JAZZ REVIEW : Chuck Mangione Is Toot Sweet at OCC Concert

After a performance by Chuck Mangione, you probably won’t find yourself asking where the melody was. Almost like a good Broadway musical, the veteran trumpeter-fluegelhornist’s shows leave you with tunes you are likely to find yourself humming, not only as you go out the doors but the next morning as well.

Before a sold-out house of 916 at Orange Coast College’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, Mangione--playing his first Southern California concert date in years--offered the selections on which he has built his substantial and loyal following.

Included were “Chase the Clouds Away,” “The Land of Make Believe,” a medley from “The Children of Sanchez” and of course “Feels So Good,” the ditty that made it to No. 4 on the Billboard pop charts in 1978 (the album of the same name reached second place on the Billboard Top 100) and has sold more than 2 million copies.

The melodies that drive these songs are simple, direct and tuneful, and have held up remarkably well over the years (even if, at 53, Mangione himself is looking a bit gaunt). There is heart in these songs, and there was heart in the interpretations Saturday.

In the past, the brassman from Rochester, N.Y., (who played with Maynard Ferguson and Art Blakey before his hit records) took a lot of flak from fans and critics for turning out lackluster tunes and equally irrelevant performances. At the Moore, he dealt those naysayers a solid smack, putting life into his deliveries and fire into his solos.

He filled out the show with non-originals including a vibrant opener, “Manha da Carnival,” and a Dizzy Gillespie blues, “Here ‘Tis (You Heah?).” But it was the Mangione favorites that the audience came to hear and, decked out in one of his trademark hats, he gave the listeners a bouquetful.

“Chase the Clouds Away,” slow and sweet and pretty, was rendered with flair and precision--and like each of the numbers was smartly arranged, so that if often felt as if a much larger band than a quintet was up there.

The lyrical melody was heard in four distinct voices: Gerry Niewood, a member of Mangione’s original quartet in the early ‘70s, played it on piccolo, flute and the longer, deeper-toned alto flute, and Mangione rendered it in ringing tones on electric piano.

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Mixing a sense of snap with lush lyricism, “The Land of Make Believe” included an up-tempo section in which lines leaped agilely as Mangione played fluegelhorn with verve. The showcase, though, was the medley of three tunes from “The Children of Sanchez,” music written for Hall Barlett’s film of Oscar Lewis’ novel about a lower-class Mexican family. Mangione’s arrangement segued seamlessly from one section into the next, featuring Niewood on flutes and soprano sax and Bob Sneider on guitar.

In the middle--a solo segment over a boiling rhythm set up by drummer Charles Ruggiero and bassist Tom Brigandi--both Mangione and the crack, commanding Niewood improvised with zeal.