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Secondo (Conte) Candoli was born on July 12, 1927, in Mishawaka, Indiana to Italian immigrant parents who had settled in the United States after World War I. Conte’s father, a rubber plant factory worker, also played in a band at a local Italian club. It was through his encouragement that Conte and his older brother Pete began to play music at a young age.

Upon a recommendation from Pete, Conte joined Woody Herman’s First Herd at the age of 16, filling in during his high school summer vacation. Pete was already part of the band when Conte joined. Conte then joined the band full-time after his high school graduation in 1945. The military draft cut Conte’s time with the band short and he served in the United States Army from September 1945 to November 1946. After his discharge, he joined fellow Herman band alum Chubby Jackson’s Fifth Dimensional Jazz Group, which toured Scandinavia.

Following his time with Jackson’s group, Conte worked with Stan Kenton (1948), Charlie Ventura (1949), rejoined Woody Herman (1949-1950), Charlie Barnet (1951) and Stan Kenton again (1951-1953). Conte led his own group in Chicago in 1954 before moving to California to take session jobs and join Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All Stars. From the late 1950’s to the early 1960’s, Conte worked regularly with vibraphone player Terry Gibbs, toured Europe with saxophonist Gerry Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band, and worked again with Woody Herman, Shelly Manne and Stan Kenton. During his career, Conte appeared with Woody Herman at the Monterey Jazz Festival and participated in reunions with Herman in 1976 and 1986. Conte also performed as a member of Supersax from 1972 through the 1980’s and beyond, emulating the style of Dizzy Gillespie in the group’s re-creations of Charlie Parker’s music. Beginning in 1968, Conte made occasional appearances with Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show Band led by Doc Severinsen. He became a permanent Tonight Show Band member in 1972 when Carson relocated the show from New York to Burbank, California. Conte retired from the Tonight Show, along with the rest of Severinsen’s band, when Carson retired in 1992. After his Tonight Show Band retirement, Conte toured with the Doc Severinsen Band on occasion and was also in constant demand as a teacher at trumpet clinics and jazz festivals, touring extensively throughout the 1990’s.

Conte collaborated frequently with his older brother Pete, leading a band with him in Monterey in 1973 and then continuing to perform together throughout the 1980’s and 90’s. Conte and Pete were inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame in 1997.

Before cancer slowed his activities, Conte continued performing at clubs, playing festivals, doing session work, and recorded 18 months prior to his death, completing Candoli Live during this time. His complete discography lists some 770 separate tracks and 123 albums on which he played. Conte Candoli died on December 14, 2001, at Monterey Palms Convalescent Home in Palm Desert, California.

References "Conte Candoli." All About Jazz. http://www.allaboutjazz.com. "Conte Candoli." http://www.grovemusic.com. "Conte Candoli." In Havard Concise Dictionary of Music and Muscians, 294. “Conte Candoli, 74: Trumpeter Played in Tonight Show Band.” Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2001. "Conte Candoli Cool Jazz Trumpeter Capable of Turning Up The Heat." The Guardian, January 6, 2002.