[Dixielandjazz] Sweet Fields

[Bruce Stangeland]

Ken

I found an old hymn byt Wm. B. Burke in an 1882 publication "Sweet 
Fields of Eden; for the Sabbath School". 
<http://books.google.com/books?id=T_F5Kfn93Z4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22Sweet+fields+of+eden%22&source=bl&ots=06-WYT0hFj&sig=kKF1RHgJFV08GGHOCaFiTOo1cEU&hl=en&ei=NCKwS-OWJIWqsgOHmLz9Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22in%20the%20sweet%20fields%20of%20eden%22&f=false>
On p. 79 is the tune "In The Sweet Fields of Eden".

Is this the tune you're seeking?
I don't know anything about its use in trad jazz.

Cheers,
Bruce Stangeland
Berkeley banjoist

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Message: 17
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 07:36:55 -0700
From: "Ken Gates" <kwg28 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Dixieland Jazz" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Sweet Fields
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I'm trying to track down when and where "Sweet Fields" was
introduced into the trad jazz songlist.  I assume a hymn source.  
The earliest recording I can find is the Eureka Brass Band in the
mid 1950s.  I found only one mention on a Ken Colyer recording
of 1957.  A google search of black gospel makes reference to a
hymn of Isaac Watts (early 1700s vintage) with the words  "Sweet
Fields". in it ---but I can find no hymn with the title of "Sweet Fields"
I can only conjecture that Ken Colyer brought it to the trad jazz scene 
when he returned from his adventure in New Orleans. 

Anybody have information?

Ken Gates