My newest column for Popdose.com is titled, “Dr. Flügel, or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Chuck Mangione.” Here’s the first paragraph:
The first album I ever bought with my own money (earned, I think, by babysitting for one of the neighborhood kids) was a two-cassette version of Chuck Mangione’s 1978 concert recording An Evening Of Magic: Live At The Hollywood Bowl. This album, if you’ll forgive my salty language, kicks ass.
You can read the rest at Popdose.com.
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In case some of your younger readers think that Chuck has always looked like he does above, or with even longer hair and “hippie-er” clothes in the 70’s, I saw him in 1966 at the Jazz Workshop in Boston when he was in Art Blakey’s group. Picture a good-looking young guy in a beautiful, slim-cut, 3-button Italian suit, sharp pointy-toe shoes, narrow tie, and carefully combed and slicked-back hair (no beard or mustache, either). And he played trumpet then, not flugelhorn; excellent hard-bop trumpet.
And by the way, Blakey’s pianist on that gig was a young, up and coming pianist named Chick Corea. I wonder what ever became of him?