Conte Candoli

Conte Candoli
Birth name Secondo Candoli
Born (1927-07-12)July 12, 1927
Mishawaka, Indiana, U.S.
Died December 14, 2001(2001-12-14) (aged 74)
Palm Desert, California, U.S.
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Trumpet
Years active 1943–2001
Associated acts
Website www.candoli.com

Secondo "Conte" Candoli (July 12, 1927 – December 14, 2001) was an American jazz trumpeter based on the West Coast. He played in the big bands of Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman, and Dizzy Gillespie, and in Doc Severinsen's NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He played with Gerry Mulligan, and on Frank Sinatra's TV specials. He also recorded with Supersax, a Charlie Parker tribute band that consisted of a saxophone quintet, the rhythm section, and either a trumpet or trombone.

Early life

Conte was the younger brother of trumpeter Pete Candoli. He was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, on July 12, 1927. During the summer of 1943, before his junior year at Mishawaka High School in Mishawaka, Indiana, that Secondo "Conte" Candoli first sat in with Woody Herman's First Herd.[1]

Music career

After graduation in 1945, he joined the band full-time where he sat side by side with brother Pete Candoli in the trumpet section. Conte immediately went on the road, where he stayed for the next ten years, with Woody as well as with the legendary bands of Stan Kenton, Benny Goodman and Dizzy Gillespie.

In 1954, after leaving Stan Kenton, Candoli formed his own group with sidemen Chubby Jackson, Frank Rosolino, and Lou Levy, playing all the top jazz rooms in the country. He soon moved to Los Angeles to join the Lighthouse All-Stars with Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, and Bob Cooper, and was with them for four years.

His playing brought him performing and recording opportunities with top names in show business, such as Gerry Mulligan, Shelly Manne, Terry Gibbs, Teddy Edwards, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., and Sarah Vaughan.

Candoli's long relationship with The Tonight Show began in 1967 and he became a permanent fixture in the orchestra's trumpet section when Johnny Carson moved the show to Burbank, California in 1972. He performed with the group at the 1988 Wichita Jazz Festival.

Conte has played all over the world with Stan Kenton, his own group, Gerry Mulligan, the Lighthouse All-Stars, and others. He has appeared in many motion pictures with various orchestras and worked in all of Frank Sinatra's TV specials. For many years he preferred to stay in California where he could do The Tonight Show, take all the studio work he wanted, and do occasional concerts and clinics. He ventured to Kansas in 1986 as a WJF All-Star with Jerome Richardson, Barney Kessel and Monty Alexander at the 1986 Wichita Jazz Festival. After Johnny Carson's retirement in 1992, he traveled occasionally with Doc Severinsen, but still enjoyed his solo playing.

Conte was inducted into The International Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997. He died of prostate cancer at the age of 74, in Palm Desert, California.[2]

Band memberships

Candoli playing at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay, California, 1988
Band Years
Woody Herman's First Herd 1943 Summer
1945–
Chubby Jackson's Fifth Dimensional Jazz Group
Stan Kenton 1948
Charlie Ventura's "Bop for the People" 1949
Stan Kenton 1951–1954
Terry Gibbs Dream Band –
Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band 1960–1961
Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars 1956–1960
Supersax
The Tonight Show 1967–1972 Guest
1972–1992 Regular
Candoli Brothers 1957–1962

Discography

Album Release
Sincerely, Conte Candoli 1954
Groovin' High: Conte Candoli, Vol. 2 1955
West Coast Wailers 1955
Rhythm Plus One 1956
Conte Candoli Quartet 1957
Mucho Calor 1957
Little Band, Big Jazz 1960
Conversation 1973
Candoli Brothers 1970s
Old Acquaintance 1985
Sweet Simon 1992
Meets the Joe Haider Trio 1994
Portrait of a Count 1966
Candoli Live 2002
The Complete Phoenix Recordings, Vol. 1 2002
Fine and Dandy

With Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins

With Chet Baker

With Louis Bellson

With Elmer Bernstein

With Bob Cooper

With Sonny Criss

With Teddy Edwards

With Maynard Ferguson

With Clare Fischer

With Gil Fuller

With Stan Getz

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Stan Kenton

With Shelly Manne

With Jack Montrose

With Gerry Mulligan

With Joe Newman

With Shorty Rogers

With Bud Shank

With Lalo Schifrin

With Gerald Wilson

References

  1. ↑ "Conte Candoli, 74, Trumpeter for 'Tonight'". The New York Times. December 21, 2001.
  2. ↑ Thurber, Jon (December 16, 2001). "Conte Candoli, 74; Trumpeter Played in 'Tonight Show' Band". Los Angeles Times.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Conte Candoli.

Conte Candoli at Find a Grave

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