[Dixielandjazz] Irving Fazola (was Italians Invented Jazz)

Bill Haesler bhaesler at bigpond.net.au
Wed Jul 28 18:03:15 PDT 2010


Marek Boym wrote [in part]:
> Actually, for many years I thought his name was Prestupnik (criminal
> in Russian); I do not know the origins of his family.

Dear Marek,
This following information is from my friend, researcher and author, English trumpet player John Chilton.

Irving Henry Prestopnik. Born: New Orleans, 10 December 1912. Died: New Orleans, 20 March 1949.
His mother was Irish and he had a younger brother (Louis) and sister. It was a working-class Catholic family and lived near Claiborne and Ursulina.
Faz (his preferred name) never mentioned his father, who was an Austrian of Hungarian descent.
The nickname Fazola (pronounced fah-so-la) and based on the first 3 notes of the tonic-sol-ta: Fa-soho-la ) was given to him by Louis Prima when they were kids and Faz was with the 29-piece Roma Band that only played written music. But the exact details vary. The name stuck and he used it professionally. 
Very kind regards.
Bill.
Sydney, Australia (no, not Austria). 


More information about the Dixielandjazz mailing list