Mangione leaves no doubt he’s current sound
by Marilyn Moran, The Saratogian
The audience at Saratoga Performing Arts Center got a concentrated dose of jazz Sunday evening from Chuck Mangione, his quartet and a 30-piece orchestra.
The concert started 15 minutes late but lasted more than two and a half hours once it was underway. Most of the selections played were Mangione’s own compositions, and all were delivered in the Rochester musician’s own peculiar, definitive style. In fact, the rhythm, volume, and sound quality were almost too consistent throughout the concert to call the program a varied offering.
Mangione bounced on stage at 8:30 wearing a Kelly green leisure suit and his inevitable weathered green felt hat. He picked up his silver trumpet and launched into a number that drew applause after two notes.
“I’d like to have you know everybody in the band,” he said, “but I don’t know everybody in the band.” Mangione travels with a large group comprised partially of students from the Eastern School of Music in Rochester.
He did introduce his quartet, each member of which had a solo opportunity before the end of the evening. A star of the show was Gerry Niewood playing “on everything he can carry,” according to Mangione. The talented saxophonist also handled a flute, piccolo, and flugelhorn.
Guest soloist with the group was Esther Satterfield, with one of the loveliest voices imaginable. She mastered a number of Mangione instrumental compositions, which had lyrics added only after a difficult range of octave changes had already been written in. Mangione noted the difficulty and rarity of such an accomplishment.
She sang “Brand New Morning,” “The Summer Knows,” and “Land of Make Believe” in the first half of the show.
Mangione used the orchestra generously, both as background rhythm and body for his jazz beat numbers and an airy and melodic substance of its own in some of his more subdued pieces. The most characteristic sound of Mangione’s group is brassy, loud, and in one two three four; two-and-three-four tempo. Several selections, including “He Was a Friend of Mine,” came from mangione’s latest album, Chase the Clouds Away. The latter featured Mangione first on trumpet, then on an electric piano. In between, when he was conducting, he would sling the trumpet over his arm and direct with it as an extra appendage.
Returning after intermission in a green, yellow, and red striped shirt, Mangione stressed that the middle stripe was yellow and not white, “before you think this is Italian Night and I’m wearing the Italian flag.”
They played “Torreano” featuring Chip Jackson on bass guitar, and a song called “Bellavia” written as a Mother’s Day gift for Mangione’s mother who, said Mangione, would not complain if he called up on 15 minutes’ notice and told her he was bringing the orchestra home for dinner.
SPAC officials said 4,653 attended the concert. It was an enthusiastic group spanning a wide age range, and one which was obviously fondly familiar with Mangione’s music. The applause after the final number, “Song of the New Moon,” was indeed enough to chase the clouds away and remove any doubt that Mangione is still a current sound.
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