CANDOLI: JAZZ RANKS NO. 1, BUT . . .

While many 16-year-olds were spending their summer vacations in 1944 just taking it easy, Conte Candoli spent his playing jazz trumpet with the Woody Herman orchestra.

“My brother Pete played lead with Woody and recommended me,” Candoli said while sitting backstage at NBC’s Burbank studios, where he plays in “The Tonight Show” band. “I told Woody I could barely read (music) and he said, ‘I know that, kid, but I could care less. I want you with the band and you’ll learn how to read in a few weeks.’ Boy, was he right!”

Candoli--who could “play jazz before I knew anything about music; I just had an ear for it’--parlayed that summer gig into a career of jazz jobs with the best in the business. After finishing high school, he returned to Herman’s band, then later played the jazz chair with big bands led by Stan Kenton, Gerry Mulligan and Doc Severinsen. He’s also been spotlighted with such first-rate small groups as Shelly Manne and his Men and Supersax.

The Indiana native, who moved to Southern California in the mid-’50s when he joined Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars, has also been consistently active in the local studio scene. Candoli thinks his ability to balance studio and jazz work makes him one fortunate fellow.

“I’ve really got the best of both worlds,” the 59-year-old trumpeter said in a nasal, Eastern twang. “I certainly don’t mind studio work. It pays the bills and keeps me comfortable. And I can play jazz occasionally. Not everybody can handle both. Working clubs night after night is rough. I’m not sure I could take that, physically. And studio work isn’t for everyone. I know one great trumpet player who thought he’d take the studio scene by storm but after a couple of sessions, he quit. It bored him.”

Certainly Candoli’s favorite form of studio employment is his slot as a regular on “The Tonight Show,” a position he’s held for 14 years. And as a member of that band, he takes part in some of the shortest musical performances anywhere.

“Unless there’s a musical guest or the band has a special feature, we know in advance that we’re probably not going to finish anything we start,” Candoli said. “When I first joined the band, this was frustrating, but once I got used to it, it stopped bugging me.”

Besides, the musicians have a way of beating the clock. “If we know we can only play a minute and a half,” Candoli said, “we’ll sometimes start a piece in the middle, so we can get to the heavy, sock (loud) choruses near the end.”

Candoli is one of the lucky “Tonight” band members who’s been featured in an on-camera solo spot. “It’s amazing when you think that I was seen by more people that one night, say 18 to 20 million, than I have been in all the rest of my career.”

Still, with its exposure and financial stability, “The Tonight Show,” and other studio jobs, doesn’t give Candoli the one thing he craves: the freedom of playing in a jazz club with just a rhythm section. “I’m really more at home with a small band,” said the horn man, whose latest LP is “Old Acquaintance” (Pausa). “I can do more of what I want.” He’ll get that chance to stretch out this week when he plays Thursday with his quartet, featuring “Tonight Show” partner, pianist Ross Tompkins, and Friday with Supersax, both at Donte’s Jazz Supper Club.

While it’s clear that Candoli has no intention of giving up his lucrative, and pleasurable “Tonight Show” position, or any other studio work that comes his way, he says he’ll always make room in his busy schedule to play small group jazz. “At this point in my life, I want to make sure I get to swing out as often as I can.”