{"id":4216,"date":"2017-08-02T09:52:58","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T09:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/?p=4216"},"modified":"2026-02-03T15:10:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T15:10:05","slug":"pianist-irving-fields-mixed-bagels-bongos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rsa.fau.edu\/blog\/events-general-interest\/pianist-irving-fields-mixed-bagels-bongos\/","title":{"rendered":"Pianist Irving Fields Mixed Bagels and Bongos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two weeks after his 101th birthday, pianist and composer Irving Fields passed away August 20, 2016 in Manhattan. He was perhaps the longest working musician in the world. At the age of hundred, he used to play the piano several nights a week at Nino\u2019s Tuscany restaurant in Manhattan. Irving Fields became known by fusing Jewish tunes, jazz, and popular songs with Latin music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born as Isidore Schwartz in 1915 New York City to Jewish immigrants, Irving Fields started working as a pianist in the thirties during the years of the Great Depression. In this time of high unemployment, he started playing piano in resort hotels in the Catskills Mountains, and then he found work as a pianist on cruise ships sailing from New York to Havana, capital city of Cuba. In Havana, Irving Fields listened to the great Cuban orchestras, and developed his love for Latin music. Attracted by pictures from palm trees and beaches in travel magazines, Irving decided to settle in Miami Beach and performed in hotels playing dinner music, and did sessions with local orchestras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After joining the army, he began the Irving Fields Trio, with a bass and a drummer, and started composing his own songs. In 1947, his song Miami Beach Rhumba<\/a><\/strong> became a big success by versions of Kay Kyser, Freddy Martin, Carmen Miranda, and even by the popular band leader Xavier Cugat<\/span><\/strong><\/a>. During the Latin craze trend in the 40s, Irving Fields was at the right time and place, and soon Miami Beach Rhumba was followed by the number one hit song Managua, Nicaragua<\/a><\/strong> (1947) recorded by big band leader Guy Lombardo, and ten years later by Chantez-Chantez<\/strong><\/a> (1957) by singer Dinah Shore.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Album<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In 1959, the Irving Fields Trio recorded the album Bagels and Bongos<\/strong><\/a> blending popular Jewish tunes with Latin rhythms such as Bei Mir Bist Du Sch\u00f6n as a mambo, Havannah Negila a paso doble, and I Love You Much Too Much a rhumba. The album became a big hit all over the world, and was followed by the albums More Bagels and Bongos (1960), Pizzas and Bongos (Italian traditionals), Champagne and Bongos (with French standards), and Bikinis and Bongos (with Hawaiian music). Every song was mixed with a Latin beat, which turned out to be a story of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the success with his trio in the sixties, Irving Fields went back working as a solo pianist on cruise ships again, where he sailed the whole world, and finally settled as a music entertainer in restaurants, from 2004 six nights a week in Nino\u2019s Tuscany, Manhattan. This would become the place, where he started his second career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last decade, several films appeared about Fields playing piano on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>. These films form a good impression of his talent, wisdom, and humor. Although Irving Fields was not a user of a computer or the Internet, he did compose the YouTube<\/strong><\/a> theme song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n