Chuck Mangione Quotes (43 Quotes)



    I think people today are hearing music that I recorded thirty years ago and do not listen to it as if it is something old but just something good.

    As for the symphonic activities... when I was a student at the Eastman School of Music, I became exposed to a lot more musical forms, elements, opportunities, and I fell in love with strings and their uses.

    I find it very difficult to compose when I'm not playing.



    I write music people enjoy playing and listening to, and I have a group that loves playing the music.

    We'll be performing songs I couldn't get out of town without playing, as well as stuff you've never heard before. It's music that will make people happy.

    What's happened - in our country, anyhow - is that the young people have shied away from the formality of the concert hall, that tie - and - tails philharmonic image.

    Melody is an important part of all the music I've written. I think that's why it has been so successful. It's music that sticks in your head.

    I tend to not want to put labels or categories on the music, only because people come with preconceived ideas about what they're going to hear, or won't come for this reason.

    It felt like somebody had performed major surgery on me. But it was a way for my music to be played on the radio. It made it possible for everyone to hear the song.

    Because I don't believe music can be free unless it has something to be free from.

    Music and jazz musicians would develop into my repertoire. Jazz standards like these had great melodies written by great composers.

    With four people you can create one very strong kind of energy, but if you can get 65 people working together, and swinging together, that's a whole other kind of energy.

    I was blessed to work with The Jazz Messengers when the two piano players were Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea.

    There's not much in the way of written-down arrangements - just things that Gerry and I have worked out, from playing spontaneously together and hanging on to whatever seems to fall in right.

    Then I loved the fact that we were actually recording live.

    Not with the Rochester Philharmonic, but I formed my own orchestra, made up of musicians from the Eastman School, where I'm on the faculty now, direct the Jazz Ensemble and teach improvisation classes.

    My brother had a big band in high school; after that we continued to play together, eventually forming a group called the Jazz Brothers, that recorded for Riverside Records.

    For me, anyhow, there's something kinda special about the Quartet in one sense the music is very organised and yet in another sense it's very loose.

    Not compromising the music, but there is a way, by just showing the people that you're sincere and honest with what you're doing, and by talking to them.

    Whether it's string writing or whatever, I try to write for what each instrumentalist can do best.

    As a young kid I used to wear a baseball cap, but in 1969, a hat like one I have now was given to me as a present from some good friends.

    My music has always been strong in melodic content.

    I do not mind having written the song at all. I just wish that I had written it in a different key, as the high d is hard to play. I am glad that I wrote something that brought joy to millions of people.

    I can count on one hand the number of instrumental hits there have been over the last ten years.

    1972 was a year of many pleasant and rewarding experiences for me:

    To do it always right, that is what music is to me.

    It became a trademark. It's not glued to my head, but I'm very comfortable with it.

    In the old days, I used to tour nine months of the year. With travel being so difficult these days, I've become very selective about where we go and how often we play.


    I made many studio albums and I think the danger of studio recording is that if you do not watch out, you come out with a perfectly sterile performance.

    Most recently we've been working in concert situations rather than clubs. because there aren't too many rooms there like Ronnie Scott's, that are pure music rooms, where people come specifically to listen to music.

    I had just seen the movie 'Young Man With a Horn' about jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke. So I told him I'd take one of those.

    Brazilian music has many of the ingredients that I strive for in my own music: Strong melodies and a disciplined but intense rhythmic concept, and interesting harmonies.

    I remember, when I grew up, going to dances was just a lot of fun. But when people get together now, music is the first thing that happens.


    In 1994, I started touring again and I recorded two albums for Chesky Jazz.

    To pay 60 musicians for rehearsal and performance is quite something, and I decided I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of situation financially again, unless somebody else was taking care of that end of it.

    We may play in a contemporary rock vein, use standard bebop themes, and many other things besides.

    The hiatus you spoke about happened in 1998. I was somewhat numb from being out on the road every night. I had to stop because I was emotionally and physically drained.

    For me, lifting the people up, making them enjoy what we're doing is as important as it is for me to play the kind of music I want to play.

    A studio recording is perfection, but emotion and passion come only when you turn on the machine and go for the groove. If you do that with no mistakes, it sounds beautiful.


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