Pete Candoli

The elder of the trumpet-playing Candoli brothers, Pete initially made the greater impact of the two in Woody Herman's First Herd at the tail end of the swing era. A powerful, flamboyant soloist, his big moment came toward the end of "Apple Honey," where he would appear in a Superman costume and cut loose scorching, dissonant flurries of high notes. Pete started with the Sonny Dunham band in his 17th year (1940-1941) and passed through the bands of <a href="spotify:artist:3O3YxmRcu66P4nUvaCNpQa">Will Bradley</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1pBuKaLHJlIlqYxQQaflve">Benny Goodman</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1UQnOfa4xodvnWg6TntMMa">Ray McKinley</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4WoGga7UeRcmjD4ufif4nG">Tommy Dorsey</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2agJBUWKu6tIjput3rtl8y">Freddie Slack</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4SPws2VXOmZIiRTp75mzsb">Charlie Barnet</a> before settling into the <a href="spotify:artist:2KSxJY1WxGGVYSmoM0N54P">Herman</a> band from 1944 to 1946. He worked for <a href="spotify:artist:7e9843xr17L5hRYAti3dtG">Tex Beneke</a> (1947-1949) and <a href="spotify:artist:2zSHaaWbkLybZmuSH8TLSW">Jerry Gray</a> (1950-1951) before moving to Los Angeles, where he became immersed in studio work with side trips into the <a href="spotify:artist:1NcsSDCxHOZrAfYVtrahND">Les Brown</a> (1952) and <a href="spotify:artist:27hSR8e34ZM5vj5fUFixyb">Stan Kenton</a> (1954-1956) bands. From 1957 to 1962, he co-led a group with <a href="spotify:artist:3wM3S0CxD0Do7IWKvJ0WRG">Conte</a> and later fronted his own band, while recording on his own for Columbia, Warner Bros., Kapp, and Somerset. He has been married to singers <a href="spotify:artist:4VCyL3xDf8AYZUQRtEF7bp">Betty Hutton</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:20xJMiNKh4U7fPPZMcqS34">Edie Adams</a>; with the latter, he formed a nightclub act in 1972 in which he sang, danced, led the orchestra, and played. He would continue to perform with <a href="spotify:artist:3wM3S0CxD0Do7IWKvJ0WRG">Conte</a> off and on into the 1990s. Although Pete's profile had been low and his trumpet technique slipped in later years, he could still burn in a swing-grounded manner in the '90s. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi