Fats Heard | |
Birth Name: | Eugene Heard |
Birth Date: | October 10, 1923 |
Birth Place: | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
Death Date: | December 5, 1987 (aged 64) |
Genre: | Jazz |
Instrument: | Drums |
Eugene "Fats" Heard (October 10, 1923 – December 5, 1987) was an American jazz drummer.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Heard graduated from Central High School and studied piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music before taking up the drums as his primary instrument.
Heard played with Coleman Hawkins and Lionel Hampton and was part of Erroll Garner's band from 1952 to 1955. He played on Garner's original 1954 recording of "Misty". In the late-1950s, Heard ran the Modern Jazz Room (formerly Cotton Club) in downtown Cleveland with his friend Jim Bard.
With Erroll Garner