Eastman Showcase 2007
Old Friends and Lots of Love
Before he came a world-famous jazz composer and performer, Chuck Mangione was an Eastman student (BM ’63) and teacher (1968-1972). The event that made his name was a 1970 Eastman Theatre concert of his music called Friends and Love, which led to a record, a hit single, a TV special – and in time many Grammy nominations, two Grammys, and an Emmy. On Memorial Day weekend, Chuck returned to the scene of his original triumph, and triumphed again, selling out the 3,000+-seat Eastman Theatre for a recreation of the Friends and Love concert with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and many of the original performers, including drummer Steve Gadd (BM ’68), bassist Tony Levin (BM ’68), and saxophonist Gerry Niewood (BM ’70).
One award Chuck hadn’t yet received was an Eastman Alumni Achievement Award, but May 27, interim dean Jamal Rossi presented a visibly moved Chuck with the award before a full Eastman Theatre audience. The text of the award reads:
Eastman School of Music
Alumni Achievement Award
CHARLES F. (CHUCK) MANGIONE
Chuck Mangione has often recalled that his father, a tremendous jazz fan, invited touring musicians who were performing in Rochester home for a good Italian dinner and some wine. While he was still a boy, Chuck had met a Who’s Who of 1950s jazz royalty, including such great artists as Art Blakey, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Ron Carter, and the man he claimed as a “musical father,” Dizzy Gillespie.
With so much great music in his childhood, it is no surprise that Chuck began recording jazz albums with his brother Gap while they were still in their teens, or that Chuck attended the Eastman School of Music, playing trumpet and graduating in 1963 with a Bachelor’s degree in music education.
In 1968, Chuck Mangione returned to Eastman, this time as a member of the faculty. He taught at Eastman until 1972, directing the Eastman Jazz Ensemble and taking part in the dramatic growth of Eastman’s jazz program. When he left, he was well on his way to “household name” status as a composer, arranger, flugelhorn player, and bandleader. He led the now legendary Friends and Love concert and recording in 1970, and the following year received a Grammy nomination for the single from that album, “Hill Where the Lord Hides.”
Within the next ten years, Chuck had won many more Grammy nods, two Grammy awards, and an Emmy. His albums and singles -- including Feels So Good, one of the most successful jazz albums ever produced -- climbed the pop and jazz charts, resulting in several gold and platinum records. An estimated 90,000,000 people heard Chuck perform at the closing ceremonies of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. An honorary doctorate from the University of Rochester in 1985 put Chuck Mangione in the company of such American musical icons as Aaron Copland, Isaac Stern, and Rudolf Serkin.
At the height of his chart-topping fame, in 1978, Newsweek began its profile of him: “Chuck Mangione makes jazz that sounds the way he looks – ingenious, upbeat, and instantly likeable.” For his own part, Chuck has said, “If you’re honest and play with love, people will sit down and listen … My music is the sum of all I have experienced.”
For his dedication to music, his tremendous talent and equally great success, and his continuing ability to make music from the heart, the Eastman School of Music is proud to present Chuck Mangione with its Alumni Achievement Award.