SAXOPHONIST DOUBLES AS LEADER, SIDE MAN : THE MANY SIDES OF BRANDON FIELDS

Saxophonist Brandon Fields has a split personality--career-wise, that is.

The 29-year-old hornman not only leads his own group but works for such top local ensembles as the Rippingtons, Billy Childs, Pat Kelley and “The Late Show” band.

“I like it like that, playing with a bunch of different people,” he said. “I want to play in as many bands as I can where I can experiment and where my input is important. I think that makes me a better player.”

Fields, who performs tonight and Saturday at Bon Appetit, favors environments “where the musicians or composers I’m working with want to hear me do more than do less, and I don’t have to always be the leader to get that,” he said while relaxing at his North Hollywood home.

“I’ve found that most studio projects require input. For example, on two ‘Jack and Mike’ sessions for (composer) Nan (Schwartz), I had no written notes; it was all improv. That’s a great feeling when a composer trusts you that much.”

First influenced by rhythm and blues music and later by hornmen like David Sanborn and Michael Brecker--who mix R&B; rhythms with jazz improvisation--Fields is most often called upon to play in a funky, contemporary style that, “while natural for me, is also challenging,” he said.

“I try to inject life into my solos, to make them feel fresh and interesting and still melodic. The rhythmic base varies from project to project,” as does the intensity needed in a solo.

“Some tunes are set up for a heavy improvisation, others are not,” he continued. “In some pop/fusion contexts, you have to be careful not to play too much stuff. You can overload a tune that’s not meant to be overloaded. If you have a strong ego, you might think, ‘I’m a good sax player, I have this ability, these chops, I want to get it all on this tape.’ Sometimes you have to put your ego in the backseat and think about the music first. So it’s more of a challenge for me to get what the composer wants and then also hope the composer respects my abilities enough to want my input.”

Another aspect of being a sideman is that it “eases the pressure of being a leader,” said Fields, who has a spirited manner of speaking that mirrors the enthusiasm of his playing. “I can feel more like a saxophonist and just take my horns and play, instead of having to organize everything, like the orchestrations, the sets, making sure everybody gets room to play, everything.”

When he leads his own band, Fields gets “to make a place where I can play what I don’t when I’m with somebody else.” When performing, he mixes it up between contemporary and mainstream styles.

Is it hard to go from a R&B-type; tune like “Bullfunk” (from his debut Nova LP, “The Other Side of the Story”) to a straight-ahead standard like “There Is No Greater Love”?

“Not as long as the band adjusts,” Fields said. “If the band stays at same level it played ‘Bullfunk’ when it plays an acoustic straight-ahead tune, then it will be hard. Usually, we adjust, and just flow into it.

“But if I play a straight-ahead tune, I try not to play in a certain period, say 1964 Miles (Davis), even though that was a tremendously influential period (in jazz). Rather, I try to be inspired by that period but bring it into the ‘80s. Play something now, with all your contemporary influences, but with respect to what’s gone before.”

One of the difficulties that Fields encounters in being a leader is not always being able to get the players he wants. This weekend, for example, his regular trumpeter and pianist, Walt Fowler and David Garfield, are on the road with George Benson, with whom Fields played for about a year.

“It’s kind of hard, jockeying positions,” he said. “I’m lucky in that there are a lot of top people to draw from. But since I have varying personnel, I have beefed up my book, so that we don’t play just my originals and run the risk of misinterpretation if we haven’t had a chance to rehearse.”

Fields, who grew up in Orange County, began woodwinds at age 10. “My parents brought home different horns from garage sales, and one day they bought a silver alto, and there was something about the instrument I liked right away,” he said.

After playing in dance bands in high school, Fields attended Cal State Fullerton for a year, then became a free-lancer, eventually appearing with the late Victor Feldman, Les Hooper and Benson. He moved to Los Angeles in 1982.

The saxophonist, who says that “music is the most natural expression of my emotions,” would be glad to become a full-time leader, if all the pieces were in place. “I know if I was out on the road with my own band in the right situation, with the right management, that would be fine,” he said. “I’m working toward that. I’m confident that will happen, just like everything has. It just takes time.”