film Young Man with a Horn. With his pianist brother, Gap, he started a band in high school and played in sessions with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.
Career
Career
Mangione played with Art Blakey's band in the 1960s. He and his brother led the Mangione Brothers Sextet/Quintet, who recorded three albums for Riverside Records before Mangione branched out with other work. One of his compositions for the Mangione Brothers Sextet, "Something Different", was recorded by Cannonball Adderley on Adderley's 1961 album African Waltz. Mangione attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester from 1958 to 1963 where he started playing the flugelhorn. He then joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, filling the trumpet chair previously held by Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, and Lee Morgan. In the late 1960s, Mangione was a member of the National Gallery, a band. In 1968, the band released the album Performing Musical Interpretations of the Paintings of Paul Klee. He served as the director of the Eastman jazz ensemble from 1968 to 1972. In 1970, he recorded the album Friends and Love in concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and guest performers. Mangione's quartet with saxophonist Gerry Niewood was a popular concert and recording act throughout the 1970s. "Bellavia", recorded during the collaboration won Mangione his first Grammy Award in 1977 in the category Best Instrumental Composition. "Bellavia" was used by WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky as background music for school closings; it was first used during the Blizzard of 1978. In addition to his quartet with Niewood, Mangione had much success with his later-1970s ensemble, with Chris Vadala on saxophones and flutes, Grant Geissman on guitars, Charles Meeks on bass guitar, 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 and the Children of Sanchez soundtrack. Some band members participated in the "Tarantella" benefit concert in 1980. The song "Feels So Good" became a rare instrumental Top Ten hit, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. Mangione's composition "Chase the Clouds Away" was used at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec. His composition "Give It All You Got" was the theme to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. He performed it live on a global television broadcast at the closing ceremonies. 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. In 1980, Current Biography, a magazine, called "Feels So Good" the most recognized tune since "Michelle" by the Beatles. With the ticket sales from his 60th-birthday concert held in 2000 at Rochester's Eastman Theatre, Mangione raised more than $50,000 for St. John's Nursing Home. In 2009, Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett, two members of Mangione's band, were killed in the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 outside of Buffalo, New York. Mangione retired in 2015 and sold his copyrights to Primary Wave in 2024.
Acting career and television appearances
Acting career and television appearances
In addition to music, Mangione made appearances in television shows including Magnum, P.I. and Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show on CBC. He had a recurring role on the animated television series King of the Hill as a fictional version of himself being a celebrity spokesman for the "Mega Lo Mart", having been approached with a script a couple of months prior to the show premiering on television in 1997; noting the playing of his music to a considerable audience, Mangione agreed and even enjoyed the "great exposure" in interviews. His 2000 album Everything For Love contains a track titled "Peggy Hill" as an homage to the series.
Personal life and death
Personal life and death
Mangione's wife, Rosemarie, died in 2015. He had two daughters, Nancy and Diana, and was a great-grandfather. On July 22, 2025, Mangione died in his sleep at his Rochester home, at age 84. Media coverage of his death was largely overshadowed by that of Ozzy Osbourne, who died on the same day.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1977
Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good - 1977 (Cassette 1987) digitised by Internet Archive.
2025
Chuck Mangione died at Rochester.
Discography
Mangione's recorded works include:
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- A Porkpie Hat and a Floppy Bag: Chuck Mangione, Music Educators Journal, 1979
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 1979
- Mangione, Chuck (jazz), Oxford Music Online, 2003
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2003
- Mangione, Chuck, Oxford Music Online, 2013
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2013
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Chuck Mangione
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q945778: Chuck Mangione
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Chuck Mangione”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. M. Say How? A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures.
- 2.Chuck Mangione Album Discography. AllMusic.
- 3.Bourtis, Evan. Eastman School, Rochester leaders, and more share tributes to Chuck Mangione. News 10 NBC, Rochester. July 25, 2025.
- 4.Jackson, Grant. Chuck Mangione On Piano Jazz. NPR. September 6, 2013.
- 5.Lunden, Jeff. Chuck Mangione, whose jazz horn warmed up the pop charts, has died. NPR. July 24, 2025.
- 6.Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Guinness Publishing. 1603. 1992. 978-0-85112-939-6.
- 7.Something Different. SecondHandSongs.
- 8.Goldsher, Alan. Hard Bop Academy: The Sidemen of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Hal Leonard. 2008. 978-0-634-03793-1.
- 9.Vinyl LP, Philips catalog number: PHS 600–266.
- 10.Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Right Friends and Love, You Can Go Home Again. May 7, 2007.
- 11.David Franklin. Gerry Niewood: Facets. JazzTimes. December 1, 2004.
- 12.Grammy Awards. 20th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1977). November 28, 2017.
- 13.Tegna (WHAS-TV). Louisville's snow song. February 16, 2015.
- 14.Hyatt, Wesley. The Billboard Book of No. 1 Adult Contemporary Hits. Billboard Publications. 1999. 978-0-8230-7693-2.
- 15.Grammy Awards. 22nd Annual GRAMMY Awards (1979). November 28, 2017.
- 16."Mangione, Chuck." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank), May 1980.
- 17.Chuck Mangione: Book Chuck Mangione For Concerts and Events Worldwide. Biography on BookingEntertainment.com.
- 18.Members of Chuck Mangione's band killed in Continental crash CBC News.
- 19.PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC PARTNERS WITH THE ICONIC CHUCK MANGIONE. Primary Wave Music. 2024-08-22.
- 20.Deville, Chris. Chuck Mangione Dead At 84. Stereogum. July 24, 2025.
- 21.DeSantis, Rachel. Jazz Musician Chuck Mangione, of 'Feels So Good' and King of the Hill Fame, Dies at 84. People. July 24, 2025.
- 22.Chuck Mangione Interview. Starsandcelebs.com. September 30, 2000.
- 23.Irwin, Corey. Rock Stars Who Appeared on 'King of the Hill'. Ultimate Classic Rock. March 28, 2020.
- 24.Singer, Barry. Chuck Mangione, a 'smooth jazz' hitmaker with a fluegelhorn, dies at 84. New York Times. July 24, 2025.
- 25.Charles Frank 'Chuck' Mangione. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. July 24, 2025.
- 26.Bourtis, Evan. Rochester music legend Chuck Mangione has died at age 84. WHEC.com. July 24, 2025.
- 27.Wadleigh, Matt. Jazz Legend Chuck Mangione Dead at 84: Cause of Death Revealed. Men's Journal. July 24, 2025.
- 28.Lord, Tom. Chuck Mangione. The Jazz Discography.
- 29.Kosht, Randy M. A&M Records Discography: Including Associated Labels and Alphanumeric Index. A & Mania. 358. 1986.
- 30.The Official Chuck Mangione World Wide Web Site. www.chuckmangione.com.
- 31.Billboard. 10. September 23, 2000.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Verifiedscholarly publication
Mangione, Chuck (jazz), Oxford Music Online, 2003Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
Mangione, Chuck, Oxford Music Online, 2013Crossref registry
VerifiedInstitutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Chuck MangioneMetaBrainz Foundation
VerifiedInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q945778: Chuck MangioneWikimedia Foundation
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolved
A further 1 witness is held back from this article because the person or object named in it is not yet resolved to this record. They are kept, not discarded, and return once the identity is established.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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