Chuck Mangione and the album ‘Feels So Good’

One of the better albums of 1977 never showed up in ‘a best albums of a given year’ listing by Rolling Stone magazine. That’s a loss for the magazine and the readers of the time for missing out as an album by guitarist Grant Geissman, saxophonist Chris Vadala, bassist Charles Meeks, James Bradley, Jr., and namesake Chuck Mangione with the December 1977 album Feels So Good.

(The album cover for Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione shows Mangione hugging a flugelhorn).

Listen to the song Feels So Good from the album of the same name. Feels So Good opened the album while giving the musician perhaps the best success Mangione had as a musician. The distinctive flugelhorn and guitar opening for this instrumental are completely delightful.

(This recording of the song Feels So Good by Chuck Mangione became the featured song and namesake for the album Feels So Good. The single itself was released in February 1978).

Maui-Waui opens with a double drum tap to start a second instrumental in an album full of them. The second longest song on the album at more than 10-minutes in length, Maui-Waui helps continue the easy listening, smooth jazz sound that epitomizes the album Feels So Good.

(This recording of the song Maui-Waui by Chuck Mangione also received a release in support of the album Feels So Good).

Theme from Side Street at slightly more than two minutes is the shortest composition on the Feels So Good album. The television series Sidestreet (1975-1978) was broadcast in Canada and featured this song.

Hide & Seek (Ready or Not Here I Come) reflects perhaps the most playful instrumental song on the album. The song orchestrates the album quintet exceptionally well with solid instrumentation, a meandering course, and the epitome of well executed jazz.

Last Dance for all practical purposes is the somber ending to the joy that is Feels So Good, despite not truly ending the album. The song is distinctly mellow, which starkly contrasts with the uplifting playfulness of the preceding song. I’m completely content listening in solitude with nothing but this song as company for the almost 11-minutes this song grants me.

The XIth Commandment closes out Feels So Good where the album began, with the flugelhorn starting a better than 6.5-minute instrumental. The XIth Commandment brings together the journey of the album almost as a refresher of where we just journeyed with one additional, fresh look.

Feels So Good feels exactly that for me. Share the joy with a listening of your own.

Matt – Wednesday, June 17, 2020