Conte Candoli


Secondo "Conte" Candoli 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.

Music career

Conte was the younger brother of trumpeter Pete Candoli. He was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, United States. During the summer of 1943, while at Mishawaka High School, Secondo "Conte" Candoli sat in with Woody Herman's First Herd.
After graduating in 1945, he joined the band full-time, where he sat side by side with his brother Pete in the trumpet section. Conte immediately went on the road, where he stayed for the next ten years, with Herman, 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. 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.
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. 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 Carson's retirement in 1992, he traveled occasionally with Doc Severinsen, but still enjoyed his solo playing.
His playing brought him performing and recording opportunities with top names in show business, such as Gerry Mulligan, Shelly Manne, Terry Gibbs, Teddy Edwards, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., and Sarah Vaughan. He has appeared in many motion pictures with various orchestras and worked in all of Frank Sinatra's TV specials.
Candoli was inducted into The International Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997. He died of cancer at the age of 74, in Palm Desert, California,

Band memberships

Discography

As sideman

With Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins
With Chet Baker
With Louis Bellson
With Elmer Bernstein
With Buddy Bregman
  • Swinging Kicks
With Bob Cooper
  • Coop! The Music of Bob Cooper
With Sonny Criss
  • Sonny's Dream
With Teddy Edwards
  • Feelin's
with Victor Feldman
  • Latinsville!
With Maynard Ferguson
  • Dimensions
  • Maynard Ferguson Octet
With Clare Fischer
  • Manteca!
  • Thesaurus
With Gil Fuller
  • Night Flight
With Stan Getz
  • West Coast Jazz
With Stan Levey
  • This Time The Drum's On Me
With Dizzy Gillespie
  • The New Continent
With Stan Kenton
  • Popular Favorites by Stan Kenton
  • Sketches on Standards
  • This Modern World
  • Portraits on Standards
  • The Kenton Era
  • Kenton / Wagner
  • The Innovations Orchestra
With Shelly Manne
  • Shelly Manne & His Men Play Peter Gunn
  • Ruth Price with Shelly Manne & His Men at the Manne-Hole with Ruth Price
  • Live! Shelly Manne & His Men at the Manne-Hole
  • Shelly Manne & His Men Play Checkmate
  • My Fair Lady with the Un-original Cast
  • Manne–That's Gershwin!
  • Boss Sounds!
  • Jazz Gunn
  • Perk Up
With Jack Montrose
  • Jack Montrose Sextet
With Mark Murphy
With Frank Morgan
  • Frank Morgan
With Gerry Mulligan
  • The Concert Jazz Band
  • Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band on Tour
With Joe Newman
  • Salute to Satch
With Jack Nitzsche
  • Heart Beat
;With Anita O'Day
  • Cool Heat
With Art Pepper
  • Gettin' Together
With Betty Roché
  • Take the "A" Train
With Shorty Rogers
  • Martians Come Back!
  • Way Up There
  • Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers
  • Portrait of Shorty
  • Chances Are It Swings
  • The Swingin' Nutcracker
  • An Invisible Orchard
With Pete Rugolo
  • Ten Trumpets and 2 Guitars
With Bud Shank
  • Windmills of Your Mind
With Lalo Schifrin
With Gerald Wilson
  • The Golden Sword
With Pete Candoli
  • ''The Candoli Brothers''