Acclaimed musician and multi-instrumentalist Ernie Fields, Jr. passed away at his home in Pasadena on March 8. He was 89 years old.
His father, Ernie Fields, Sr., was a renowned band leader. His illustrious career is highlighted in “Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band” by Carmen Fields, sister to the younger Fields.
Ernie Orlando Fields (known professionally as Ernie Fields Jr.) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on July 29, 1934. He graduated from Tulsa’s Booker T. Washington High School in 1951. Majoring in music education at Howard University, he graduated in 1960 and almost immediately became a part of his father’s organization.
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After taking leadership of his father’s band in the 1960s, Fields Jr. toured with The Temptations, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, and Lionel Hampton, in addition to countless recognizable names in the entertainment industry.
Weary of life on the road, he settled in Los Angeles in the 1970s and quickly established himself as a reliable session musician. He incorporated his own business, Jade Sound/Fields Musical Services, in the 1980s. Not limited to music writing and arranging, as a top contractor, he hired musicians to support shows such as “America Idol” and “The Voice.”
Fields’ performances took him around the world, from live performances for Aretha Franklin to guest conductor for the Ray Charles Orchestra to FreedomFest, the London concert honoring Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday. He also joined the modern funk band of trombonist Fred Wesley and performed in the farewell European tour of French singer Johnny Hallyday.
He was particularly proud of two performances at the White House during the Obama administration. In the one in 2010, he was featured on tenor sax with vocalist Natalie Cole. For a decade, Ernie coordinated the month-long Los Angeles “Jazz in Schools” program. The Spring 2013 publication of the Los Angeles Jazz Society described how he would get up at an “unearthly hour [to brave] L.A. traffic to excite, educate and entertain” some 23,000 students.
In 2019, Ernie’s performed in his hometown of Tulsa. He and his grandson, Ryan Brown, paid tribute to the city’s treasured past in Greenwood known as Black Wall Street. The program, entitled “The Golden Age of Greenwood” paid homage “to a period when R&B, soul, and fund music were sprouting right here in Tulsa” according to an article in Tulsa People magazine.
His affiliations included the American Federation of Musicians, Locals #47 (Los Angeles) and #94 (Tulsa), Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame, Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame (where he and Ernie Sr. are the only father and son inductees), Hollywood Rotary, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
He remained active professionally and personally until his death. He is credited with mentoring countless younger musicians including musical director Rickey Minor. Minor and the Fields family plan a memorial celebration for May.
He is survived by three daughters, Michelle Fields Wilson and Lisa Fields Miller of Georgia and Pamela Williams of Tulsa; sister, Carmen Fields (Lorenz Finison); three grandchildren, six great grandchildren; three nieces, two ex-wives, two stepchildren, longtime companion Galia (Armstrong) Dumas and a host of musician friends and colleagues.
