Oklahoma Musicians

Jazz history

Clarence Dixon

Tulsa Jazz, Voices of Oklahoma's Washington Rucker interview, The Oklahoma Eagle, and a Texas newspaper archive identify Clarence Dixon as the drummer who anchored Ernie Fields's band in the late 1930s and 1940s and mentored Tulsa drummer Washington Rucker. The detailed Hall-affiliated profile says Dixon moved from Texas to Tulsa in elementary school, attended a Tulsa high school, joined Fields in 1931, toured widely, and ranked No. 2 in the 1940 Down Beat drummer poll.

Oklahoma connection

Independent local journalism and oral history establish the Tulsa/South Haven connection and his role in the Ernie Fields Orchestra.

Musical work and relationships

Drummer; Ernie Fields Orchestra; mentor to Washington Rucker; 1940 Down Beat poll context.

Hall of Fame account

The Hall catalog lists Clarence Dixon as an R&B vocalist inducted in 1998.

Evidence and remaining questions

The Hall catalog role says vocalist while independent sources consistently describe Dixon as a drummer; preserve both claims and flag the catalog-role mismatch.

Sources

  1. tulsajazz.wordpress.com/2013/07/06/oklahoma-jazz-hall-of-fame-presents-washington-rucker/
  2. voicesofoklahoma.com/interviews/rucker-washington/
  3. theokeagle.com/2021/12/12/from-tulsa-to-broadway-and-back/
  4. texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1846361/m1/14/
  5. jazzdepotlive.com/portfolio/clarence-dixon-1998/
  6. www.okjazz.org/inductees/