It "Feels So Good" To Wish Chuck Mangione a Happy 75th Birthday!

As the last great American flugelhorn player to hit the Top 5 of the US pop charts, Chuck Mangione has led the sort of life that many jazz artists can only dream about where, on the basis of a single song, you are known and beloved all across the land for long after the song's initial chart run subsides.

Sure, no other album of Mangione's got within screaming distance of 

Of course, when Mangione originally recorded the song that would become the title track to his 1977 album, it was still well over nine minutes long. As catchy as that tune may be in abbreviated form, one can't help but wonder if they ever blasted the unedited version at Guantanamo Bay to get even the most hardened radicals to surrender their secrets.

All kidding aside, many believe Mangione to be a one-hit wonder (can you name another Mangione tune?) but the truth is that Mangione was on one helluva roll between 1978 and 1980 that saw him release An Evening of Magic, Live at the Hollywood Bowl mere months after "Feels So Good" became a hit. He then issued Children Of Sanchez, the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, a month later. He was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the album's title cut. 

In late '79, he released Fun And Games, which peaked at #8 in 1980 on the strength of the Top 20 hit "Give it All You Got", which was the theme for the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Of course, in 1997, Mangione found himself in a recurring role on TV's "King Of The Hill" playing himself, the Arlen-based celebrity spokesperson for MegaloMart whose every musical performance, no matter the song, eventually morphs into "feels So Good".