{"id":717,"date":"2013-07-18T01:13:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T01:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesupperclubbook.com\/?p=717"},"modified":"2013-07-18T01:33:30","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T01:33:30","slug":"the-oldest-supper-club-piano-player-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesupperclubbook.com\/?p=717","title":{"rendered":"The Oldest Supper Club Piano Player in America"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Irving+Fields+Trio+Irving+Fields-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NEW YORK, N.Y..—Irving Fields touches the soul when he plays the piano at Nino\u2019s Tuscany, 117 W. 58th St, a block from Central Park.<\/p>\n

It was a mellow Thursday night in late July, 2012 and Fields was dealing out songs like \u201cSentimental Journey\u201d and \u201cAs Time Goes By.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was appropriate stuff.<\/p>\n

At age 96, Fields was the oldest piano player in New York.
\n\u201cI\u2019m the oldest piano player anywhere,\u201d he crowed during a break a month before his 97th\u00a0 birthday.<\/p>\n

He turns 98 years old on Aug. 4, 2013.<\/p>\n

You might say he plays in the keys of black and Betty White.<\/p>\n

Fields is regarded as the father of \u201cThe Supper Club Trio\u201d sound in New York City. \u201cA traditional trio was violin, guitar and a piano,\u201d he said. \u201cI pioneered a new supper club trio sound of drums, piano and bass. Because you could play dance music that way. We didn\u2019t play loud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played the El Morocco Supper Club (154 E. 54th St., filled with blue zebra stripes). The Latin Quarter was a nightclub. Supper clubs were more exclusive and more action on the food. Nightclubs were more action on the entertainment. When I was at the Mermaid Room of the Park Sheraton Hotel (1950 to 1968) it was a piano bar, but we had 250 people around the bar. My trio was on a pedestal that turned around slowly so people could see every angle of the piano. I was broadcast on coast to coast radio three times a week on CBS Mutual. From there I went to Las Vegas and played the Sands, the Thunderbird, and the Flamingo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played the Copacabana, I would call that a nightclub because they had tremendous entertainment. But they had great food. At midnight they would have Chinese food because people got hungry from drinking so much. Jilly\u2019s was a combination of a supper club and a hang out. Sinatra went there all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jilly\u2019s ran from 1952 until the mid-1970s at 256 W. 52nd at Eighth Avenue. The club was named after the late Jilly Rizzo, who was Sinatra\u2019s best friend and body guard. It was a narrow 20-seat saloon and supper club that also attracted Johnny Carson, Quincy Jones, the Kennedy clan and Marilyn Monroe.
\nThose are just desserts.<\/p>\n

A dinner table anchored with a \u201cReserved for Sinatra\u201d sign defined the rear of the restaurant. The chairman enjoyed the Chinese cuisine of Chef Howie Yee. He cooked out of a wok in the tavern\u2019s basement and Sinatra always ordered chow mein.<\/p>\n

Fields looked around the intimate Nino\u2019s and said, \u201cI would call this an elegant supper club, yes I would. But it is open for lunch. I could never understand why they called them supper clubs. If you have supper, what about dinner? Why don\u2019t you call it a dinner club?<\/p>\n

“Maybe supper is a nice name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nino\u2019s is a popular steakhouse around Central Park. Fields performed on a Yamaha piano in front of a framed painting of a cow. Slabs of steaks were in the front window. Fields has always had good luck with food. In 1959 he sold more than 2 million copies of \u201cBagels & Bongos,\u201d which he recorded with his trio for Decca Records. So, in 1960 he recorded \u201cMore Bagels & Bongos\u201d and later the Latin-tinged \u201cBikinis and Bongos.\u201d Fields even set \u201cBei Mir Bist Du Schoren\u201d to a Mambo beat.<\/p>\n

\"R-3799771-1344897117-5045\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His muse was the Cuban bandleader Xavier Cugat (1900-1990).\u00a0 \u201cHe came to her me and he starts talking to me in Spanish,\u201d Fields recalled. \u201c I say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry I don\u2019t speak Spanish.\u2019 So he says, \u2018You are not Cuban? You are not Puerto Rican? You play like a Cuban. He thought I was Cuban because I played authentic Latin music. I was in Havana in 1946 and went crazy about Latin music. I was on a cruise ship. I was on RCA Victor. I recorded \u2018Miami Beach Rhumba\u2019 which Woody Allen has in many movies. Then I wrote \u2018Managua Nicaragua.\u2019 Guy Lombardo and Freddy Martin had number one hits with \u201cManagua Nicaragua,\u201d which Fields wrote from the appetizing riff of the Cuban classic \u201cThe Peanut Vendor,\u201d popularized in 1947 by Stan Kenton.<\/p>\n

Fields said he knows thousands of songs and has recorded more than 80 albums. His fans included Barbara Walters, Regis Philbin and Donald Trump. The big-haired real estate mogul delivered a blurb for Fields\u2019 2012 memoir \u201cThe Melody of My Life\u201d ($24.98; www.irvingfields.net.) The Donald wrote in part, \u201cIrving has said that work is a blessing, especially when you like your work. He loves his work……\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald is my friend,\u201d Fields said with New York pride. \u201cHe sends me letters. He says I\u2019m his favorite piano player. Tony Bennett comes in. He goes straight to the back and has dinner without any fanfare. I play all his songs. The physical set up of this place is not like doing a show. When I do a show or concert my act is like Victor Borge. I sing, I tell jokes. Here I don\u2019t sing. Who is going to hear it? Most people can\u2019t see me. This is an intimate place. I play requests. This place calls for piano music. My favorite song is not my favorite request. My favorite song is \u2018The Pearl Fishers.\u2019 I make the piano sound like a mandolin. I trill it. You think you are in Italy. The Pearl Fishers\u2019 is an aria from the (Georges Bizet) opera.\u201d<\/p>\n