Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Kansas Fields was born Carl Donnell Fields on December 5, 1915 in Chapman, Kansas and first played in Chicago, Illinois from the late Twenties and worked with King Kolax and Jimmie Noone in the 1930s. In 1940 he joined Roy Eldridge’s group for a year and returned to play with Eldridge again later in the decade.

He briefly led his own ensemble and played with Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Carter before joining the Marines during World War II. After the war, Kansas played with Cab Calloway, Claude Hopkins, Sidney Bechet, Dizzy Gillespie, and Eldridge again before the close of the decade.

Forming another group early in the 1950s, he then played with Mezz Mezzrow in Europe in 1953. Fields stayed in Europe for more than a decade, relocating to France where he worked as a sideman. In 1965, he returned to Chicago, working once more with Gillespie and doing studio work.

Drummer and bandleader Kansas Fields transitioned on March 7, 1995 in Chicago.

More Posts: bandleader,drums,history,instrumental,jazz,music