- Conte Candoli
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Conte Candoli Birth name Secondo Candoli Born July 12, 1927 Origin Mishawaka, Indiana, U.S. Died December 14, 2001 (aged 74) Genres Jazz Instruments Trumpet Years active 1943–2001 Associated acts Candoli Brothers 
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. 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.
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Biography
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. 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 Dizzy-inspired playing brought him many performing and recording opportunities with major jazz names and the 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 at the age of 74 on December 14, 2001 at Monterey Palms Convalescent home in Palm Desert, California, following a long battle with prostate cancer.
Band memberships
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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 RegularCandoli Brothers 1957–1962
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Don't forget his work with Mancini on the Peter Gunn Sound tracks. Outstanding!
Discography
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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
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References
External links
- Conte Candoli Collection, part of the International Jazz Collections at the University of Idaho Library
Categories:- American jazz trumpeters
- American jazz musicians of Italian descent
- Cool jazz trumpeters
- West Coast jazz trumpeters
- Bebop trumpeters
- Hard bop trumpeters
- 1927 births
- 2001 deaths
- Musicians from Indiana
- People from St. Joseph County, Indiana
- Deaths from prostate cancer
- Blue Note Records artists
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