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He is a pianist, organist, composer, conductor and
arranger born in Durand, Michigan, who began performing on tuba and violin
in grade school and when he was seven years old he started playing the piano
and taking lessons. His family
moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and it was after this, when he was about
12, he began to compose and arrange instrumental works for bands. After entering high school he
progressed to playing the saxophone, cello and clarinet and his instructor
gave him free tuition in harmony, orchestra and music theory. This was in return for him playing
any instrument in the concert band when there was nobody else available to
fill that position and copying and doing orchestrations. When he was 15 he formed his own
band and in 1947 he entered Michigan State University to study theory and
composition, and largely taught himself the piano due to lack of funds. In 1951 he took a year of graduate
composition work but this was halted when he was signed up for military
service in 1952. While in the army
he performed in the band on the alto saxophone and progressed to becoming
an arranger for the US Military Academy Band. After he returned to civilian life he went back to
Michigan State University to continue his studies and graduated in 1955
with a Master of Music. He
moved to Detroit and while there he began working as an arranger and
pianist for The Hi-Los, who he performed and recorded with for the next
five years. Moving to
Hollywood in 1958 he worked with many bands in East L.A. and began
performing with and leading the group Charanga. He also developed an
interest in Brazilian music and bossa nova and composed his "Elizete" for
the Elizete Cardoso. The 1960s
appeared and his piano skills were called upon for music for commercials on
film and television. He did
this for eight years and at the same time started making his own recordings
from 1962, which included his compositions "Morning" and "Pensativa". Constantly in demand as an arranger
and also as a keyboardist and then after pioneering the electronic
keyboards he joined Cal Tjader's band. This led him to forming his own Latin-American group
called Salsa Picante and after adding the vocal group 2+2 they saw success in
1981 with the Grammy Award winning album 2+2. Later they saw further success with
three Grammy nominations and the award for "Best Jazz Album by a Vocal Duo
or Group". The 1970s came
around and he found himself doing arrangements for many of the popular
artists of the day, partly due to the fact that his son, Andre, was the
drummer for Rufus with Chaka Khan. It became an extremely successful era for him and
resulted in him receiving many gold and platinum records, countless awards
and several Grammy Award nominations.
Going onto a new route in 1983, he was commissioned by clarinettist Richard
Stoltzman to write a symphonic work on themes of Billy Strayhorn and Duke
Ellington. The resultant "The
Duke, Swee'pea and Me" has since been performed the world over. He would later record his own
classical CD in 2001. The hundreds
of artists he has worked with during the course of his career come from
many different genres of music and all have gained from his keyboard,
compositional and arranging abilities. A few of them include Paula
Abdul, Alex
Acuna, Tori Amos, Atlantic Starr, Brandy, Debarge, Chanticleer,
Natalie Cole. Celine Dion, Dizzy Gillespie, Lesley Gore, Michael
Jackson, Howard Jones, Peggy Lee, The
Manhattan Transfer, Branford Marsalis, John Pizzarelli, Brenda
Russell, George Shearing, Shotgun
, A Taste of Honey, Tony! Toni! Tone! And Usher. The recordings he has worked on are
countless but a select few include his own After the Rain, Extension,
First Time Out, Free Fall, Just Me, Lembrancas, Manteca
and Rockin' In Rhythm, So Danco Samba, Surging Ahead and
Sympiosis as well as Give Me the Night by George Benson, Full
Circle by Boyz II Men, Snowflakes by Toni Braxton, Headed For
the Future by Neil
Diamond , Joao (I Really Samba) by Joao
Gilberto, Home for Christmas by Amy Grant, And All That Jazz
by The Hi-Los, Dollar$ by Quincy Jones, Flowers in the Dirt by Paul
McCartney
, Big Screen, Little Screen by Henry Mancini, Destiny
by The Jacksons, Crazy for You by Earl
Klugh , Everybody Loves
Somebody: The Reprise Years 1962-1966 by Dean Martin, Great
Arrival/Beat of Brazil by Sergio Mendes, Addictions, Vol. 2 by
Robert Palmer, Graffiti Bridge by Prince, Symphonic Boleros by the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra
, Oneness: Silver Dreams Golden
Realities by Carlos Santana, Sweetest Days by Vanessa Williams
and the soundtracks to Batman, Do The Right Thing, Girl 6, Havana and
Prince of Egypt. In the
field of musical education he has held clinics and masterclasses as well as
given solo concerts at educational music establishments all over the United
States and throughout Europe.
Today he is still arranging for Prince and many other artists and
musicians, runs his company Clare Fischer Productions and also leads his
own bands such as Clare Fischer's Jazz Corps and the Clare Fischer Big Band.
The Manhattan Transfer
Recordings
Body &
Soul (Conductor) (Edward
Heyman/Robert
Sour/Frank
Eyton/Johnny
Green
)
Sources:
1.
http://www.clarefischer.com/
2.
http://www.thebottomend.co.uk/clare_fischer_artists.php
3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Fischer
4.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=6716
5.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wbfoxqt5ldhe~T1
6.
http://www.housequake.com/showthread.php?postid=1007340
7.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/clarefischer4
8.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Clare+Fischer
9.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wbfoxqt5ldhe~T4
10. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wbfoxqt5ldhe~2~T40B
11. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wbfoxqt5ldhe~3~T40B
Here he is
playing solo piano...
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