Born: January
2, 1915 in Milbury, Massachussetts
Died: September
26, 2000 in Los Angeles, California
by Kenny Mathieson
Copyright ©
2000 Kenny Mathieson
The Scotsman,
2000
A
Sensitive and Musical Drum Stylist
Nick Fatool made
his reputation as the tasteful but driving drummer behind a succession
of big
name bands at
the height of the swing era and well beyond, but may have secured his firmest
grip on immortality
in the recordings he made with the Benny
Goodman Sextet in the late
1930s and early
1940s.
These were the
seminal records in which guitarist Charlie Christian redefined the role
of his
instrument in
jazz, although the guitarist only made the band when Goodman was persuaded
to
give him a second
chance, having failed to match up to the irascible clarinetist’s demands
in an
initial audition
with Fatool which was heavily weighted against the guitarist.
Nick Fatool was
born in Milbury, and began playing drums while still in high school in
Providence, Rhode
Island. He made his professional debut with the dance band led by pianist
Joe Haymes before
being recruited by Goodman in 1937 as a replacement for Lionel
Hampton, who
was launching a successful career of his own, albeit as a vibes player
rather
than a drummer.
Fatool played in both Goodman’s big band and the sextet, and is heard on
famous recordings
like ‘Flying Home’, ‘Rose Room’ and ‘Seven Come Eleven’.
He appeared with
the Sextet in the famous Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in
December, 1938.
The concert was recorded by John Hammond, still a rare event in those
days, and in
an era where recording drums was still a primitive art, the engineer contrived
to
record Fatool
in especially prominent fashion, allowing posterity a better than usual
appreciation
of his driving swing patterns and crisp, punchy hi-hat accents.
Goodman was a
notoriously difficult employer, and Fatool had several run-ins with the
leader
before leaving
the band in acrimonious circumstances after a disagreement in 1940. He
was
quickly snapped
up by another famous clarinettist of the day, Artie Shaw, who was forming
a
new band at the
time.
Fatool is heard
on the original recording of Shaw’s ‘Concerto for Clarinet’, and also worked
with distinguished
band leaders like Claude Thornhill and Alvino Rey in New York, before
making the move
to the west coast in 1943. He settled in Los Angeles and became a studio
musician, but
still took the opportunity to work with bands led by the likes of Harry
James and
Les Brown whenever
he could.
His extensive
work in the film studios included playing on the soundtracks for the jazz-based
films Young Man
With A Horn in 1949, Pete Kelly’s Blues in 1955, and The Five Pennies,
a
film biography
of trumpeter Red Nichols, in 1959, and an appearance on screen with Fred
Astaire, Paulette
Goddard and Artie Shaw in Second Chorus.
He appeared on
television with Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby in 1951, and later became
the regular drummer
on Crosby’s television show, from 1957-9. He was also active in the
recording studios
throughout his career, playing with Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Erroll
Garner, Tommy
Dorsey, Bing Crosby and Nat ‘King’ Cole, among others. He worked over a
long period with
pianist Jess Stacy, another musician who had suffered from Goodman’s
belligerence.
Over the years
he shifted his focus away from the swing big band style toward the Dixieland
revival, and
he played with many of the luminaries in that field, including clarinetists
Barney
Bigard and Pete
Fountain, and the World’s Greatest Jazz Band and the Dukes of Dixieland.
He was a more
subtle stylist than is common in the genre, and his musicality ensured
that he
was held in high
regard by his peers.
He worked with
Pete Fountain in New Orleans from 1967-69, and spent four years in Las
Vegas with singer
Phil Harris from 1969. He was a golf professional for a time in the early
1970s, but continued
to play in and around Los Angeles. He made occasional tours further
afield, including
jaunts to the Far East (in 1964) and Europe (1981) with band leader Bob
Crosby, the brother
of Bing Crosby, and to Europe with the World’s Greatest Jazz Band in
the 1980s.
He is survived
by his wife, Mary; a son, David; a brother, Ernest; and a grandson.
Kenny Mathieson
Kenny Mathieson is a freelance writer based in Scotland. His book Giant
Steps: Bebop and The Creators of Modern Jazz (1999) is published by
Payback Press.
E-mail: [email protected] |
