# Nick Fatool

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{{short description|American drummer}}

{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Nick Fatool
| image               = Nick Fatool in Second Chorus.jpg
| landscape           = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| alt                 = 
| caption             = Fatool in ''[Second Chorus](/source/Second_Chorus)'', 1940
| background          = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1915|01|02}}
| birth_place         = [Millbury, Massachusetts](/source/Millbury%2C_Massachusetts), U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2000|09|26|1915|01|02}}
| death_place         = [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), [California](/source/California), U.S.
| genre               = [Jazz](/source/Jazz)
| occupation          = Musician
| instrument          = [Drums](/source/Drum_kit)
| years_active        = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) -->
| label               = 
| past_member_of     = {{ubl|[Benny Goodman](/source/Benny_Goodman)|[Artie Shaw](/source/Artie_Shaw)}}
}}

'''Nick Fatool''' (January 2, 1915 – September 26, 2000)<ref name="AMG">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/nick-fatool-mn0000397252/biography|title=Nick Fatool &#124; Biography & History|website=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)|access-date=August 27, 2021}}</ref> was an American jazz drummer.

==Music career==
He was born in [Millbury, Massachusetts](/source/Millbury%2C_Massachusetts), United States.<ref name="AMG"/> Fatool first played professionally in [Providence, Rhode Island](/source/Providence%2C_Rhode_Island), which he followed with time in [Joe Haymes](/source/Joe_Haymes)'s band in 1937 and [Don Beston](/source/Don_Beston)'s in Dallas soon after.<ref name="AMG"/> In 1939, he played with [Bobby Hackett](/source/Bobby_Hackett) briefly, and then became a member of the [Benny Goodman](/source/Benny_Goodman) Orchestra.<ref name="AMG"/> He became one of the most visible drummers of the 1940s, playing with [Artie Shaw](/source/Artie_Shaw) (1940–41), [Alvino Rey](/source/Alvino_Rey) (1942–43), [Claude Thornhill](/source/Claude_Thornhill), [Les Brown](/source/Les_Brown_(bandleader)), and [Jan Savitt](/source/Jan_Savitt).<ref name="AMG"/> In 1943, he moved to [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles) and took work as a [session musician](/source/session_musician), recording profusely.<ref name="AMG"/> Credits include [Harry James](/source/Harry_James), [Erroll Garner](/source/Erroll_Garner) (1946), [Louis Armstrong](/source/Louis_Armstrong) (1949, 1951), [Jess Stacy](/source/Jess_Stacy), [Tommy Dorsey](/source/Tommy_Dorsey), [Matty Matlock](/source/Matty_Matlock), [John Scott Trotter](/source/John_Scott_Trotter) and [Glen Gray](/source/Glen_Gray).<ref name="AMG"/> He began an association with [Bob Crosby](/source/Bob_Crosby), playing with him regularly between 1949 and 1951 and occasionally with Crosby's Bobcats into the 1970s.<ref name="AMG"/>

Between January 7, 1944 and April 23, 1958, Fatool played on sessions for the following Capitol Records artists: [Andy Griffith](/source/Andy_Griffith), [Andy Russell](/source/Andy_Russell_(singer)), [Betty Hutton](/source/Betty_Hutton), [Billy May](/source/Billy_May), [Jeanne Gayle](/source/Jeanne_Gayle), [Charles LaVere](/source/Charlie_LaVere), [Dave Barbour](/source/Dave_Barbour), [Dave Matthews](/source/Dave_Matthews), [Dean Martin](/source/Dean_Martin), [Maggie Jackson](/source/Maggie_Jackson_(singer)), [Ella Mae Morse](/source/Ella_Mae_Morse), [Frank Sinatra](/source/Frank_Sinatra), [Freddie Slack](/source/Freddie_Slack), [Gordon MacRae](/source/Gordon_MacRae), [Jack Teagarden](/source/Jack_Teagarden), [Jerry Colonna](/source/Jerry_Colonna_(entertainer)), [Jesse Price](/source/Jesse_Price_(musician)), [Jo Stafford](/source/Jo_Stafford), [Joe "Fingers" Carr](/source/Joe_%22Fingers%22_Carr), [Johnny Mercer](/source/Johnny_Mercer), [Johnny Standley](/source/Johnny_Standley), [Margaret Whiting](/source/Margaret_Whiting), [Marvin Ash](/source/Marvin_Ash), [Nat King Cole](/source/Nat_King_Cole), [Paul Weston](/source/Paul_Weston), [Peggy Lee](/source/Peggy_Lee), [Pete Kelly](/source/Pete_Kelly_(musician)), [Ray Anthony](/source/Ray_Anthony), [Ray Turner](/source/Ray_Turner_(pianist)), [Red Nichols](/source/Red_Nichols), [Robert Mitchum](/source/Robert_Mitchum), [Tennessee Ernie Ford](/source/Tennessee_Ernie_Ford), [The Andrews Sisters](/source/The_Andrews_Sisters), [The Dinning Sisters](/source/The_Dinning_Sisters), [The Pied Pipers](/source/The_Pied_Pipers), [The Starlighters](/source/The_Starlighters), [The Capitol Jazzmen](/source/The_Capitol_Jazzmen), and [Wingy Manone](/source/Wingy_Manone).

Fatool was an important member of [Buddy Cole](/source/Buddy_Cole_(musician)) and his Trio which worked with [Bing Crosby](/source/Bing_Crosby) from 1954-1960.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Fatool found much work on the [Dixieland](/source/Dixieland) jazz revival circuit, playing with [Pete Fountain](/source/Pete_Fountain) from 1962–1965 and the [Dukes of Dixieland](/source/Dukes_of_Dixieland).<ref name="AMG"/> His only session as a bandleader was as the head of a septet in 1987, leading [Eddie Miller](/source/Eddie_Miller_(jazz_saxophonist)), [Johnny Mince](/source/Johnny_Mince), [Ernie Carson](/source/Ernie_Carson), and others.<ref name="AMG"/>

Fatool died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/05/arts/nick-fatool-85-drummer-who-kept-the-beat-for-swing-era-bands.html |title=Nick Fatool, 85, Drummer Who Kept the Beat for Swing-Era Bands |newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=5 October 2000}}</ref>

==Partial discography==
===As leader===
* ''Nick Fatool's Jazz Band'' (1987)

===As sideman===
* ''For You, for Me, Forever'', [Artie Shaw](/source/Artie_Shaw) ([Musicraft](/source/Musicraft_Records), 1946)
* ''Sweet and Hot'', [Ella Fitzgerald](/source/Ella_Fitzgerald) ([Decca](/source/Decca_Records), 1953)
* ''Jam Session: Coast to Coast'', [Eddie Condon](/source/Eddie_Condon) (1953)
* ''Never Before...Never Again'', [Joe Venuti](/source/Joe_Venuti) (1954)
* ''A Musical Autobiography'', [Bing Crosby](/source/Bing_Crosby) (Decca, 1954)
* ''Irving Berlin's White Christmas'', [Rosemary Clooney](/source/Rosemary_Clooney) ([Columbia](/source/Columbia_Records), 1954)
* ''Coast Concert'', [Bobby Hackett](/source/Bobby_Hackett) ([Capitol](/source/Capitol_Records), 1955)
* ''Pete Kelly's Blues'', [Ray Heindorf](/source/Ray_Heindorf) (1955)
* ''Mellow Guitar'', [George Van Eps](/source/George_Van_Eps) (1956)
* ''[Hoagy Sings Carmichael](/source/Hoagy_Sings_Carmichael)'', Hoagy Carmichael ([Pacific Jazz](/source/Pacific_Jazz_Records), 1956)
* ''Casa Loma in Hi-Fi'', [Glen Gray](/source/Glen_Gray) and the Casa Loma Orchestra (Capitol, 1956)
* ''Dream Street'', [Peggy Lee](/source/Peggy_Lee) (Decca, 1957)
* ''And They Called It Dixieland'', [Matty Matlock](/source/Matty_Matlock) (1958)
* ''Ragtime Classics'', [Wally Rose](/source/Wally_Rose) (1959)
* ''South Rampart Street Parade'', [Pete Fountain](/source/Pete_Fountain) ([Coral](/source/Coral_Records), 1963)
* ''Standing Room Only'', [Pete Fountain](/source/Pete_Fountain) ([Coral](/source/Coral_Records), 1965)
* ''That Man, Robert Mitchum, Sings'', [Robert Mitchum](/source/Robert_Mitchum) (1967)
* ''Portrait of Eddie'', [Eddie Miller](/source/Eddie_Miller_(jazz_saxophonist)) (1971)
* ''California Doings'', [Dick Cary](/source/Dick_Cary) (Famous Door, 1981)
* ''California Session'', [Bud Freeman](/source/Bud_Freeman) (1982)
* ''The Banjo Kings'' (1986)
* ''The Genius of the Electric Guitar'', [Charlie Christian](/source/Charlie_Christian) (1987)
* ''Starring Fred Astaire'', [Fred Astaire](/source/Fred_Astaire) (Columbia, 1989)
* ''On the Trail'', [Frankie Laine](/source/Frankie_Laine) (1990)
* ''1939–1940'', [Lionel Hampton](/source/Lionel_Hampton) ([Chronological Classics](/source/Chronological_Classics), 1991)
* ''1938–1939'', [Ziggy Elman](/source/Ziggy_Elman) (Chronological Classics 1996)<ref name="AM credits">{{cite web|title=Nick Fatool {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nick-fatool-mn0000397252/credits|website=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)|access-date=October 31, 2016}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{AllMusic |class=artist |id=nick-fatool-mn0000397252}}
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/107333 Nick Fatool recordings] at the [Discography of American Historical Recordings](/source/Discography_of_American_Historical_Recordings).
*{{Discogs artist|328746-Nick-Fatool}}
*{{IMDb name|0268889}}
*[https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/nick-fatool Nick Fatool Interview] NAMM Oral History Library (1984)
*[https://syncopatedtimes.com/nick-fatool-the-perfect-jazz-percussionist/ Nick Fatool: The Perfect Jazz Percussionist] by Hal Smith

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fatool, Nick}}
Category:American jazz drummers
Category:Jazz musicians from Massachusetts
Category:1915 births
Category:2000 deaths
Category:People from Millbury, Massachusetts
Category:20th-century American drummers
Category:American male drummers
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:American male jazz musicians
Category:Drummers from Massachusetts

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nick Fatool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Fatool) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Fatool?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.