Editing Larry Shields (section)

==Background==
Shields was born into an Irish-American<ref name="jazzconnection">{{cite web|last = Raeburn|first = Bruce|title = Jazz and the Italian Connection|url = http://odjb.com/JazzItalianConnection.htm|accessdate = 2008-12-24|url-status = dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090221032153/http://www.odjb.com/JazzItalianConnection.htm|archivedate = 2009-02-21}}
</ref> family in Uptown [[New Orleans]], on the same block where jazz pioneer [[Buddy Bolden]] lived.  Shields' family were musical; his brothers [[Harry Shields|Harry]], Pat (guitar), and Eddie (piano) all played music professionally.

Shields started playing clarinet when he was 14 and played with [[Papa Jack Laine]]'s bands.  He was one of the early New Orleans musicians to go to [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], first heading north in the summer of 1915 to join [[Bert Kelly (jazz musician)|Bert Kelly]]'s band, then with [[Tom Brown (trombonist)|Tom Brown]]'s band, before joining the [[Original Dixieland Jass Band]] (ODJB) in November 1916.  The following year that band made the first jazz [[phonograph]] records, propelling Shields' playing to national prominence. Around this time, he also played occasionally with [[King Watzke]]'s band.<ref name="Hardie2002">{{cite book| last=Hardie|first=Daniel|title=Exploring Early Jazz: The Origins and Evolution of the New Orleans Style|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkdncIIFJtYC&pg=PA326|accessdate=12 July 2010|year=2002|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-21876-9| pages=326–}}</ref>

After leaving the ODJB in 1921, he played with various bands in New York City (including briefly with [[Paul Whiteman]]) before moving to Los Angeles, California where he remained throughout the 1920s, leading his own band and appearing briefly in some Hollywood films.

In the 1930s, Shields returned to Chicago and joined the reformed ODJB. He then worked for a while at "Nick's" in New York before returning to play in New Orleans and, later, in California.  He died in Los Angeles in 1953.