Nick Fatool

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Nick Fatool was a popular drummer during the Big Band Era who kept the beat for bandleaders such as Benny Goodman, Alvino Rey, Claude Thornhill, and Les Brown. Nick played with an incredible list of performers ranging from Louis Armstrong and Ella Mae Morse to Tennessee Ernie Ford and Fred Astaire. He was performing with his longtime friend, Eddie Miller, when he was interviewed behind stage during a jazz gig near San Francisco in 1984.

Image courtesy of the Downbeat archives, NBC, and Paul Bailey.