Joe Fields (1929 – July 12, 2017) was an American producer and record executive, active mainly in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

music. Fields was born in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in 1929. He worked for Prestige Records as an executive in the 1960s. He and producer

Don Schlitten Don Schlitten (born March 4, 1932) is an American jazz record producer. Signal Records was founded in 1955 by Jules Colomby (assisted by Schlitten) with Harold Goldberg. His credits for Signal included work with Duke Jordan, Gigi Gryce, and Red R ...

cofounded

Cobblestone Records Cobblestone Records was an American jazz record label founded by Joe Fields in New York City in 1972. Cobblestone had two successive incarnations. The earlier was in 1968–69 as a singles label, subsidiary of Buddah Records. (The Joe Thomas LP ...

, a subsidiary of

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundin ...

, in 1972, and soon after founded

Muse Records Muse Records was a jazz record company and label founded in New York City by Joe Fields (producer), Joe Fields in 1972. Fields worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s. Several of the albums were previously released on Cobbleston ...

and its sister label

Onyx Records Onyx Records, Inc., was a small, independent United States, American record label based in Manhattan, New York (state), New York, co-founded on July 15, 1971, by Joe Fields (producer), Joe Fields (1929–2017) and Don Schlitten (born 1932) and ma ...

. Schlitten split with Fields in 1978 to found the Xanadu label, after which Fields held sole control of Muse. Fields later sold Muse to

Joel Dorn Joel Dorn (April 7, 1942 – December 17, 2007) was an American jazz and R&B music producer and record label entrepreneur. He worked at Atlantic Records, and later founded the 32 Jazz, Label M, and Hyena Records labels. He called himself "T ...

, who has released much of Muse's back catalog under the label 32 Jazz. Fields also owned the rights to the

Savoy Records Savoy Records is an American record company and label established by Herman Lubinsky in 1942 in Newark, New Jersey. Savoy specialized in jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel music. In September 2017, Savoy was acquired by Concord Bicycle Music. ...

catalog for a time in the 1980s, having purchased the catalog from

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

, and subsequently selling it to Denon. (As of 2009, the library is controlled and distributed in the U.S. through Tokyo's

Columbia Music Entertainment , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...

wholly owned Savoy Jazz label (the current owner of the

masters.) Fields and his son

Barney Fields Barney may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barney (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Barney (surname), a list of people Film and television * the title character of ''Barney & Friends'', an American live actio ...

co-founded

HighNote Records HighNote Records is a jazz record company and label founded by Joe Fields with his son, Barney Fields, in 1997. Joe Fields worked for Prestige Records in the 1960s, and in the 1970s founded Muse Records. After he sold Muse, he started the Hig ...

and

Savant Records HighNote Records is a jazz record company and label founded by Joe Fields with his son, Barney Fields, in 1997. Joe Fields worked for Prestige Records in the 1960s, and in the 1970s founded Muse Records. After he sold Muse, he started the Highn ...

in 1996, which are still actively recording and issuing jazz. The HighNote roster is made up of many of the mainstay Muse artists, like

Houston Person Houston Person (born November 10, 1934) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and record producer. Although he has performed in the hard bop and swing genres, he is most experienced in and best known for his work in soul jazz. He received the ...

Joey DeFrancesco Joey DeFrancesco (April 10, 1971August 25, 2022) was an American jazz organist, trumpeter, saxophonist, and occasional singer. He released more than 30 albums under his own name, and recorded extensively as a sideman with such leading jazz perfo ...

, and

Wallace Roney Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960 – March 31, 2020) was an American jazz (hard bop and post-bop) trumpeter. He has won 1 Grammy award and has two nominations. Roney took lessons from Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and studied with Miles Davis from ...

. Fields died on July 12, 2017 at the age of 88.

References

;Citations ;General references * Scott Yanow,

Joe Fields Joseph Charles Fields Jr. (born November 14, 1953) is a former professional American football center and guard in the National Football League for the New York Jets and the New York Giants. Raised in Deptford Township, New Jersey, Fields ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

External links

HighNote Records website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Joe 1929 births 2017 deaths Date of birth missing Record producers from New Jersey Jazz record producers People from Jersey City, New Jersey