Ernie Fields born 28 August 1904

Ernest Lawrence "Ernie" Fields (August 28, 1904 – May 11, 1997) was an African-American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader.

Texas-born Ernie Fields was raised in Taft, Oklahoma, studied to become an electrician and played trombone in the school's marching band. Fields settled in Tulsa after graduating in 1921 from the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He soon began leading The Royal Entertainers, which became one of Tulsa's most popular dance orchestras during the 1920s. Fields initially refused offers to join other bands, believing that touring was an unacceptable lifestyle. Ironically, the Great Depression forced him to take his own band on the road in the early 1930s.

The Royal Entertainers were later renamed the Territory Big Band. The act became popular in the Midwest. While playing in Kansas City, the orchestra was discovered by legendary producer John Hammond, who invited them to New York in August 1939 to cut a session for the Vocalion label.

The first of the four ensuing Vocalion singles, "T-Town Blues", was a minor hit. The band worked steadily through the 1940's, featuring the work of stellar guitarist / arranger Rene Hall and popular vocalist Melvin Moore from Oklahoma City. Following the decline of big band jazz/swing after World War II, Fields downsized his band and transformed it into a rhythm and blues group. From 1947

onwards, there followed a series of R&B recordings for small independent labels like Frisco, Bullet, Gotham, Regal and Combo. In 1955 Fields moved to Los Angeles, where he found a comfortable if low-profile niche as an arranger for West Coast pop and rock sessions.

The switch to instrumental rock n roll came early in 1958, when Rene Hall sold the master of "Annie's Rock" to the reactivated Jamie label in Philadelphia, crediting the disc to his old boss, Ernie Fields. Rene Hall, Earl Palmer and sax player Plas Johnson had almost daily contact in the L.A. studios. Combined with their shared Louisiana roots, this created a strong bond between the three Afro-Americans and towards the end of 1958 they decided to pool their talents in a production company called Record Masters. In 1959 they offered a rock n roll arrangement of "Christopher Columbus" by Rene Hall to the new Rendezvous label in Los Angeles.

                               

Rendezvous was interested, but needed a B-side. It was Earl Palmer who suggested "In the Mood", the old Glenn Miller favourite. Soon their beaty new interpretation of the standard was upgraded to A-side status. Hall, Palmer and Johnson had yet to attribute the record to any particular artist, knowing they wouldn't be available for any kind of promotion or touring, due to their studio commitments. 

After negotiations, Ernie Fields was called up to "work" the record, with credits going to "Ernie Field's Orchestra" . The gamble paid off and with the support of Dick Clark, the single hit # 4 on the pop charts by the end of 1959 (also # 13 in the UK).

The follow-up, again from the Glenn Miller songbook, was "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which went to # 54. Its flip, "Workin' Out", written by Hall, Johnson and Palmer, was one of the few tracks that actually featured Ernie Fields on trombone. There followed an LP release in 1960 (also called "In the Mood"), a combination of big band standards, covers of recent hits and two originals, "The Boot" and the fabulous "Knocked Out", from the pen of John Marascalco. The arrangements were split equally between Johnson, Hall and Palmer.

The third Rendezvous single, "Begin the Beguine"/"Things Ain't What They Used To Be", lacked the heavy backbeat and excitement of the two previous 45s and was not released in the UK. Instead, UK London chose to lift two tracks off the LP, "Raunchy" and "My Prayer" (London HL 9227). In the USA, eight more Rendezvous singles would follow after "Begin the Beguine", but only "The Charleston" (# 47 in 1961) managed to enter the charts. By 1962, Rendezvous Records was concentrating more on singles by B. Bumble and the Stingers, a studio band comprising some of the same session men as those on the Ernie Fields recordings.

After the demise of Rendezvous in 1963, the Ernie Fields Orchestra - still with Hall, Palmer and Johnson as its nucleus - switched to the Capitol label, but only two singles were released. Compared to the Rendezvous recordings, they sound rather tame. Although Ernie's 

career weathered all the changing musical tastes from the swing era to the 1960s, he retired from active leadership, disbanded and moved back to Tulsa, until his death in May 1997, at the age of 92. In 1989 he was inducted in to the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

 In 2013 his family donated his memorabilia to the planned Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture.

(Edited mainly from BlackCat Rockabilly)