Irving fields philadelphia

Irving fields a day in philadelphia
Irving Fields was one of the last of his generation of active musicians; trained in the prime years of Tin Pan Alley and classic American popular music.
Irving Fields was an American pianist and lounge music artist who was born in New York City.

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Irving Fields

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Born 4 August 1915, New York City, New York
he real thing when it comes to lounge. Way back before lounge was a fad, people used to gather in dark dens to smoke cigarettes and consume alcohol in the form of highballs and--occasionally, cocktails--while a pianist and sometimes a bassist and drummer played softly in the corner. Irving Fields' trio put in plenty of nights in such joints--the Stork Club, El Mogambo, the Emerald Room, the St. Moritz and New York Shearton Hotel lounges.
Fields was never ashamed of the work. "The reason I work in hotels and lounges is it's steady work. I can work there for years without having to live out of a suitcase. I've played private parties for Barbara Walters, Candice Bergen, Donald Trump, and many others," he told ePulse magazine in 1995. "To be a loung pianist is a very difficult thi
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By RSA Guest Blogger, August 2, 2017 9:52 am
Two weeks after his 101th birthday, pianist and composer Irving Fields passed away August 20, 2016 in Manhattan. He was perhaps the longest working musician in the world. At the age of hundred, he used to play the piano several nights a week at Nino’s Tuscany restaurant in Manhattan. Irving Fields became known by fusing Jewish tunes, jazz, and popular songs with Latin music.
Born as Isidore Schwartz in 1915 New York City to Jewish immigrants, Irving Fields started working as a pianist in the thirties during the years of the Great Depression. In this time of high unemployment, he started playing piano in resort hotels in the Catskills Mountains, and then he found work as a pianist on cruise ships sailing from New York to Havana, capital city of Cuba. In Havana, Irving Fields listened to the great Cuban orchestras, and developed his love for Latin music. Attracted by pictures from palm trees and beaches in travel magazines, Irving decided to settle in Miami Beach and performed in hotels playing dinner music, and did sessi
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Allegro
What’s the key to success and longevity in the music industry? For one Local 802 member of 65 years it can be summed up in one old saying: “Give the people what they want.” For more than seven decades Irving Fields has been doing just that. From Miami Beach to the Catskills…from Bombay to London to Las Vegas to Tokyo…from the high seas to Carnegie Hall…Irving Fields has done it all. And he’s done it with style and a smile.
For nearly two hours I interviewed him in his Central Park South apartment with his wife, Ruth, and dozens of family photographs in attendance. He was as prepared for the interview as he is for a show. He was animated and energetic, polished and professional, self-effacing and self-confident, and he entertained me with a chronology of a professional career that began when he was fifteen. I’m certain he could easily have filled many more one-hour tapes.
Underlying his tales of performing for the rich and famous and his love for his craft is a work ethic he seems to have perfected. On the rare occasio