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| Stoned? - 1947 (William Gottlieb collection) |
played clarinet in Elizabeth NJ High school symphony orchestra
March 1936 - won first prize of week's engagement at Roxy Theater in NYC for alto performance on Fred Allen amateur radio show
June 1936 - first professional job small group roadhouse dates Atlantic coast
Fields gay? - Michael Feinstein quotes from a letter from George Gershwin to brother Ira: "In one letter he wrote to Ira, he was recounting he was at a party, and he said Herbie Fields and a sweetheart, referring to Herbie Fields' boyfriend." Unlikely, since George died in 1937, when Fields would have been 18 and unlikely to have been noteworthy. This is instead, a reference to Herbert Fields, brother of Dorothy Fields, songwriters and show writers, very big in the twenties.
1938 - played with Bobby Day as saxman, vocalist
During a jam session in 1939 ("in a Harlem basement"), Roy Eldridge asked fields if he would mind playing with a Negro group - Leonard Ware's quintet
1940 - with Slam Stewart
Herbie Fields was in some interesting places at interesting times. Why was he at Jerry Newman's apartment for his earliest recordings?
1940 – Jerry Newman’s
Apartment 216 E 45 St New York
Hot Lips
Page (tp) Herbie Fields (ts) Donald Lambert (p) Pops Morgan (brushes on
newspaper - 1)
1 I Got Rhythm (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) (incomplete) - 1
Onyx ORI 207 5:00
solos – Page, Lambert, Fields, Fields /
Page
2 I’m In The Mood For Love (Jimmy McHugh, Dorothy Fields) - 3:22
solos – Page, Lambert
3 Dinah (Harry Askt, Sam Lewis, Joe Young) - 8:02
solos – Page, Lambert, Fields
4 Tea for Two (Vincent Youmans, Irving Caesar) - 6:50
solos – Fields, Page, Lambert, Page /
Fields
recorded
by Jerry Newman
(LP) Onyx
ORI 207 - Hot Lips Page: After
Hours In Harlem
fall of 1940 - joined Raymond Scott's quintet in Chicago
February 1941 - drafted, sent to Fort Dix
Met Lionel Hampton when he played a show at Fort Dix and Fields sat in.
discharged October 1944 with high blood pressure
December 1945 - joined hampton at Strand Theater new york
March 1946 left hampton and organized 16 piece band
8 piece in group Hotel Sherman chicago mar - apr 1947
6 piece in milwaukee september 1947: Joe Gatto (p) Ernie Englund (tp) Marty Brown (b) Rudy Cefaro (g) Arty Anton (dr)
"he thinks the bebop craze hurt real jazz as much as the trend to blasting 10 man brass sections.
kenton too stiff and too dissonant
photo
milwaukee journal oct 1 1947
Raymond Scott Quintette
Fort Dix
Lionel Hampton
June 1945 - Lionel Hampton - Riverside - Milwaukee
milwaukee journal jun 16 1945
1946 July - September - Palladium, Loew's State Theater-Broadway
August 1947 - Stage Door 1207 S 16 St Milwaukee WI (Milwaukee Journal Aug 29 1947)
Jan 29, 30 31 1948 - Rajah Theatre Reading PA - Carol Kay, Joe Gatto, Rudy Caffaro
Readin gEagle jan 25 1948
June 1948 - Showboat Milwaukee
Milwaukee Sentinel Jun 16 1948
Coming attraction - George Devine's Million Dollar Ballroom, Wisconsin Av at 24 st Milwaukee
Milwaukee Journal sep 23 1948
December 1955 - Tutz's cocktail lounge 744 n 3rd st Milwaukee (two weeks)
"leaping ever higher and landing ever harder in his rock 'n' roll cadenzas"
Joe Black (p) Frank D'Rone (g)
milwaukee journal dec 6 1955
Aug 11 1957 - Bayfront Park Bandshell - Miami "jazz-rock'n'-roll concert"
miami news aug 12 1957
June 3 (tue?) - June 15 - Brass Rail - Milwaukee, opposite Frankie Mayo's Falcons
Joe Black (p) Frank Root (dr) Paul Holt (b) Jimmy Gillis (el-g, voc)
Milwaukee Sentinel Jun 4 1958
moved to Miami in 1956
2450 NE 215 St Miami Fl
Son David
was appearing at Gallagher's Restaurant, 12605 Biscayne Blvd at the time of his death - Jack Wyatt (b)
d Sep 16 1958 - suicide (sleeping pill overdose) at home, note - "despondent over financial and domestic troubles", addressed to his mother 'I have completed my mission in life"
Miami News Sep 15 1958 (photo)
add for Herbie Fields and His Sextet at The Rancher Lounge - Biscayne at 126 St Miami
Miami News Feb 1957, Mar 5 1957 , Mar 12 1957, Apr 2 1957
add for sextet at gallaghers in Miami News Sep 8 1958
Sarasota Journal Sep 18 1958
Quote "It's [rock and roll] is making mental infants out of tomorrow's voters."
leader of the 1229th Company orchestra Fort Dix NJ - broadcasts - first band to get a coast to coast wire while in the service?
Free Lance-Star Oct 9 1946
Walter Winchell mar 15 1945 - "Maestro Herbie Fields and his mate have parted. No chance of mending."
