Nick Fatool

Music career

Fatool first played professionally in Providence, Rhode Island, which he followed with time in Joe Haymes's band in 1937 and Don Beston's in Dallas soon after. In 1939 he played with Bobby Hackett briefly, and then became a member of the Benny Goodman Orchestra. He became one of the most visible drummers of the 1940s, playing with Artie Shaw (1940–41), Alvino Rey (1942–43), Claude Thornhill, Les Brown, and Jan Savitt. In 1943 he moved to Los Angeles and took work as a session musician, recording profusely. Credits include Harry James, Erroll Garner (1946), Louis Armstrong (1949, 1951), Jess Stacy, Tommy Dorsey, Matty Matlock, John Scott Trotter and Glen Gray. He began an association with Bob Crosby, playing with him regularly between 1949 and 1951 and occasionally with Crosby's Bobcats into the 1970s.

Between January 7, 1944 and April 23, 1958, Fatool played on sessions for the following Capitol Records artists: Andy Griffith, Andy Russell, Betty Hutton, Billy May, Charles LaVere, Dave Barbour, Dave Matthews, Dean Martin, Ella Mae Morse, Frank Sinatra, Freddie Slack, Gordon MacRae, Jack Teagarden, Jeanne Gayle, Jerry Colonna, Jesse Price, Jo Stafford, Joe "Fingers" Carr, Johnny Mercer, Johnny Standley, Maggie Jackson, Margaret Whiting, Marvin Ash, Nat King Cole, Paul Weston, Peggy Lee, Pete Kelly, Ray Anthony, Ray Turner, Red Nichols, Robert Mitchum, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Andrews Sisters, The Capitol Jazzmen, The Dinning Sisters, The Pied Pipers, The Starlighters, and Wingy Manone.

Fatool was an important member of Buddy Cole and his Trio which worked with Bing Crosby from 1954-1960.

In the 1950s and 1960s Fatool found much work on the Dixieland jazz revival circuit, playing with Pete Fountain from 1962–1965 and the Dukes of Dixieland. His only session as a bandleader was as the head of a septet in 1987, leading Eddie Miller, Johnny Mince, Ernie Carson, and others.

Fatool died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 85.

As leader

As sideman