Gap Mangione

Gaspare "Gap" Mangione (born July 31, 1938cite web | url=http://music.aol.com/artist/gap-mangione/9099/main | title=Gap Mangione | work=AOL Music | accessdate=2006-06-21] ) is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader from Rochester, New York, United States.

Born and raised in Rochester, Mangione's younger brother is Grammy-winning flugelhornist Chuck Mangione. Members of a music-loving family, both Gap and Chuck took up instruments. In 1958, they started performing together as the Jazz Brothers, eventually recording three albums for Riverside Records.cite web | url=http://www.gapmangione.com/press/dc061197.htm | last=Spevak | first=Jeff | date=1997-06-11 | title=Release Takes Gap Mangione to a New Planet | work=Democrat and Chronicle | accessdate=2006-06-21]

In 1968, Gap Mangione released his first solo album, "Diana in the Autumn Wind", featuring drummer Steve Gadd and bassist Tony Levin in their first recordings, and new compositions and arrangements by Chuck Mangione cite web | url=http://www.gapmangione.com/bio.htm | title=Gap Mangione Biography | accessdate=2006-06-21] who conducted as well. More solo albums followed, along with tours with his own group and many as featured pianist in his brother's orchestral performances throughout the 1970s.

The 1980s saw Mangione settle down, spending more time playing in and around Rochester and less time on the road. In 1990, he formed the Gap Mangione Big Band, which remains the premier dance and concert big band in the Rochester area. The Big Band has released four CDs since 1998. Many major rappers, including Talib Kwali, have sampled Gap's Diana in the Autumn Wind for their recent works.

Today, Mangione continues to make regular appearances at Rochester locations, among them the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa (since May, 1987) and the Rochester International Jazz Festival, as well as private gigs; he can be found playing solo, with the 14-piece Big Band, or with a quartet or sextet subset of the band.

Mangione lives in the Rochester suburb of Greece, New York with his wife, Janet; his children are Ardis Mangione-Lindley and Jason Mangione.cite web | url=http://www.gapmangione.com/press/dm101797.htm | date=1997-10-17 | title=Meet Gap Mangione | work=The Daily Messenger | accessdate=2006-06-21]

Discography

The Salt City Six

* "Dixieland At The Roundtable", Salt City Six (1958)

The Jazz Brothers

* "The Jazz Brothers" (1960)
* "Hey Baby!" (1961)
* "Spring Fever" (1961)

Solo

* "Diana in the Autumn Wind" (1968) (CD release 2003)
* "Sing Along Junk" (1972)
* "She and I" (1975)
* "Gap Mangione!" (1976)
* "Suite Lady" (1978)
* "Dancin"' (1979)

With Chuck Mangione and Steve Gadd

* "The Boys From Rochester" (1989)

The Big Band

* "Planet Gap" (1998)
* "Ardis" (2002)
* "Stolen Moments" (2003)
* "Family Holidays" (2004)

Appears on

* "Friends and Love", Chuck Mangione and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (1970)
*"Together", Chuck Mangione and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (1972)
*"Land Of Make Believe", Chuck Mangione and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (1973)
*"Bellavia", Chuck Mangione (1975)
*"Chase the Clouds Away", Chuck Mangione (1975)
*"Once I Loved", Esther Satterfield (1976)
*"Tarantella", Chuck Mangione w/ Dizzy Gillespie & Steve Gadd (1980)

References

External links

* [http://www.gapmangione.com Official website]