Carl Donnell "Kansas" Fields (December 5, 1915, Chapman, Kansas – March 7, 1995, Chicago, Illinois)[1] was an American jazz drummer.

Fields played in Chicago from the late 1920s, and worked with King Kolax and Jimmie Noone in the 1930s.[2] In 1940, he joined Roy Eldridge's group for a year; he returned to play with Eldridge again later in the 1940s.[2] He briefly led his own ensemble and played with Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Carter before joining the Marines during World War II.[2] After the war, he played with Cab Calloway, Claude Hopkins, Sidney Bechet, Dizzy Gillespie (recording with Gillespie in 1951), and Eldridge again before the close of the decade.[2]

He led another group of his own early in the 1950s, then played with Mezz Mezzrow in Europe in 1953.[2] Fields stayed in Europe for more than a decade; he relocated to France and worked as a sideman. In 1965, he returned to Chicago, working once more with Gillespie and doing studio work.

Discography

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With Dizzy Gillespie

With various artists

References

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Footnotes
  1. ^ T. Dennis Brown, revised by Barry Kernfeld (2003). "Fields, Kansas [Carl Donnell]". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.J990057. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
  2. ^ a b c d e Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 857. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
General references