CHUCK MANGIONE (1940-2025) – Feels So Good – Nana’s Journey Into Song (1979)

Charles Frank Mangione was an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter 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 1977 with his jazz-pop single “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.

The Grammy-winning jazz bandleader and musician who scored an unlikely top-five hit in 1978 with the jazz instrumental “Feels So Good,” has died at age 84, according to a post on his official website.