Victor Fields's Page

In a display of tremendous ingenuity soulful vocalist Victor Fields is circumventing the normal channels of record promotion and distribution by taking his music directly to the fans. In collaboration with N5 Marketing and the N5 Street Team he is using his new sunset orange, shrink-wrapped van, eye-catchingly named the ‘VF Jazz Express’, to get the word out on his excellent discography.

Simply by calling 888-899-9100, all those who see the van, or receive a flyer from one of the Street Team, will get the chance to purchase all four of his CD’s for the price of three. Fields has named the promotion his ‘toll-free’ special. He intends to return each call personally and, for $29.99, autograph all four CD’s and add an autographed photo. This quartet of great albums comprises his 1998 debut release ‘Promise’ plus ‘52nd Street’, ‘Victor’ and his latest offering, the wonderful ‘Thinking Of You’ which, when I reviewed it last year, blew me away.

Indeed it is testimony to Fields talent and professionalism that some of the biggest stars in smooth jazz hurried in to perform on ‘Thinking Of You’ with him. It’s a collection bursting with standouts and the excellent Blackbyrds hit ‘Walking In Rhythm’ finds Fields gentle tones gelling faultlessly with the soulful sax of Richard Elliot. Equally compelling is the Stevie Wonder composition ‘Creepin’ where Elliot’s ARTizen stable-mate Rick Braun maintains the contemporary jazz mood with his atmospheric flugelhorn. Fields restrained handling of the Bill Withers classic ‘Lovely Day’ benefits from the cool Fender Rhodes of Jeff Lorber and its Lorber who also contributes two original songs to this smoothly soulful collection. The mid tempo ‘Its In Your Vibe’ is in the pocket from the get go and generates, as the title would suggest, a hugely hypnotic groove. It is a clear contender for best track on the album but just shading it is the stunning title track for which Lorber also provides a writing input. With Vince Lars massive on sax and a haunting chorus that gets in your head and won’t go away this sensuous chunk of chilled out mood music is a modern day quiet storm classic in the making.

Victor Fields 'VF Express' has already been seen on the streets of Los Angeles and the entire discography is also available at www.cdbaby.com. For more information and to get in on the Victor Fields phenomenon go to www.victorfields.com/.

**written by Denis Poole for www.smoothjazztherapy.com