A solid exponent of the swing-to-bop approach, Herbie Fields came up in bands led by Hot Lips Page and Raymond Scott, replaced Earl Bostic in Lionel Hampton's orchestra, and led a series of small and large groups throughout the second half of the 1940s. One enduring claim to fame is the fact that he also made records with Miles Davis. Released by Vintage Music Productions in 2001, His Orchestra and Quintet combines selected vocal and instrumental cuts dating from August 1946 through November 1947. Fields studied at Juilliard and was exceptionally adept with soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones as well as the clarinet, on which he sounded a lot like Artie Shaw. The lineups in this portion of his discography include trumpeter Benny Harris, trombonist Eddie Bert, and saxophonists Joe Garland and Serge Chaloff. In addition to assorted pop vocals (including "A-Huggin' and A-Chalkin'," a crude musical joke fixated upon the circumference of an obese woman), there are several excellent instrumentals, ranging from a lovely "Come Back to Sorrento" and a cool, swinging "Blue Fields," to upbeat numbers like the "Soprano Boogie," "Cherokee," and this band's hit record "Dardanella." The Herbie Fields story ended sadly after he withdrew from the jazz scene, moved to Miami, ran a nightclub, and slew himself with an overdose of sleeping pills in 1958.
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