Chuck Mangione

I know in a few hours, this empty screen that sits before me, will be filled with words.  And hopefully they will tell a story, bring new insights and maybe lift your spirits.  That’s what the creative process is all about.  We begin with emptiness and then are filled with what we can best convey.  

For me, it is the written word.  For Chuck Mangione, it is music.  He explained to me that he sits and waits.  “What are you waiting for?”  I ask.  “I wait for information, new information. I am like a messenger, and the music comes to me.  My job is to put it together, nurture it, figure out what it feels like, decide what to call it and choose how to present it.  I follow the music as it comes to me.  Sometimes, I sit and wait and nothing happens. Since I never studied composition, I find it’s best if I put myself into a position to receive the creative process.” Tell me about the process.  How does it happen?” I went on. “It is indescribable, Liz. I guess it isn’t really a process.  It’s more mystical than anything else.”  “ When did it all start, “ I asked. “My mom and dad were really into their kids.  As each of us turned eight, we were offered piano lessons.  First my sister Josephine, then my brother Gap and then I began.  Instrumental and Jazz were the music choices of the day.  Dad would take us to see the best musicians and he would proudly introduce us. ”My son plays,” he would say.  And mind you he’d be talking to the greats.  I remember when dad invited Dizzy Gillesppi( check spelling) to our house for Sunday dinner. He came.”   “ How is that possible,” I asked   “Musicians would come into town for weeks at a time.  The world of music was different then.  You could make friends with the performers. Not like it is now.  For twenty years, I was doing 300 dates a year.  Nine months on the road.  Every minute of my day was scheduled.  I was told what time to get up and when to go to sleep.  You can’t compare the music world of the past to now. It’s like night and day.”

I had read that Chuck Mangione had been on sabbatical for a number of years in the mid 90’s.  I broached the subject, asking him why he had gone on hiatus? He must have been asked this question a hundred times because he was ready to answer. “My battery ran out.  I had no more juice.  Needed time to recharge.”  Boy could I relate, I ‘m thinking.  “So what did you do?” I continued not missing a heartbeat while still caught up in the batteries out of juice scenario.  “ I moved to New York City and met my third, best and last wife Rosie.  I just released a new album in November, same time as my 60th birthday and I dedicated a song to her. It’s called Slo Ro, and it is on the newest release, Everything for Love.”

“So how was turning 60?”  I asked, not believing that he’s been around so long.  I always loved Chuck Mangione, the mood man.  Want to feel good, lift your spirits, fall in love and love the one your with, just throw on some Mangione.  “Sixty is good,” he proceeds slowly. “I have a hard time believing it was fifty years ago that I made my first record, direct to disk, in my piano teacher’s living room.  I am amazed at what I’ve accomplished and how devoted an audience I have.   They don’t come and go with the songs.  They’ve stuck with me.  I figure it this way.  My father is in a nursing home.  He is ninety.  If I have his longevity, I am just beginning my last quarter.  That means more composing and performing and who knows what else… I’ll just sit and wait for new information.”               


Return to "Featured Interviews"...