Conte Candoli

Best-known as the trumpet section leader in <a href="spotify:artist:36qxqKuaIzIOC8tLgTy02Z">Doc Severinsen</a>'s Tonight Show Band, Conte Candoli was a fine all-around jazz stylist most at home in the worlds of bop and West Coast cool jazz. Younger by four years than his similarly accomplished trumpet-playing brother <a href="spotify:artist:3TFKq65ZFZ0z6XlRrYcoc7">Pete</a>, Conte was born Secondo Candoli in Mishawaka, IN, on July 12, 1927. He first patterned himself after players like <a href="spotify:artist:5MpELOfAiq7aIBTij30phD">Harry James</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4RvXA7BDgqNgGDjsSSJnPc">Roy Eldridge</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5RzjqfPS0Bu4bUMkyNNDpn">Dizzy Gillespie</a>, later discovering <a href="spotify:artist:0kbYTNQb4Pb1rPbbaF0pT4">Miles Davis</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1HJHwWck1EY096ea2iPAHO">Clifford Brown</a>. His first job came at age 16, when brother <a href="spotify:artist:3TFKq65ZFZ0z6XlRrYcoc7">Pete</a> recommended him for a summer gig with <a href="spotify:artist:2KSxJY1WxGGVYSmoM0N54P">Woody Herman</a>'s Thundering Herd; after graduating high school, he joined full-time. He went on to play with several other bands, including <a href="spotify:artist:27hSR8e34ZM5vj5fUFixyb">Stan Kenton</a>, whom he left in 1954 to form his own band. After leading some recording dates, he soon found a more comfortable existence, moving to Los Angeles and taking session jobs in between gigs with <a href="spotify:artist:7jlqf7cobqW3slCrn6mUDW">Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars</a>. After about four years, he left in 1960 to work with drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6M7ScGp8p2GspFJaIMh1Yo">Shelly Manne</a>, while he and <a href="spotify:artist:3TFKq65ZFZ0z6XlRrYcoc7">Pete</a> both enjoyed top-dog status in the L.A. session community. In 1968, Candoli took a part-time gig with the Tonight Show Band and joined permanently in 1972, when the show officially moved to Burbank. During the '70s, he was also a member of <a href="spotify:artist:0fRYWFmH9tRcY4Bqu7EII8">Supersax</a>, among other L.A. all-star outfits, and also continued his periodic collaborations with his brother. Candoli retired from the Tonight Show along with <a href="spotify:artist:66dAw3bX6xDTzvaUj0sDsn">Johnny Carson</a> in 1992, and continued to play until a battle with cancer slowed his activities. Candoli died in a convalescent home on December 14, 2001. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi