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james 'jim' fielder
jim fielder played bass and guitar with the mothers of invention from fall 1966 through february 1967.
random notes
born: oct 4, 1947 in denton, tx
worked with: blood sweat & tears, tim buckley, al kooper, buffalo springfield, mary mccaslin, neil sedaka, chris hillman.
from: charles ulrich
jim fielder played 12-string guitar with the moi from fall '66 through february
19, 1967, when he left to play bass (again) for the springfield.
from: frank zappa
source: hit parader,
no. 48, june 1968, pages 27, 38-39.
just before we fired elliot we had a six-piece band because we had hired billy
mundi and we had two drummers. then we hired don preston, who plays keyboard
instruments - electric piano, electric clavichord, etc. we also hired bunk
gardner who plays several various horns, and jim fielder on bass.
from
splat
it would seem jim fielder also played 12-string guitar, uncredited, on at least
one track on absolutely free.
from: craig jones (good_king_zog@msn.com.au)
i qoute fz from a 1971 bbc radio interview with michael wail, when asked who played on the duke of prunes:
"don preston; electric clavicord and fender piano played with mallets... billy mundi; drums... jimmy carl black; timpani... bunk gardner; bassoon and soprano saxophone... jim fielder; 12-string guitar... ray collins and myself.. and roy estrada on vocals. i was playing guitar, and roy estrada was playing bass."
from: splat@darkwing.uoregon.edu
what were the terms of jim fielder's departure from the mothers? what i found was a mention in a downbeat interview with steve katz (may 11th, 1972) that jim was "the bassist they'd (bs&t) lured away from frank zappa's mothers of invention, for whom he played rhythm guitar". so it would seem he left of his own accord, as opposed to being let go.
from: arnon palty
he played w/ zappa's mothers and even though his name does not appear on the credits, his facial photo appears on the front cover of the "absolutely free" album/cd. (he's there right in the middle,all smilin') after that he joined bst and the rest is all known as one of the best chapters of e bass history.
from: craig jones (good_king_zog@msn.com.au)
further to this, an interview in guitar player from april 1971 has fielder saying that he was with the moi for 5 months, & then after one semester at college, went on to play bass with buffalo springfield for 4 months. if anyone knows when he went over to join stills & co, please let us know the date. we can then count backwards & see how early into 1966 jim fielder joined the mothers.
from:
(unknown) / forum: bass guitar discussion forum / date:
mon, 16 feb 1998 14:35:43 gmt
i remember buckley and fielder as an orange county, ca garage band in the
mid-60’s. (we went to the same high school - loara high in anaheim. jim was
ranked at the top of his class in science and math but followed the musical beat
instead.) they would set up and practice in jim’s garage. great music but the
neighbors would generally call the police with a noise complaint.
several years later, remember reading in down beat magazine that jim was ranked
as one of the great bass players of the year.
from: bruce ponsar / forum: bass guitar discussion forum / date: mon, 12 apr 1999 03:06:56 gmt
when my brother and i wanted to learn guitar, we found an earnest young man
named jim fielder, who was still living at home in anaheim, california. he would
come to our house, and teach us both in the same session for $15 for the half
hour. although we were not great students, we just enjoyed listening to him play
a few rifts at the end of the lessons (greensleaves was a favorite).
when my brother, brian, entered his freshman year at orange high, he was
able to get jim and his band, the bohemians, a gig at a school dance.
eventually, we stopped taking lessons, but kept tabs on jim. we heard he was
playing for tim buckley, then with buffalo springfield, then, of course,
bs&t.
we saw him once more in 1969 at the troubador in hollywood, after their first
release with al cooper. by then al had left the group. we were able to visit a
few minutes with him in his dressing room (such as it was) at the end of the
loft.
i have often wondered what happened to him, but found out he has been with neil
sedaka's band for 26 years. if anyone knows how i can reach him, i'd sure
appreciate it. -bruce ponsar
discography:
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