Jim Fielder had a tangential role with several major 1960s Californian rock acts before settling into the one which brought him the most recognition, as the bass player for
Blood, Sweat & Tears during their most popular years. In the mid-'60s,
Fielder was bass player in
the Bohemians, whose lead singer was
Tim Buckley. As a result of
Fielder meeting
Mothers of Invention drummer
Jimmy Carl Black,
the Bohemians were introduced to
Mothers' manager
Herbie Cohen, who also took on
the Bohemians.
The Bohemians made demos that attracted the interest of
Jac Holzman at Elektra Records, but Elektra wanted
Buckley as a solo artist, not with
the Bohemians. There were no hard feelings, and in fact,
Fielder plays some of the bass on
Buckley's first pair of Elektra LPs, Tim Buckley and
Goodbye and Hello.
He briefly passed through
the Mothers of Invention (possibly as a result of the
Cohen connection) before joining
Buffalo Springfield on bass, replacing
Ken Koblun (who had only been in for a few weeks, to replace original bassist
Bruce Palmer). Just a few months later,
Fielder was out, when Palmer (who had left in part because of threats of deportation) came back to California from Canada and rejoined.
Fielder does play bass on one track on Buffalo Springfield Again, the jazzy "Everydays." He was also the bass player for
Blood, Sweat & Tears, from their inception through the early '70s, a period which saw them land all of their major hit singles and albums. He went on to play on albums by
Gene Clark,
Chris Hillman,
Al Kooper, and
Mary McCaslin, and become a session player in Nashville.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi