Pete Candoli

Paul Desmond and I first heard Pete when he was playing with Ray McKinley at the Casa Manana in LA, the spring/summer of 1942, on our way to San Diego. Paul had wanted to hear clarinetist Mahlon Clark, but Pete was beginning to blossom, and he caught our attention. Kent Jorgensen, Jack Weeks, Dave Kriedt and I probably saw him with Sonny Dunham at Guernieville in 1941, but would not have noticed him, as the show was all "Sonya", on both the trombone and trumpet. A few decades later at Redondo for the "Kentonish" festival, he played the "Godfather theme" from his hotel room balcony. It escapes me now who he was serenading. I don't believe that it was Howard Rumsey, but it might have been Conte, who was there. Ah, memories!