Jazz flugelhorn player and composer Chuck Mangione died in his sleep on Tuesday at his home in Rochester, N.Y. He was 84. Mangione's smooth jazz hits topped the Billboard adult contemporary charts in the 1970s and '80s. Along the way, he picked up two Grammys and an Emmy Award, and played himself as a recurring guest star on a Fox animated series.
With his beard, long hair and brown felt fedora, Chuck Mangione cut an unforgettable figure in American culture, one that stretched well beyond the jazz world. His instrument was the flugelhorn, larger and mellower than a traditional trumpet, and the music he wrote and played fused pop and electric sounds with the warmth of the flugelhorn and strong melodic hooks. For a while, his music was very popular: The track "Feels So Good," from the double-platinum album of the same name, hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the adult contemporary chart in 1978.
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