About Rick Braun

Rick Braun Plays Chuck Mangione marks an auspicious beginning for Rick Braun’s fourth decade of recording. The Allentown PA native set the stage for his early 90s emergence as one of contemporary jazz’s most popular and impactful artists with a successful career in pop music during the 80s, writing, co-writing REO Speedwagon’s Top 20 Billboard hit “Here With Me” and working in the studio and/or on tour with everyone from Crowded House to superstars Natalie Cole, Glenn Frey, Tom Petty, Sade, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner and War. In addition to genre-defining solo albums Beat Street (1995), Full Stride (1998), Kisses in the Rain (2000), All It Takes (2009), Around the Horn (2017), Crossroads (2019), his self-titled 2022 album, hit dual releases with Boney James (2000’s Shake It Up) and Richard Elliot (2007’s RnR), and three albums with the all-star trio BWB alongside Grammy winners Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown, he has produced recordings for David Benoit, Marc Antoine, Peter White and the late Jeff Golub, among others.
“As I was playing Chuck’s melodies and improvising over them, I loved how they brought me back to those days when I first heard them and made me think of the gifts he left us and how they inspired my own playing on the flugelhorn. I thought about that incredible moment he invited me into his dressing room, how I looked up to him for so long, and approached this project with the same sense of reverence and awe. I like to imagine him hearing the album and accepting it warmly, maybe even giving me a hug and saying, “Good job, Rick!”