Over three decades and 20+ #1 Billboard hits into a genre-defining career, Rick Braun pours his creative soul into his first-ever tribute album, Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione. Sparked by Mangione’s passing in July 2025, this project is deeply personal; Braun performs every track using the cherished Giardinelli mouthpiece gifted to him by the legend himself during a meeting at the 2007 Long Beach Jazz Festival.

"Feels So Good" is a 1977 jazz album released by Chuck Mangione. It contains his hit single, the title song "Feels So Good", which in an edited form reached No. 4 on the U.S. charts. The song also reached the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart. It was also frequently referenced on the animated television comedy King of the Hill, on which Mangione had a recurring voice role as himself.

Chuck Mangione's 1994 studio release, The Hat's Back, serves as a triumphant, high-spirited comeback album that re-establishes the iconic flugelhornist's footprint in the contemporary jazz-pop landscape. Following a self-imposed hiatus from the recording studio, Mangione returns with his signature warmth, infectious melodic phrasing, and a collection of vibrant compositions. The album is anchored by a stellar rhythm foundation featuring his long-time guitar collaborator Grant Geissman, bassist Charles Meeks, and the legendary master drummer Steve Gadd, whom Mangione affectionately credits as the heartbeat and caretaker of the music. Dedicated to his musical and paternal fathers—Dizzy Gillespie and Papa Mangione—the material ranges from the heartfelt, brassy tribute Dizzy Miles to the upbeat, syncopated rhythms of Fox Hunt and the deeply cinematic atmosphere of Santa Nimpha. Infused with lush synthesizer textures, occasional soulful vocals from Syn Dee Mayes and Rob Mathes, and world-percussion flavors by Cyro Baptista, this release captures the joyful, melodic optimism that made Mangione a household name while introducing a polished, mature 1990s adult-contemporary groove.

Chuck Mangione's Classics Volume 6, released in 1987 as part of A&M Records' 25th Anniversary celebration series, is a definitive, expertly curated retrospective of the legendary flugelhornist's golden era. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Mangione completely redefined the commercial landscape of jazz fusion and contemporary pop instrumental music, crafting a highly accessible signature sound characterized by soaring, infectious melodies and lush orchestral backdrops. This definitive 10-track collection features his most globally recognizable anthems, leading off with the full, majestic nine-minute masterwork version of Feels So Good alongside the joyous Give It All You Got and the beautifully driving, Latin-tinged Hill Where the Lord Hides. Balancing massive radio hits with brilliant soundtrack themes like the iconic Children of Sanchez and Cannonball Run, the album showcases Mangione's brilliant compositional gifts and unmistakable, warm brass tone. Backed by elite session musicians and dynamic orchestral arrangements, this compilation serves as an essential, beautifully transferred archive of smooth jazz history and pop-fusion perfection.

A talented and respected jazz trumpeter who achieved popular success with his melodic, uncluttered music.
Throughout the 1970s, Chuck Mangione was a celebrity. His purposely lightweight music was melodic pop that was upbeat, optimistic, and sometimes uplifting. Mangione's records were big sellers yet few of his fans from the era knew that his original goal was to be a bebopper. His father had often taken Chuck and his older brother Gap (a keyboardist) out to see jazz concerts, and Dizzy Gillespie was a family friend. While Chuck studied at the Eastman School, the two Mangiones co-led a bop quintet called the Jazz Brothers who recorded several albums for Jazzland, often with Sal Nistico on tenor. Chuck Mangione played with the big bands of Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson (both in 1965) and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers (1965-1967)…

20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection - Chuck Mangione gathers ten of the jazz-pop maestro's best-known performances, including "Land of Make Believe," "Feels So Good," "Chase the Clouds Away," and "Children of Sanchez." As with the other Mangione compilations available, 20th Century Masters focuses on his '70s heyday, and while this collection doesn't offer anything particularly different, it's also a good starting point for anyone interested in one of crossover jazz's pioneering, and most successful, artists.

The Best of Chuck Mangione collects various tracks from the smooth jazz pioneer's '80s Columbia recordings. While not as influential as Mangione's '70s output, his '80s albums retain much of what made him so popular an artist – catchy hooks, lush production and his clear, crisp trumpet sound. Included are such standout tracks as "Journey to a Rainbow," "Love Bug Boogie" and "Memories of Scirocco." Oddly, a live version of "Land of Make Believe" and the single version of "Feels So Good" make it on to this collection. These '70s hits don't really belong here, but should satisfy casual fans looking for his most popular recordings alongside his mid-career stuff.

The early-1960s group the Jazz Brothers featured trumpeter Chuck Mangione and pianist Gap Mangione in a quintet also including up-and-coming tenor Sal Nistico (shortly before he joined Woody Herman's Orchestra), bassist Steve Davis and drummer Roy McCurdy; lots of young talent in that band. Their second of three recordings (the first has yet to be reissued) has reappeared as this CD. Those only familiar with Chuck Mangione's later work will be surprised to hear him playing bop-oriented music and showing the strong influence of Dizzy Gillespie. Four standards (including "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" and "Just You, Just Me") alternate with an obscurity and three group originals. The music has spirit, even if it is a bit derivative and predictable.

Though much less expansive than Mangione's other Mercury concerts (only 37 minutes on a single CD or LP), Land of Make Believe is the most successful of the lot, a winning combination of attractive tunes, big-thinking orchestrations, just enough jazz content, and a genuinely felt sense of idealism. Here there is no dead weight; all of the material is very engaging and the combined forces of Mangione's quartet and the Hamilton (Ontario) Philharmonic are on fire. The performance of Mangione's "Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor" still exerts a ferocious jolt of life-affirming energy, "El Gato Triste" is an attractive Latin number, and the buoyant "Gloria" from The Mass of St. Bernard with the Horsehead Chamber Singers makes one want to hear more…

Throughout the 1970s, Chuck Mangione was a celebrity. His purposely lightweight music was melodic pop that was upbeat, optimistic, and sometimes uplifting…

Thanks to the Latin-inflected title track, Children of Sanchez became another huge hit for Chuck Mangione. The title song even earned him a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and serious jazz listeners will spot a problem with that award – it was for pop, not jazz. That, of course, is an accurate assessment of Mangione's music, since there isn't much improvisation on the album at all…