Flugelhorn of Plenty

Steve Bornfeld

Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000 | 2:03 a.m.

Feels So Good, doesn't it?

That's what happens when you Give It All You Got, when you allow the magic of music to Chase the Clouds Away, when you let your soul float toward the Land of Make Believe.

That's what happens when that cat in the hat, Chuck Mangione, comes to town, as he will Monday through Saturday at the Blue Note Las Vegas.

It isn't easy cracking the pop charts, as Mangione did in the '70s and '80s, by blowing what looks like a trumpet with a glandular problem -- also known as a flugelhorn. (He prefers its warmer, darker tone to the clear brilliance of a trumpet, but still plays both.) With his mellow, ethereal sound, Mangione was one of those rare crossover artists who brought the gospel of jazz to the pop-rock masses, whipping them into a jazzy frenzy with the title track from the album "Feels So Good" ("that song put my daughters through college," he likes to say).

In 1980 he struck gold when his hit "Give It All You Got" reigned as the anthem of the Winter Olympics. His other signature titles include "Land of Make Believe," "Chase the Clouds Away," "Bellavia," "Hill Where the Lord Hides," "Friends and Love" and "Children of Sanchez." His most recent CD, "Everything for Love," released in September, is a family album set to music, with numerous tracks dedicated to members of the extended Mangione brood.

Mangione, who turns 60 on Nov. 29, performed previously in Vegas at Arizona Charlie's, before the opening of the Blue Note Las Vegas created a high-profile home for noted jazz cats. (He has played the revered New York Blue Note, but is making his debut at the Las Vegas branch.) As he prepared for his latest gig, the Grammy-winning guy from Rochester, N.Y. -- who was inspired to blow a horn after seeing Kirk Douglas do it in "Young Man With a Horn" -- talked to the Sun:

Las Vegas Sun: Very few jazz artists have the kind of mainstream radio success you had with "Feels So Good." How did it affect your career and your standing in the jazz community?

Chuck Mangione: Once you have something happen as huge as "Feels So Good," where you sell 2 million copies, then everything changes. You are now a pop artist, so all the jazz people who loved you, hate you. You know, "Oh, boy, he sold out." Yeah, I sold out the Hollywood Bowl, sold out all the places I played. It becomes very difficult because of the way people are looking at you as a commodity that should be cashed in again. The record company wants the next record to sell 2 million copies, they want it to have the same instrumentation, the same sound. So I recorded "Children of Sanchez." They weren't happy, but that's where I was going next musically. I'm thrilled with "Feels So Good." Not that many people touch so many people with one song. But everyone wants you to imitate yourself.

Sun: Is the song part of your concert repertoire?

CM: We always play "Feels So Good." It's not an obligation, it's more like a thank you. I don't mind playing the song if that many people love it. I just wish I had written it about two octaves lower, and in another key. As you get older, to play the high D at the end of the show is not fun. There is no love affair going on here between Chuck Mangione the composer and Chuck Mangione the player because the composer writes stuff that's real hard to play and I get mad at him a lot.

Sun: What kind of experience is it being an animated character on Fox's "King of the Hill"?

CM: They just called me the other day and said they were going to have a couple of more cameos for me. It really has turned out to be a great experience, a lot of fun. I just go into a studio in New York, they call from L.A. and say "read the lines," and that's the end of that. Then you see yourself jumping around on the screen. It's very surreal, especially when I (the animated character) took my hat off in the dressing room and I was completely bald. They're showing what's under the hat. I mean, I'm not heavily endowed there, but I looked like Friar Tuck.

Sun: Speaking of your trademark hats, how did that image come about?

CM: Back in 1970 I was given a hat very much like the one I've been wearing. I had it on for a picture that was taken that became a poster for a concert, and the poster became the album cover for the album "Friends and Love." I've been wearing it ever since. The hat is not attached to my head. My hair is not attached to the hat. I don't take a shower with the hat on.

Sun: What are these "Cat in the Hat Jams" you do with children?

CM: No one over 18 can get in without a kid -- and I check IDs. I'm looking for little kids, I ain't looking for the next Dizzy Gillespie. I give them a can of Pringles potato chips, not to eat, but it becomes a percussion instrument. My regular band will play a song, and I'll get them shaking something, and we'll introduce instruments. We'll get some kids up to try to get a sound out of my horn, play a couple of songs with a jazz feel that they know, get them singing, get kids up to play if they want to play, and afterwards to bang on everything. Young people are so open and ready. Little people should be going to see a sculptor sculpting, musicians working, to see a painter happening, to see a word craftsman, to see the pride and the dignity and what it's all about.

Sun: You've been critical of the relative lack of music education in schools. Is this a way to address the problem?

CM: I don't think on a Saturday afternoon, with a hundred kids, you're going to be able to do what should be happening in education. When you think about it, music is probably God's greatest gift to man. They play music when the president walks in. Every religious denomination uses music with services. People play music when they're hurtin', when they're happy, when they're at a sports event, to cheer the team on. And yet in school, where is it on the list? I think it's a real sad thing that it doesn't get much attention and care.

Sun: One of your mentors was the late, legendary Dizzy Gillespie. What was his best advice to you?

CM: I went one time to see Dizzy, and he said, "Chuck, where's your horn?" I said, "Well, the horn is at home." He said, "Chuck, your horn is like a woman. If you don't hug her during the day, at night when you go to play, there ain't gonna be (expletive) happening." That was real good advice."