The career of trombonist and bandleader Ernie Fields seems quite typical for the jazz scene of the 1930s and 1940s, leading his own roving territory band. In the 1950s, Fields moved over to a more elite rank, at least in terms of selling records. His cover version of the big-band chestnut In the Mood was a big hit in 1959. After that it was his son, Ernie Fields Jr., who carried the torch into the genres of soul and funk and the bands of artists such as Marvin Gaye and Fred Wesley.

Raised in Oklahoma, Fields began as a pianist, added the trombone and made the horn his main instrument after graduating from the Tuskegee Institute. In the early 1920s Fields ran a band out of Tulsa called the Royal Entertainers. At this point he had no desire to hit the road, even turning down an offer from bandleader Cab Calloway.

By the next decade, however, Fields had realised there was no way to make a living without leaving town. His group began to travel the Southwest, finally heading to New York in 1939 at John Hammond's invitation to record for the Vocalion label. While not one of the Hammond artists who would become a national jazz star such as Charlie Christian or Benny Goodman, Fields continued to work steadily.

In the late 1940s he moved to a smaller band and a repertoire shift from big band swing to R&B. He continued to straddle these styles into the 1950s, taking swing standards such as Tuxedo Junction and Begin the Beguine and rocking out on them. The concept struck the big ore when Fields put himself In the Mood - although the bandleader himself must not have been too sure it would be a hit, originally putting the tune on the B-side of a single.

He retired in 1966, by which time his son had already embarked on his own career as a saxophonist, naturally including some stints in his father's bands. Fields Jr. has also worked as a producer and talent agent.