Ernie Fields

Ernie Fields (* 28. August 1904 in Nacogdoches , Texas ; † 11. May 1997 ) was an American jazz - trombonist and bandleader .

Fields grew up in Oklahoma . He began training as an electrician and played the trombone in the Marching Band of the Tuskegee Institute . In Tulsa he was initially an amateur musician and also played the saxophone. In the early 1920s he founded the band Royal Entertainers , with whom he first appeared in Tulsa County in pubs, at dance events and fairs. It was not until the 1930s that he began touring professionally with his Territory Band through the southwestern United States, until in 1939 the producer John Hammond , who had stars like Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman under contract, discovered him and hired him for his label Vocalion at short notice .

Since the late 1940s Fields worked with a smaller band and stylistically switched from big band swing to rhythm and blues . In the late 1950's he moved to Los Angeles to lead the studio band for Rendezvous Records , which featured pianist Ernie Freeman , guitarist Rene Hall , saxophonist Plas Johnson and drummer Earl Palmer . His R & B version of Glenn Miller's In the Mood from 1959, recorded with this band, became an international hit . It reached number 4 in the US charts and number 13 in the UK. He was also successful with a version of Miller's Chattanooga Choo Choo . In 1966, Fields retired from the music business to work as a promoter and talent manager in Tulsa.

Fields son Ernie Fields junior became known as a saxophonist, band leader and record producer.

Web links

• Lexicon entry in the Handbook of Texas
• Entry on Allmusic

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dates of life according to the Handbook of Texas , in contrast to this, Allmusic gives August 26th 1905 as the date of birth.