Chuck Mangione, whose limpid fluegelhorn ruled the upper stratosphere of Billboard’s adult contemporary charts in the 1970s and ’80s with a culture-permeating lilt that personified what came to be characterized as “smooth jazz,” died on Tuesday at his home in Rochester, N.Y. He was 84.
His death was confirmed by his family in a statement, which did not specify a cause.
Mr. Mangione was a true pop star with an instantly recognizable signature silhouette: bewhiskered, his long hair crowned by a turned-down felt fedora. He was nominated 14 times for Grammy Awards and won twice: in 1976 for best instrumental composition, “Bellavia,” and in 1978 for best pop instrumental performance, for the title track from his score to the film “The Children of Sanchez.”
Mangione hits could be grandiose, like “Land of Make Believe,” or lightly funky, like the aptly named “Feels So Good,” a Top 10 hit in 1978. Always melodic, his cotton-candy hooks could bore into listeners’ senses with a mood-elevating rush.
Mr. Mangione’s approach borrowed extensively from fusion — the infusion of electronic instruments into the jazz mainstream that Miles Davis had spearheaded in the late 1960s — dosing it with gossamer Flamenco-ish guitar and a disco backbeat, the perfect sonic pillow for his lyrical fluegelhorn. The result was a pop-jazz hybrid with enormous commercial appeal.
A complete obituary will be published shortly.
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