Remembering Chuck Mangione Through This Solo

This weeks workshop: Soloing strategies over Summertime. See blue section below for details and RSVP.

Reader,

Jazz legend Chuck Mangione passed this week at 84.

Growing up, my dad listened to Children of Sanchez on an endless loop. That was much better than his Peter, Paul & Mary collection. But I digress.

Dad always played the extended Overture recording. The radio edit cuts out Don Potter's ripping guitar solo and Mangione's flugelhorn improv.

So today, I thought it was a fitting time to work out some of that solo and share it with you.

Download the PDF: Children of Sanchez.pdf​

The harmony is simple. It’s in D minor, using the Aeolian mode. The main melodic line moves between three chords: Dm, Eb6, and Gm7.

• Aside from a couple B naturals used as rhythmic placeholders, the whole solo stays diatonic.
• The 16th note syncopation drives the whole solo rhythmically.
• Look at the range of some of those lines! That line in starting in measure 2 is nearly 2 octaves.
• You’ll find more detailed observations in the PDF above.

To follow along, cue up the extended Overture version below. The full solo starts at 9:12.

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RIP Chuck.

RSVP For Friday's Workshop

This Friday at 1pm Eastern, Aug 1 on Zoom. We're working on soloing strategies over Summertime. This is week 4 of our series on Summertime, but if you haven't made it in the past, this is a great time to join.