Sam Fields, 55; Noted DJ Brought Blues Influences to Jazz Stations

Sam Fields, a disc jockey at KKJZ-FM (88.1) who had been bringing his blues-influenced taste in jazz to the Los Angeles airwaves since 1972, has died. He was 55.

Fields, who did not show up for his Thursday afternoon shift at the radio station, was found dead by police Friday at his North Hollywood home. No other details were immediately available.

“It’s a terrible shock and loss,” said Saul Levine, the president and general manager of KMZT-FM (105.1) who gave Fields his first break in jazz radio at the pioneering KBCA-FM in 1972. “He contributed so much to the field of jazz.”

His taste in music was “never wavering and instantly recognizable,” said Payal Kumar, broadcast director at KKJZ-FM, which is based at Cal State Long Beach. “There was nobody better.”

“People always commented on Sam’s choice in music, and how it elevated the station as a whole,” she said.

When Levine finally had an opening for a disc jockey, he couldn’t locate Fields’ contact information. Instead, he found Fields working behind the counter at a deli on West 3rd Street and said, “I have a job for you.”

Fields was also heard on other local radio stations, including KROQ, KLAC and KMET. His personal jazz favorites included Wes Montgomery, Bud Powell, Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter and Horace Silver.

Fields, who was a private man, never showed anger or dissatisfaction, Levine said.

“He was one of the nicest persons we ever had working with us,” he said.

When KKJZ-AM switched to classical music in 1990, the Long Beach station, which was then KLON-FM, hired Fields and another of its jazz institutions, Chuck Niles, who died last year.

Reached during his first shift in 1990, Fields told The Times, “It’s a little bit different, but I’m enjoying it.” A Jimmy Smith number was playing in the background.

Fields’ survivors include two sisters, a brother, a niece and a nephew.