2022 OK Blues Hall of Fame Inductees

Class of 2022:

Louis Pettit Jr.,Hadley Hockensmith, Mark Claybrook, Earl Day, Batiste Jones, Willie McGee,, Tommy Tripplehorn Victor Breashears, Steve ‘the Actor’ Kilman, Ernie Fields Jr.

OBHOF Schedule for Music on Sat the 28th of May

Ernie Fields Jr.

Ernie Fields Jr. has had an extensive career as a studio collaborator and occasionally as a solo musician. He dabbles with eclectic instruments, like the bagpipes, and in 2010 played the didgeridoo alongside “American Idol” runner-up Crystal Bowersox when they performed the Beatles’ “Come Together.”

Music rises above differences. That’s the experience of saxophonist and Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Fields Jr., whose late father, the bandleader and performer Ernie Fields Sr., was among the first to break the color barrier at Cain’s Ballroom.

Fields Jr. will return to his hometown from Los Angeles this month to perform his father’s music with the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College. “The Golden Age of Greenwood” nods to a period when R&B, soul and funk music were sprouting right here in Tulsa.

At the time of his induction into the OK Jazz Hall of Fame, they brought him in from his home in California. This story documents the trip. “We’ll be reproducing Dad’s music from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s,” Fields Jr. says. “The styles are different, and the instrumentation is a little different. People will get to hear live what was done back in those days.”

“Fields Jr. is bringing some impressive guest performers, too. “I’m bringing in four musicians from Los Angeles, including Rickey Minor,” he says. An Emmy Award-winning producer, director and composer, bassist Minor was the musical director and bandleader for Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show” and was the musical director for “American Idol.”

“A 1951 graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, 85-year-old Fields Jr. spent more than a decade as the music contractor for “American Idol,” booking session musicians to play during the show and recording songs for it himself.

“He credits his father, who died in 1997, for teaching him the music business. Fields Sr. gained widespread recognition when his band’s arrangement of “In the Mood” reached Top 10 on the Billboard pop charts in 1959. He toured nationwide and recorded in Los Angeles and New York at a time when segregation was the norm. The Ernie Fields Orchestra, with the encouragement of Fields Sr.’s friend Bob Wills, was among the first black bands to play at Cain’s Ballroom.

“It was about surviving and being able to perform and play and work in places he could make money,” Fields Jr. says.

“Bob Wills and other white producers were instrumental in the growth of Daddy’s music, and Daddy hired white musicians back in the day. Music integrates.”

Tommy Tripplehorn

Tripplehorn made a name for himself playing with Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Leon Russell and the famous group of L.A. studio musicians known as the “Wrecking Crew.”

His daughter, Jeanne Tripplehorn, is an accomplished actress.

Tommy Tripplehorn died in Tulsa after a short battle with cancer. He was 75 years old.

From inductee Homer Johnson:
“I tried to get Tommy to give me lessons for a couple of years. He finally got me hooked up with Dick Gordon Sr., who had taught him. I really admired Triplehorn’s R&B style and Bucky would get upset everytime I mentioned his name. Bucky had played a bit with Gary Lewis and the Playboys and never got the credit Tripplehorn recieved.”

Steve ‘the Actor’ Kilman

Steve ”the Actor” Kilman// guitar, vocals

From: San Bernardino CA.

Recordings: Johnny Dyer & the L.A. Jukes, William Clarke’s Tip of the Top, Rod Piazza’s So Glad to have the Blues

Accomplishments: Recorded on three L.P.’s Nominated for Best Album of the year W.C. Handy Awards, Tip of the Top Won Best Album of the Year W.C. Handy Award, Tip of the Top also had a single (Must Be Jelly) that was nominated for Best Single of the year in the Blues Category Grammy Awards.

Write Ups: Guitar Player Magazine, Living Blues Magazine, Los Angeles Times and many others nationally and internationally.

Preformed with such Blues greats as: Big Joe Turner, Willie Mae (Big Mama Thornton), Willie Dixon, Lowell Fulsom, Paul Butterfield, Rod Piazza, William Clarke, Charles Musselwhite, James Harmen, Pee Wee Crayton, Eddy (Cleanhead) Vencent, Jr. Watson, Hollywood Fats, Ronnie Earl, Anson Funderburgh, Shakey Jake, Smokey Wilson, David (Kid) Ramos, and many more.

Festivals: Los Angeles Blues Festival 3 times, San Diego Blues Festival Twice, Orange County Blues Festival Twice, Long Beach Blues Festival 3 times, San Francisco Blues Festival Twice, Riverside West Coast Blues Festival 3 times, Tulsa Blues Festival 3 times, Bixby Blues & B.B.Q. twice, Dusk till Dawn Blues Festival 4 times

Mark Claybrook

Mark Claybrook worked tirelessly to bring the entire Rentiesville Blues Festival in 2020 to you tube and later to master 65 of D.C. Minner and Selby Minner’s original tunes for YouTube. Mobile Audio Labs is his business. He was also chosen guitarist of the year in Tulsa many years ago, over Steve Pryor.