Why Rick Braun Playing Chuck Mangione Feels Like the Perfect Prelude to What’s Hot at the Ten Spot – Volume 102

Why Rick Braun Playing Chuck Mangione Feels Like the Perfect Prelude to What’s Hot at the Ten Spot – Volume 102

By DJTen | RadioActive1 WBOB | June 1, 2026

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Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

There are tribute albums.

And then there are albums that feel like a conversation across generations.

With Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione, Rick Braun doesn’t simply revisit Chuck Mangione’s music — he steps into the emotional space it once occupied for millions of listeners who came of age during the golden era of jazz crossover radio.

That’s what makes this album the perfect lead-in to What’s Hot at the Ten Spot – Volume 102.

Because the theme of this next edition — “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue” — is really about musical lineage, influence, and the records that stay with us long after the charts move on.

This project captures all of that.

The Sound of Memory

For longtime jazz listeners, the music of Chuck Mangione occupies a unique place in American culture.

For me, that connection goes all the way back to my early days in radio at an AM station in Warren, Ohio, in the mid-’70s, when we were still cueing up actual vinyl records and Feels So Good was just beginning to find its place in the culture — one of those songs that seemed to drift out of every studio speaker with a sound you instantly knew was special.

Feels So Good and Children of Sanchez didn’t just live in jazz collections — they crossed formats, generations, and moods.

Feels So Good and Children of Sanchez didn’t just live in jazz collections — they crossed formats, generations, and moods. Mangione’s sound was cinematic, melodic, uplifting, and unmistakably human.

And that warmth is exactly what Rick Braun taps into here.

But this isn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

Braun approaches these compositions with reverence while still allowing them to breathe in a contemporary jazz setting. The production is polished without turning sterile, and the arrangements honor the originals while subtly reshaping them for today’s listener.

That balance matters because one of the hardest things in music is paying tribute without sounding trapped in the past.

Rick Braun pulls it off beautifully.

More Than a Tribute Album

What elevates this project emotionally is the story behind it.

Following Mangione’s passing in 2025, Braun reflected on a meeting the two shared years earlier at the Long Beach Jazz Festival. During that encounter, Mangione gifted Braun a treasured Giardinelli flugelhorn mouthpiece — one Braun would later use throughout the recording of this album.

That detail changes how you hear the music: suddenly, this isn’t just a reinterpretation of classic material, but an expression of mentorship and legacy — a musical passing of the torch.

And in a genre where influence often travels quietly beneath the surface, this album openly embraces that lineage.

Highlights That Hit Deep

The moment Braun and Richard Elliot launch into Feels So Good, you immediately understand the spirit of the record: not imitation, but celebration.

Elsewhere, original Mangione guitarist Grant Geissman appears on multiple tracks, adding another layer of authenticity and emotional continuity.

The reimagining of Children of Sanchez stretches out beautifully, while Land of Make Believe reminds listeners why Mangione’s melodies have endured for decades.

And perhaps most importantly, the album never loses its joy.

That was always one of Mangione’s greatest gifts as a composer. Even at its most sophisticated, his music carried optimism.

Rick Braun understands that.

You can hear it in every note.

Why This Matters Right Now

We’re living in a musical era driven by algorithms, playlists, and short attention spans.

Projects like this remind us that music is also inheritance.

Every generation of artists borrows something from the one before it — a tone, a feeling, a phrase, a possibility.

That’s why this album fits the spirit of Volume 102 so perfectly.

Because Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue isn’t just a clever tag line we use on the radio

It’s the story of music itself.

Final Thoughts

Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione feels less like a tribute concert and more like a handwritten letter to an artist whose music helped shape contemporary jazz as we know it today.

And in the process, Braun reminds us why these songs mattered in the first place — not because they were fashionable, but because they made people feel something: warmth, wonder, escape, joy.

The kind of feeling great radio has always tried to create — and the kind of spirit that will be woven throughout What’s Hot at the Ten Spot – Volume 102.