People and their bands · September 11, 2026

Ernie Fields and the Royal Entertainers

Before the later Ernie Fields Orchestra, the Royal Entertainers formed part of Fields’s Tulsa story.

OHS and OKPOP identify the Royal Entertainers as Ernie Fields's early Tulsa ensemble after his 1924 Tuskegee graduation. The Oklahoma Eagle names David Duncan as a member and arranger in early 1928 and Harold Eiler as a tenor saxophonist. Later book and interview sources describe regional touring and performances at Cain's Ballroom and the Tulsa Club. These are retrospective accounts; exact engagement dates, the complete roster and the transition to the later Ernie Fields Orchestra remain unresolved. Taft is Fields's upbringing, not an established home base of this band.

Following the people

Retrospective accounts connect Fields with musicians including arranger David Duncan and tenor saxophonist Harold Eiler. Their names offer starting points for deeper research, with each date and role tied to its source. They do not establish a complete roster.

Read the band’s qualified historical profile · Explore names in the historical record

Sources and what remains open

• Oklahoma Historical Society — Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture — Fields, Ernie
• OKPOP Museum — Ernie Fields Collection — From the Vault
• The Oklahoma Eagle — Ernie Fields, Sr.: Jazz Icon, Trailblazer, Tulsa Loyalist
• University of Oklahoma Press — Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band
• Public Radio Tulsa / University of Tulsa — Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big Band

The early band’s exact formation and endpoint, dated engagements and transition to the later orchestra remain unresolved. Historical full names on this page do not change the first-name-only policy for contemporary oral-history interviewees.