Geechie Fields
{{short description|American jazz musician}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Geechie Fields
| birth_name = Julius J. Fields
| birth_date = September 9, 1904
| origin = Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
| death_date = August 15, 1997 (aged 92)
| genre = Jazz
| instruments = Trombone
}}
Julius J. "Geechie" Fields (September 9, 1904 – August 15, 1997)U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014{{Cite web |title=Fields, Geechie - Discography of American Historical Recordings |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/107108/Fields_Geechie |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=adp.library.ucsb.edu}} was an American jazz trombonist.
Early life
Fields grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and learned to play trombone at the Jenkins Orphanage.{{Cite book |last=Franklin |first=Benjamin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jsnYCwAAQBAJ&dq=Geechie+Fields&pg=PT250 |title=An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz & Blues Musicians |date=2016-05-30 |publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-61117-622-3 |language=en}}
Career
In the early 1920s he became a touring member of the Jenkins Orphanage bands, then relocated to New York City, where he was a house musician at John O'Connor's club."Geechie Fields". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld, 2004. Primarily a trombonist, he was also credited as playing the alto saxophone and clarinet. He played with Earle Howard in 1926 and 1927, recorded with Jelly Roll Morton in 1928 and 1930, and with Charlie Skeete and Bill Benford in 1929. He also worked with Clarence Williams and James P. Johnson.
Personal life
In the 1930s, Fields married singer Myra Johnson. He later left music to become a boxing coach.{{cite web|last1=Chadbourne|first1=Eugene|title=Geechie Fields|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/geechie-fields-mn0001482799/biography|website=AllMusic|accessdate=10 June 2017}}
References
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Further reading
- L. Wright: Mr. Jelly Lord (Chigwell, England, 1980)
- Tom Lord: Clarence Williams (Chigwell, England, 1976)
- John Chilton: A Jazz Nursery: the Story of the Jenkins Orphanage Bands of Charleston, South Carolina (London, 1980)
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Category:African-American jazz musicians
Category:American jazz trombonists
Category:American male trombonists
Category:Musicians from South Carolina
Category:20th-century American trombonists
Category:20th-century American male musicians
Category:American male jazz musicians
Category:20th-century African-American musicians
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