LAST OF THE GREAT COCKTAIL PIANISTS: An Interview with Irving Fields

Irving Fields is the author of hit songs like “Miami Beach Rhumba” and “Managua, Nicaragua.”  As the leader of the Irving Fields Trio, he’s cut dozens of albums, including 1959’s classic “Judeo-Latino” fusion album, Bagels And Bongos.  He’s played concerts everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Indian palaces.  But in New York City, Fields is a legend – the last of the great cocktail pianists who tickled the ivories in bars, nightclubs and hotels in Manhattan during the ‘40s and ‘50s.  At age 94, Irving is still at it, playing piano at Nino’s Tuscany on West 58th St. six nights a week. In this interview, he talks about his eight decades of playing in New York, from Prohibition to the heyday of the craft bar. Read interview here...

When you started working professionally, in the early ‘30s, what was the nightlife like in Manhattan? I started my career during the Great Depression, when it was tough for everyone to get work, including musicians. But there were also many more places in the city for musicians to work than there are today. I usually wore a full tuxedo. That was the uniform then. I don’t think you’d be let into a lot of places back then if you weren’t wearing black tie, or an evening gown if you were a lady. Nobody even wore suits. And the crap that people wear today, they would look like homeless people back then!

Do you remember any of your early gigs in particular? I played at the Hickory House, which was one of the best steakhouses in New York, when I was just a kid – in fact, I think it was during Prohibition. Of course, nobody paid attention to that! It seemed like everyone drank even more during Prohibition than when it was legal again. The Hickory House had a huge oval bar, and there was a platform in the middle for the musicians to play. I’d come out in white tie and tails and play classical music. Another early job I had was at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, in 1936. The club was called The Amen Corner. It was a casual-type lounge with a piano, and people would walk over and sit down for a while and listen to the music and talk. It was a very class, society-type job, and a lot of celebrities came in. I still remember seeing Bette Davis, all dolled up for the evening, looking just like she did onscreen. She was gorgeous!

How was the bar scene different from how it is now? Well, in the ‘40s and ‘50s you had the big nightclubs, where you’d drink and eat and see a show all in one place. But almost every place, no matter how small, they had live entertainment – singers or musicians or comedians or what have you. West 52nd St. had a strip with literally dozens of nightclubs and restaurants, one after the other, on both sides of the street. You could spend a whole night – a whole week, even – just walking up and down that strip, going into all the different clubs, getting a drink or a bite to eat and enjoying the music.

There are still a few of the old-fashioned places in New York City, like Feinstein’s, the Algonquin, and the Carlyle, as well as Joe’s Pub downtown. You go there to eat, drink and hear music. They’re much more expensive than nightclubs used to be, but thank goodness they’re still there.

You were the first musician to use the piano-bass-drums lineup that became ubiquitous in cocktail lounges.  How did you come upwith the idea? When I was in Special Services in the Army during World War II, I wanted to get a full band. But the only musicians available were a bassist and a percussionist who played drums as well as bongos. So I worked with them, and I liked the sound so much that I kept that lineup after I got out of the army. Before then, it had been piano and guitar or violin and bass. The King Cole Trio didn’t have a drummer, Benny Goodman’s trio didn’t have a bass, and so on. Today, when you go to a club or a cocktail lounge and see a trio, you expect to see piano, bass and drums. I’m very proud of that.

How do you tailor your piano playing for a cocktail lounge as opposed to, say, a nightclub or a concert hall? It has to work as background music, so people don’t have to listen if they want to talk. But if they do want to listen, it has to be played so that people will enjoy listening, and take an interest in what you’re playing. And you have to have a beat that’s easy to dance to. You can’t get too far out – you have to start each song sticking to the melody, and then you can play around with it. But people need to recognize the song before you start improvising. Some of these kids, I hear them, I don’t even know what song they’re playing.

What are some of the most memorable experiences you’ve had playing a cocktail bar? I’ll tell you maybe the most memorable one. This was at the Crest Room on East 56th, where my trio really became popular. This is around 1946. My normal working hours there were 10 PM to 3 AM. That night, it was 3:00 in the morning and the place was still jumping. I was packing up when a man came over to me. He’d been a fan of mine for many years, a nice, quiet gentleman, and he was very intoxicated. He came very close to me, and he said, kind of slurring, “You’re not quitting now, are you?” I said, “I play from 10 to 3, my set’s over.”

“I wan’ ya to play now!” And he sticks a gun in my belly! At first I thought it was a toy gun, but it was the real thing. And this guy was drunk. Well, I sat down and played another half hour. When I was done, he gave me a kiss on the cheek and a $100 bill. Turns out he was an off-duty detective who had his gun with him. The next time he came in, I mentioned it, and he gets all flustered and says, “I don’t remember doing that!” But I sure remembered it!

What was your favorite place to play? I loved the Palm Court at the Plaza, and the Room With A View at the Park Lane. I certainly love playing at Nino’s Tuscany, where I’ve been since 2004. But my trio worked for sixteen years – 1950 to 1966 – at The Mermaid Room in the Park Sheraton Hotel. It was called The Mermaid Room because it had four terra cotta mermaids on the walls. It was a wonderful, wonderful place to play. I met just about every celebrity there that you can imagine. Edward G. Robinson would come in all the time and ask me to play Viennese waltzes, in a soft, erudite voice that was nothing like what he sounded like in his movies. Eleanor Roosevelt came in once, and during a break she came over to me and said, “You know, I think it’s disgusting that the mermaids are bare-breasted. I think they should be covered. I’m going to speak to the manager.” And sure enough, the next day, the management put Hawaiian leis over those mermaids’ breasts!

Why do you think pianos are so popular in cocktail lounges? Here’s my theory. When you play the trumpet, you can’t talk to anybody. When you play the violin, you can’t really go, “Hello there, how are you!” But a piano player uses his fingers, so he can talk, you can kiss him on the cheek while he’s playing … and piano players, even in movies, have always been the romantic type. A piano is a beautiful instrument. The pianist can show emotion with his face, and he can talk or sing while playing. Even at my age, I’ve got girls kissing me. At those times it’s very difficult to play the piano. But somehow I’ve managed!

What’s your favorite cocktail? I love a good martini, I enjoy vodka tonics, and the bartender at Nino’s makes great margaritas. But my favorite drink, and the first drink I ever had, is a Scotch stinger – Scotch with crème de menthe. At one of my first jobs, one of the regulars wanted me to have a drink with him. I’d never had a drink before, so when the bartender gave us Scotch-and-sodas, I blurted out, “This tastes like medicine!” Everybody at the bar heard it. This was during Prohibition, so they thought there was something wrong with the Scotch, and a bunch of them left. The bartender was so mad at me that he gave me another one and slipped a Mickey Finn in there – horse laxative! Every ten minutes I was in the bathroom, the rest of the night.

The next night, I was back to play, and the bartender said, “Hey kid, I’m sorry I had to do that. But I’ll tell you what – I’ll put in something that’ll make the Scotch taste better.” He put crème de menthe in with the Scotch, and I fell in love with the drink. And I still drink it at 94 years of age!

What have been some of your most requested songs?  Have they changed much over the years? When I first started out professionally, things like “Stardust,” or “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.” The songs of George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers. Today, I also get requests for Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Billy Joel, the Beatles, things like that. But the great standards are still what’s popular today, in 2010. All the songs that were written in those days, you could remember the songs. Thank goodness we had a Sinatra, because young people today are still discovering him, and that’s how they learn about the standards. The old music lives on thanks to him.