Gap Mangione - Rochester Wiki

Gaspare "Gap" Mangione is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader from Rochester, NY.

Mangione's 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.

In 1968, Gap Mangione released his first solo album, Diana in the Autumn Wind. More solo albums followed, along with tours (many as featured pianist in his brother's orchestral performances) throughout the 1970s. The 1980s he spent 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 premiere dance and concert big band in the Rochester area. The Big Band has released four CDs since 1998.

Today, Mangione continues to make regular appearances at Rochester locations such as the Woodcliff Hotel & Spa 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.