Nick Fatool

Nick Fatool ( born January 2, 1915 in Millbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts, † 26 September 2000 in Los Angeles ) was an American jazz drummer of swing and Dixieland jazz.

Life and work

Nick Fatool began his career as a professional musician in Providence, where he ' played Joe Haymes band in 1937; then he worked in Dallas at Don Beston. In 1939 he briefly played with Bobby Hackett and was then a member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He was one of the most famous drummers of the swing era in the 1940s and played in the orchestras of Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw ( 1940-41 ), Alvino Rey ( 1942-43 ), Claude Thornhill, Les Brown and Jan Savitt.

In 1943 he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session musician in the studios, including as a member of the Capitol Jazzmen with Shorty Sherock, Nappy Lamare, and Barney Bigard (1944 ), with Benny Carter / Arnold Ross, Harry James, Erroll Garner, Charlie Ventura (1946 ), Louis Armstrong (1949, 1951), Billie Holiday ( 1950 ), and with Nat Cole, Jess Stacy, Tommy Dorsey, Matty Matlock and Glen Gray. Finally, he began a collaboration with Bob Crosby, played with him regularly 1949-1951, also with Crosby's Bobcats up in the 1970s.

In the 1950s and 1960s Fatool was active mainly in the Dixieland revival; He then played 1962-1965 with Pete Fountain and the Dukes of Dixieland. The mid-1970s he was a member of The World's Greatest Jazz Band; In 1982 he worked with Bud Freeman. In 1987 was Fatools single session instead of as a leader, as he led a septet, which belonged among others Eddie Miller, Johnny Mince and Ernie Carson.