Last updated: 10 hours ago
A brilliant trombonist who has spent much of the past 40 years playing commercial music in Las Vegas, Carl Fontana occasionally emerges to remind listeners just how technically skilled he is. The son of a saxophonist, Fontana started out playing in his father's group during 1941-1945, but did not gain prominence until he was with <a href="spotify:artist:2KSxJY1WxGGVYSmoM0N54P">Woody Herman's Orchestra</a> (1952-1953). Fontana spent time in the big bands of <a href="spotify:artist:2PjgZkwAEk7UTin4jP6HLP">Lionel Hampton</a> (1954), <a href="spotify:artist:3TERig5crEAorh27hzoaLL">Hal McIntyre</a> (1954-1955), and most importantly <a href="spotify:artist:27hSR8e34ZM5vj5fUFixyb">Stan Kenton</a> (1955-1956), being well-featured with the latter. After playing in <a href="spotify:artist:1kYYk4lJ7ZWbyy3zDYOl6h">Kai Winding</a>'s four-trombone band (1956-1957), Fontana moved to Las Vegas but he emerged on an occasional basis, touring with <a href="spotify:artist:2KSxJY1WxGGVYSmoM0N54P">Woody Herman</a> in 1966, recording with <a href="spotify:artist:0fRYWFmH9tRcY4Bqu7EII8">Supersax</a> (1973), co-leading a group with <a href="spotify:artist:6y6NpdSD0n8h8ia8OLwYri">Jake Hanna</a> (1975), playing with <a href="spotify:artist:3od5Mdj7OgLATvDkDynmHH">the World's Greatest Jazz Band</a>, and appearing at jazz parties. In 1995, Fontana recorded a fine album with <a href="spotify:artist:0bARK3i69D9aD9UVwOQpke">Bobby Shew</a>. Two years later, Fontana paired up with fellow trombone vet Jiggs Whigham for the bop workout Nice 'n' Easy. The duo recorded again in 1999 for Keepin' Up With the Boneses. Fontana was diagnosed with Alzheimer's the following year and subsequently stopped recording. He passed away October 10, 2003 at the age of 75. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi
Monthly Listeners
3,570
Monthly Listeners History
Track the evolution of monthly listeners over the last 28 days.
Followers
4,783
Followers History
Track the evolution of followers over the last 28 days.
Top Cities
61 listeners
45 listeners
38 listeners
38 listeners
37 listeners
Related Artists
Bill Watrous
Hungarian Jazz Trombone Company
Sammy Nestico
Klaus Wagenleiter
Klaus Graf
Andy Maile
Open Jazz Big Band
US Army Blues Jazz Ensemble
The Taylor / Fidyk Big Band
The Bill Watrous Quartet
Claus Reichstaller
Elliot Deutsch Big Band
Les Hooper Band
Sergey Gusyatinsky
Rob Parton's Jazztech Big Band
Samuel Lewis Nestico
The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra
Toshi Clinch Big Band
Bob Mintzer Big Band
The United States Air Force Band Airmen of Note
Stockton Helbing
Portland Jazz Orchestra
Clay Jenkins
The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra
The Quincy Jones-Sammy Nestico Orchestra
Joseph M. Pisano
Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra
Airmen of Note
Frank Rosolino
