Author

Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band

Over a decade in the making, Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band reveals the journey of jazz musician and big band leader, Ernie Fields. Carmen Fields tells the story of her father in her own voice, showing the highs and lows of Ernie Fields’ experiences in the music industry and divulging the family man behind the music, all set on the backdrop of an America entrenched in racial tensions. Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band is a priceless source of information for historians of American popular music and African American history.

Reviews

  • "In piecing together her father's musical journey, Carmen Fields highlights an important untold story, but also paints a fuller picture of the strength that emanated from the much talked-about Tulsa, Oklahoma, of twentieth-century America."

    Wil Haygood - Author of Colorization: one Hudred Years of Black Fims in a White World

  • "This perceptive book is an insightful account, appealing to the aficionado and scholar alike, of the career and musical journey of bandleader Ernie Fields."

    Todd Wright - Professor and Director of Jazz Studies, Hayes School of Music, Appalachian State University

  • “Carmen M. Fields has written a feast of a book about the pioneering work of her father, a talented and entrepreneurial jazzman back when jazz was just coming into its own [...] This is a marvelous story, told authoritatively, and with great humanity."

    Geneva Overholser - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

  • "A great American story, vividly told"

    Tad Richards - American writer and visual artist

  • "An entertaining read and, I'm sure, a useful research tool for future discographers and music historians."

    Davy Penny with Blues & Rhythm magazine

FAQs

  • When I started writing the book, in the 1980s, my father, bandleader Ernie Fields was still alive. He loved the idea of telling his story and that of the numerous musicians who made up his organization over the years. I recorded interviews with him over the years—and he recorded memories himself when I was not with him. He also made many notes and identified names on the treasure trove of photographs he possessed. Over the next decades, there were many starts and stops, rewrites and revisions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was able to work uninterrupted and finish the manuscript.

  • I tried to write daily. However, sometimes I was more productive working mornings. Other times, I was more productive working after dinner and into the night/early morning. I also read books by or about musicians; particularly those from the early jazz era. Books about African American history were also helpful for adding context. Many have found writing groups to be helpful, however, I did not avail myself to such organizations. Someone posted on social media a picture of a typewriter and these words next to it, “Write, Revise. Scream a Little. Repeat.” That describes the routine to a “T!”

  • I used online databases to identify literary agents and guides to composing query letters to potential agents. I sought agents with a track record in narrative non-fiction, biography and African American authors.  I reached out to agents of authors whose work I admired. Authors often acknowledge their agents in their books. I also researched academic publishers with a portfolio of published titles in jazz, jazz history, music history and African American biographies. Of the academic presses approached, there was serious interest from two. I decided University of Oklahoma Press was the best fit, as my subject was based in Oklahoma.

  • Over the next few months the Ernie Fields story will be shared far and wide, at events in libraries, schools, online and other venues. Particular focus is on events in June (Black Music Month). Because Ernie Fields Jr. re-constructed music charts for several Ernie Fields recordings, we are exploring opportunities for high school, college and community jazz bands to be able to perform the music, in order to share and  further cement the legacy. Finally, plans for a television series about traveling musicians, based on the book, are underway.

Book launch in Tulsa, OK hometown. Standing, author Lorenz Finison, seated at right, saxophonist Frank Swain, an Ernie Fields big band alum.
Book signing at Edgartown Books in Edgartown, MA.
Carmen Fields presenting at Jazz Educators annual convention in Orlando, FL.
Carmen at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) “Authors Showcase” in Birmingham, AL.
“Magic Books/Tulsa” store manager Pat Wiezell leads the conversation. Books sold out.
Literary Guild of 12th Baptist Church, Roxbury, MA. Conversation leader Linda Cabral (standing in black).
Matt Robinson, host of the Needham, MA cable television show, “Writer’s Block” with Carmen Fields.