Kansas Fields

Who was Kansas Fields?

Carl Donnell "Kansas" Fields was an American jazz drummer.

Fields played in Chicago beginning in the late 1920s, and worked with King Kolax and Jimmie Noone in the 1930s. In 1940 he joined Roy Eldridge's group for a year; he returned to play with Eldridge again later in the 1940s. 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 he played with Cab Calloway, Claude Hopkins, Sidney Bechet, Dizzy Gillespie, and Eldridge again before the close of the decade.

He led another group of his own early in the 1950s, then played with Mezz Mezzrow in Europe in 1953. Fields ended up staying in Europe for more than a decade; he relocated to France and worked as a sideman for many Continental bands. he also did a recording session with John Coltrane and Kenny Burrell in the 1950s. In 1965 he returned to Chicago, working once more with Gillespie and doing studio work.