Phil Carreón
| Phil Carreón | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alonzo Lozano Carreón |
| Born |
May 6, 1923 Los Angeles |
| Died | October 13, 2010 (aged 87) Boulder City, Nevada |
| Genres |
Swing music Big band Jazz Latin jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Big Band Leader |
| Instruments | Clarinet |
| Labels | Philmos |
| Associated acts | Phil Carreón and His Orchestra |
Phil Carreón (aka Phillip Lozano Carreón, Jr.; né Alonzo Carreón; 6 May 1923 Los Angeles – 13 October 2010 Boulder City, Nevada) was an American big band leader based in Los Angeles who flourished from 1946 to 1952, retiring from music in 1952.
Carreón's orchestras performed stock arrangements from Count Basie and other popular swing bands and performed custom arrangements that distinguished his orchestra in both swing and Latin jazz. The Latin jazz was essentially American big band swing-jazz fused with Afro-Hispanic music — mambo and bolero, in particular. His band's Latin style became a popular trend with a few other notable Latin oriented Los Angeles big bands that influenced what became salsa. Carreón's band performed in ballrooms around Los Angeles (including the Avadon Ballroom), the rest of the West Coast, the Southwest — and as far as Texas (including Antonio Valencia's famous Patio Andatuz in San Antonio) and Louisiana — in the 1950s. Several major jazz musicians, early in their careers, performed with his band, including a group of saxophonists that included Teddy Edwards, Herb Geller, Warne Marsh, and Herbie Steward. The legendary composer, Lennie Niehaus, who went on to write for Basie and the film industry, got his first professional job out of high school as a composer and saxophonist with Carreón.
Carreón was a clarinet player; but as a band leader, he did not play an instrument. Notwithstanding the extant recordings of Carreón's popular music, his legacy as the leader of an outstanding swing big band is chronicled but not audibly enshrined due either an absence of jazz discography or an absence of jazz recording sessions. Yet, a consensus of published acclaim by notable band alumni, entertainment peers, musicologists, and historians is that the swing aspect of Carreón's big band was excellent.
According to a 1998 interview with Don Tosti (1923–2004), early in his career, Carreón worked for a Mexican-American jukebox industry entrepreneur Frank Navarro (né Francisco B. Navarro; 1895–1964), owner of Navarro Music Company, driving around Los Angeles replacing older albums with recent hit records.
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