Phil Carreón '' was an American big band leader based in Los Angeles who flourished from 1946 to 1952, retiring from music in 1952.
Career
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, the rest of the West Coast, the Southwest — and as far as Texas 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, early in his career, Carreón worked for a Mexican-American jukebox industry entrepreneur Frank Navarro, owner of Navarro Music Company, driving around Los Angeles replacing older albums with recent hit records. In 1951, Carreón signed a professional management contract with Reg Marshall Agency, a talent management firm based in Hollywood, and went on tour in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. In that same year, his orchestra members were composed entirely of Mexican Americans, according to an article in the Prensa,'' a San AntonioSpanish language newspaper. In the early 1950s, his orchestra was aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Carreón attended Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles. While a student, he was the leader of the ROTC Band and also led his own group, Phil Carreón and His Orchestra, a 15-piece orchestra. He had studied clarinet since age 11.
Selected discography
Philmos Records, Philmos Recording Co., Los Angeles
They became naturalized United States citizens. ; Siblings Phil Carreon had six siblings, two brothers and four sisters. ; Marriage Carreón married Xina Yvonne '' around 1949. They had four children: Daniel Thomas Carreon survived by wife Judy Harward and 8 children, Jennifer, Kristen, Daniel, John Paul, Rebecca, Bethany, Sarah and Michaela; Phyllis Carreon, who was first married to Vincent Frank Cesare and is currently married to Raymond Alan Taie since 1982 with daughter Kelly Kristine ; Patrick Anthony Carreon currently married to Tamerin Kelly with daughter Mary Katherine, and Yvonne Susanne Carreon, married to Karl Alan Schoneman, divorced in 2006 with 4 children Ted, Alexandria, Nicola and Phillip.
