JERRY FIELDS
 Drumset/Percussion/Composition/Education.
 

Welcome to the Website of Percussionist/Drum Set Artist & Educator Jerry Fields. 

  Known as a total Percussionist, Passionate Educator & Lifelong Learner, Jerry Fields is the Music Director & Timbalero/Drum Set Artist of the Afro-Cuban Jazz ensemble, Vecinos Del Mundo(Neighbors of the World). Vecinos del Mundo has shared the stage with Latin Jazz giants: Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez and Eddie Palmieri. Collaborations with legendary Latin Jazz sidemen & band leaders; Ray Vega, Mitch Frohman, Bernie Miñoso & Michael Phillip Mossman, have afforded these stalwarts of Latin Jazz “Guest Artist” billing with Atlanta based Vecinos del Mundo. “A Tribute to Tito Puente was one notable collaboration orchestrated and lead by Fields.

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  In addition to Latin Jazz, Jerry also has served as the Music Director, Composer, Arranger & Percussionist  for the Atlanta based Calo Gitano Flamenco Dance Theater Company as well has his flamenco fusion group, ¿Qué Compás?

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     Fields also performs regularly as a drum set artist. The 1999 National Flute Convention afforded Jerry the opportunity to accompany popular jazz saxophonists Nelson Rangel, Irish flautist, Brian Dunning, and Peruvian Flute Phenomena Pablo Acosta. 

  Touring the United States in the Early 70’s, as a Columbia Records recording artist and member of the legendary, Hampton Grease Band, Mr. Fields performed at numerous “mega pop festivals’ as well as clubs and concert halls including the Fillmore East. These performances gave Fields the opportunity to share the stage with Frank Zappa, Dave Brubeck, The Grateful Dead, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Captain Beefheart, Led Zeppelin, Bette Midler and the Tony Williams Lifetime, among others.

 

  As a  “total percussionist”,  Jerry Fields is versed in various styles of World Music including: African, Brazilian Flamenco, Greek, Japanese, Klezmer and Middle Eastern styles. His love and passion for the music of India has given him the opportunity to perform multiple times in World Music Unleashed, a series of East/West Fusion concerts produced by tabla maestro Gourisankar Karmakar. As an “orchestral percussionist”, Fields has performed with The Atlanta Chamber Players, Thamyris, a 20th Century chamber music ensemble, and various Georgia based orchestras. In 2021, Jerry was afforded the opportunity to be a part of the Jazz trio that accompanied Christina Smith, principle flautist with the ASO, for a stellar performance of the Claude Bolling Suite for flute and Jazz piano As a “theatrical pit percussionist”, Jerry has performed in a countless musicals performing on drumset, timpani, xylophone and other orchestral percussion instruments.

Jerry earned a Bachelor of Music in Classical Percussion Performance, Summa Cum Laude, from Kennesaw State University (1993) as a non-traditional student. Postgraduate studies include studying marimba privately under the tutelage of Gordon Stout, Ithaca College, and Nancy Zeltsman, Princeton. Over the years, Fields has studied tabla with: Badal Roy, the late Colin Walcott, Radheshyam Sharma, Aloke Dutta, Pandit Shankar Ghosh and Gourisankar Karmakar and the pre-eminent tabla player of our time,Pandit Yogesh Samsi.

Jerry is a generous and passionate teacher. For the last 5 years Jerry has been the director of percussion at the Mount Vernon School. In addition to his percussion mentoring and coaching of percussion students at Mount Vernon, Fields also designed and taught a course at Mount Vernon called: Music, Food & Culture. As the facilitator of this relevant course, Jerry hosted Pandit Yogesh Samsi who performed an incredible tabla solo at the Sandy Springs Arts Center. Violinist, Indradeep Ghosh, Vocalist< Brajeswar Mukherjee & tabla maestro, Gourishankar Karmakar performed at the Mount Vernon School and shared their knowledge with strings players, vocalists and percussionists at Mount Vernon. Jerry recently conducted a tabla masterclass at the Rialto Theater before the performance of Anoushka Shankar which was real received by laymen and aficionados alike.

     

    

 Touring the United States in the Early 70’s, as a Columbia Records recording artist and member of the legendary, Hampton Grease Band, Mr. Fields performed at numerous “mega pop festivals’ as well as clubs and concert halls including the Fillmore East. These performances gave Fields the opportunity to share the stage with Frank Zappa, Dave Brubeck, The Grateful Dead, the MahaVishnu Orchestra, Captain Beefheart, Led Zeppelin, Bette Midler and the Tony Williams Lifetime, among others. 

 Presently, Jerry Fields can be found performing on drum set and percussion in support of Summit Jazz recording artist, Ted Howe’s, critically acclaimed album, Ellington as well as Elton Exposed also released on Summit Jazz.

    A love and knowledge of world music gives Fields the opportunity to perform regularly with Oye Klezmer, Passion Flamenca, New Orleans flamenco ensemble, Ven Pa Ca, and New York based flamenco guitarist & vocalist, Christian Puig. Jerry is also a regular performer with local & regional Greek, Bulgarian & Cajun ensembles. Fields currently serves as music director/percussionist for Taksim a Middle Eastern Fusion dance ensemble.

     Field’s love for flamenco culminated in Flamenco Dreams, a show produced by Fields, featuring dancer Ulrika Frank and guitarist\vocalist Maria Temo both of Washington DC. (2005). In addition, Jerry performs regularly as a leader and flamenco sideman throughout the United States. He has accompanied and collaborated with renowned flamenco dancers: Antonio Vargas, Antonio Hidalgo Paz, Manolo Punto, Barbara Brenton and La Meira as well as the aforementioned, Ulrika Frank. Guitarists, Arturo Martinez, Ricardo Diaz, Maria Temo and vocalists, Javier Heredia, Chayito Champion and Alfonso Cid have all called on Fields to accompany & collaborate with them.

    A total percussionist, Jerry’s orchestral experience includes an 11-year tenure as principle timpanist for the Cobb Symphony Orchestra. Jerry now serves as timpanist for the John’s Creek Symphony. In addition, Fields has performed with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, Atlanta Chamber Players, 20th Century Chamber Music Ensemble, Thamyris, the Kokopelli Consort and Consonare, on marimba, drum set, orchestral percussion & various world percussion instruments. Four Stories a mallet keyboard/guitar duet written for Fields and guitarist Mary Akerman, by Keith Runfola, is currently available from Penn Oak Press.   

Jerry Fields

Percussion & Drum Set

 

As an theatrical pit percussionist, Jerry has performed in a countless number of musicals including: Bring It On, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Evita, Oliver, Cabaret, Little Shop Of Horrors, Sophisticated Ladies, and a myriad of others. 

Comedians Nipsey Russell and Joan Rivers & singers, Julie Budd, the legendary Marilyn Mae & Clint Holmes have also been ably accompanied by Fields. 

     

In addition to private lessons, Jerry also conducts summer camps for percussionists and rhythm section players of all levels. His expertise in a myriad of musical genres has made Jerry a popular clinician at local and regional high schools and colleges. Fields is a regular clinician at the Atlanta International School teaching tabla and world music rhythm classes each semester. Classes and individual coaching in Absolute Flamenco Rhythm, a system of flamenco notation and exercises designed by Fields, are currently offered in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast. These empowering classes have proved to be extremely beneficial for dancers and instrumentalists alike.

 

 

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