Rick Braun - Plays Chuck Mangione

Over three decades and 20+ #1 Billboard hits into a genre-defining career, Rick Braun pours his creative soul into his first-ever tribute album, Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione. Sparked by Mangione’s passing in July 2025, this project is deeply personal; Braun performs every track using the cherished Giardinelli mouthpiece gifted to him by the legend himself during a meeting at the 2007 Long Beach Jazz Festival. This beautiful sense of continuity is further enhanced by Braun’s use of the same Couesnon flugelhorn he played as a student at the Eastman School of Music and with the band Auracle. The collection offers a fresh, joyous revisit of iconic melodies, featuring an extraordinary roster of collaborators including original Mangione guitarist Grant Geissman, saxophonists Richard Elliot and Tom Scott, keyboardist Philippe Saisse, and flutist Steve Kujala. From the soaring orchestration of "Land of Make Believe" to an amped-up "Feels So Good," Braun balances technical mastery with reverence. Describing the album as a labor of love that truly "took him over," Braun captures the "overwhelming sense of happiness" that defined Mangione’s impact, marking an auspicious and emotional start to his fourth decade of recording.