Over a career spanning more than three decades, Rick Braun has built one of contemporary jazz’s most inspiring, prolific and genre-defining legacies.
Now, with “Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione,” he pours his creative heart and soul into his first tribute album — honoring one of his all-time musical heroes, Chuck Mangione.
Due to commitments to the Dave Koz Cruise, Braun was unable to perform during the 35th annual Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest this month. But he is available for the expanded portion of the milestone fest in April.
Braun is bringing his Chuck Mangione concert to Reading on April 30 as the finale of the monthlong BJF35/Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) Celebration. The International Jazz Day concert is set for 7 p.m. at the Miller Center for the Arts on the Reading Area Community College campus.
Tickets are available at www.millercenter.racc.edu/rick-braun-plays-chuck-mangioneor by calling the box office at 610-607-6270 Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
“I am so excited to have the opportunity to perform the music of Chuck Mangione for all my Berks Jazz Fest friends and fans,” Braun said. “With the concert set for International Jazz Day and the being finale of the JAM celebration, it will be a special evening.”
Joining Braun on stage will be Nate Phillips on bass, Tony Pulizzi on guitar, Alex Bailey on drums, Carnell Harrell on keyboards, Marqueal Jordan on sax, and The Berks Horns — Mike Anderson, sax; Rob Diener, trumpet; and John Loos, trombone.
Following Mangione’s death in July 2025, Braun, a trumpeter and flugelhornist, reflected publicly with a heartfelt Facebook post, sharing an impromptu performance of Mangione’s Grammy-winning classic “Feels So Good.”
Accompanied by a deeply personal memory of the one time he met Mangione, the moment became the emotional catalyst for the album.
In 2007, when both artists were performing at the Long Beach Jazz Festival, Braun gathered the courage to knock on the Mangione’s trailer door and introduce himself.
Mangione welcomed him warmly, and the two bonded over their connection to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where Mangione earned his degree and later served as professor and founding director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble, departing just a year before Braun enrolled as a student.
Before Braun left to prepare for his own performance, Mangione presented him with an extraordinary gift: his cherished Giardinelli flugelhorn mouthpiece, inscribed simply “CM.”
Braun never saw Mangione again.
When he decided to create a full-length tribute project not long after posting the social media performance, he honored that connection by using Mangione’s mouthpiece on every track — creating a powerful musical through-line between mentor and admirer.
“Ironically, I had been performing ‘Feels So Good’ in my live shows for a year before Chuck passed,” Braun said. “When I put the mouthpiece in my horn for the tribute video, it hit me that he once played this regularly — and now it was in my hands. It was emotional. And suddenly I felt someone should revisit his incredible body of work and celebrate it.”
He recalled discovering Mangione’s music during his time at Eastman, particularly the beloved “Land of Make Believe.”
“Chuck was the first non-straight-ahead horn player I embraced when I began playing flugelhorn,” Braun said. “It has such a warm, welcoming sound. What set him apart was the overwhelming sense of happiness in his music. Re-exploring these melodies brought back wonderful memories — but more importantly, they filled me with joy.”
Given Mangione’s lasting impact and Braun’s desire to do the material justice, he said this project took on a life of its own.
“More than any album I’ve done, this one took me over,” he reflected. “I worked diligently to get every detail right.”
Braun also returned to his roots in another meaningful way — recording the album on the same Couesnon flugelhorn he played as a student at Eastman and later with the band Auracle in the late 1970s.
Long thought lost, the instrument was rediscovered in the attic by his wife, Christiane, and has since rejoined his regular performance lineup.
From an initial list of 20 possible songs, Braun narrowed the tribute to nine carefully chosen selections.
The first two were obvious: “Land of Make Believe” and “Give It All You Got,” co-produced with keyboardist Philippe Saisse.
“Land of Make Believe” features sweeping orchestration, Saisse’s energetic piano solo, and a fascinating flugelhorn/trombone duality from Braun.
The funky “Give It All You Got” — Mangione’s second pop hit — includes a powerhouse sax solo from Tom Scott, with Scott later doubling Braun’s horn lines over Tony Pulizzi’s jangling guitar and a buoyant rhythm section groove.
Guitarist Grant Geissman — who toured with Mangione during his 1976–1980 pop heyday and created the iconic solo on the single version of “Feels So Good” — was another early call.
Rather than recreate his famous performance, Geissman lent his signature guitar artistry to the soulful ballad “Doin’ Everything With You,” along with two selections from Mangione’s landmark 1978 soundtrack album “The Children of Sanchez” — the dreamy Bellavia and the epic, seven-minute-plus title track.
Braun and saxophonist Richard Elliot team up for an energized version of “Feels So Good” and the romantic ballad “Do I Dare to Fall in Love.”
Other special guests include Grammy-nominated flutist Steve Kujala — Braun’s former Auracle bandmate — who adds lyrical finesse to “Long Hair Soulful” and engages in a captivating flute-flugelhorn dialogue on “Love Wears No Disguise.”
Additional contributors include Darryl Williams (bass), Gorden Campbell (drums), Lenny Castro (percussion), Alex Bailey (bass/drums), Nate Phillips (bass), Carnell Harrell (keyboards), Tiffany Johns (French horn), and Nick Lane (trombone).
Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione marks an auspicious beginning to Braun’s fourth decade as a recording artist.
“As I was playing Chuck’s melodies and improvising over them,” Braun said, “I thought about the gifts he left us — how they inspired my own voice on flugelhorn. I remembered that moment in his dressing room, how much I admired him, and approached this album with reverence and awe. I like to imagine him hearing it, accepting it warmly — maybe even giving me a hug and saying, ‘Good job, Rick!’”
More information
For a complete schedule of the BJF35/Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) Celebration, see Page XX.