The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

FIELDS, ERNIE ORLANDO (Ernie Fields Jr., 1934–2024).

Ernie Orlando Fields, known professionally as Ernie Fields, Jr., was an acclaimed American baritone saxophonist, composer, and session musician. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 29, 1934, he was the son of renowned jazz band leader Ernie Fields, Sr., and his wife, Bernice Coleman Fields. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in 1951, Ernie O. Fields pursued music education at Howard University, graduating in 1960. Billed as Ernie Fields, Jr., he began his professional career by joining his father’s band, the Ernie Fields Orchestra, one of Oklahoma’s best known touring groups of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Fields, Jr., took over as the band’s leader in the 1960s. He also toured with numerous artists, including The Temptations, Sam Cooke, and Curtis Mayfield.

Tiring of road life, Fields settled in Los Angeles and became a sought-after session player. A hallmark of Oklahoma musicians is being able to fit into multiple musical genres or styles. He was comfortable with smooth, long melodic lines or the jagged edges of progressive jazz, and his playing could be whatever was needed for the recording or live performance. Throughout his career he collaborated with numerous prominent artists across various genres, including B. B. King, Bobby Bland, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin (Aretha, album, 1986), Rick James (Bustin’ Out of L7, album, 1979), and Marvin Gaye (Here, My Dear, album, 1978).

In addition to his performance career, Fields composed music for movies and television productions. His works include the films Disco Godfather (1979), Body and Soul (1981), and Without You I'm Nothing (1990). He also served as a music contractor for popular television shows, including American Idol, The Voice, and The X Factor, contributing significantly to the music industry behind the scenes. In 2017 Fields returned to Tulsa to perform a concert at Cain’s Ballroom sponsored by the Oklahoma History Center. Before he played, he talked about the segregated history of Tulsa’s social and civic institutions of his youth, but he noted that music in Tulsa was integrated, even if the city was not. Ernie Fields, Jr., was inducted into both the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame (1996), where he and his father are both inductees, and the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame (2022).

Ernie Orlando Fields died peacefully in his sleep on March 8, 2024, at the age of eighty-nine, in Pasadena, California. He had married Jo Ann Goodwin in Tulsa in 1956. He was survived by three daughters.

Hugh W. Foley, Jr.