Clare Fischer, R.I.P.

Harry · Jan 27, 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16756139

Composer Clare Fischer dies at 83

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Clare Fischer released his 51st album, Continuum, in September
US jazz composer, arranger and pianist Clare Fischer has died, aged 83.
The Grammy winner had been on life support earlier this month after suffering a cardiac arrest following minor surgery.
Fischer received his 11th Grammy nomination at this year's awards, for best instrumental arrangement for his track In the Beginning.
Starting out in jazz, he went on to create arrangements for pop stars including Prince and Michael Jackson.
Born on 22 October 1928 in Durand, Michigan, Fischer worked with jazz legends such as Donald Byrd and Dizzy Gillespie.
In 1975 he found a new direction in Latin-American music and started his own group, Salsa Picante.
The group's record 2+2 won Fischer his first Grammy in 1981, and again in 1986 for Free Fall.
He also took on orchestral arrangements for the Chaka Khan-led group Rufus, as his nephew was the drummer.
"Apparently the arrangements I made for their early records were appreciated, for in the following years I was hired almost exclusively by black artists," he toldArtist Interviews.

Brent Fischer (left), who is also a composer and arranger, worked on his father's latest album
Once he was established as an arranger in the R&B field, Fischer became the "go-to-guy" for arranging pop albums and was hired by artists including Paul McCartney, Celine Dion and Robert Palmer.
A multi-instrumentalist, Fischer also received an honorary doctorate from Michigan State University in 1999 for his outstanding contributions to the field of jazz.
He recorded more than 45 albums and has arranged, composed or played on more than 100 other artists' records.
He is survived by his wife Donna, and children Brent, Lee and Tahlia.

Clare Fischer played the Yamaha organ on Sergio Mendes' PRIMAL ROOTS album on the "Promise Of A Fisherman" track.

Harry

Steve Sidoruk · Jan 27, 2012

Also, he got arranger-conductor credits for four tunes on Sergio's THE GREAT ARRIVAL album.

JMK · Jan 27, 2012

If you can find Clare's OOP Thesaurus album, it is absolutely fantastic from start to finish. If you go back and read the credits on any number of the first "wave" (no pun intended) of Bossa Nova albums, he did a lot of those early arrangements for major artists, probably as many as Ogermann.

Rudy · Jan 27, 2012

Ouch, this is sad. He played quite a role on many Cal Tjader recordings as well (Guarabe and Sona Libre being two favorites), and we have a few that Clare recorded for Concord too.

A&Mguyfromwayback · Jan 27, 2012

Amazing musician.......

Rudy · Jan 28, 2012

Now that I think of it, he also did the arrangements/orchestrations for Cal Tjader's West Side Story LP on Fantasy.

His love of Latin music came while he attended Michigan State University--he had Latin American roommates at university, and he got to know the music and the language. He had a fair number of Latin American music on Pacific Jazz under his own name, and worked with others as keyboardist, arranger and composer as well. His work with the HiLos (a vocal group) was also a cut above, and he'd record albums later in his career with vocal groups, like 2+2 Plus.

His name is also all over many other pop artists' recordings as well--he worked on a few albums with Prince (Under A Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge), and has done work for artists as diverse as Joao Gilberto, Amy Grant, Cal Tjader, Paula Abdul, Natalie Cole, Chaka Khan and Branford Marsalis. Chances are, everyone with a decent music collection has something he's touched.

JMK · Jan 28, 2012

Here's a little Cal Tjader trivia you may or may not know (I didn't until I was contacted by a biographer of Cal's). As some of you know, in my guise as film historian/writer, I've spent many years researching and debunking the life of classic film and theater actress Frances Farmer. A few years ago I got an email from a writer working on a biography of Cal who told me Cal, as a child actor (and tap dancer, believe it or not), was a featured player in Frances' first (1936) film, "Too Many Parents," about kids of divorce living at a military boarding school (Frances plays the niece of the commander, the "mother" figure). Cal is billed as Callen Tjader and does a specialty dance in the film.

Rudy · Jan 28, 2012

That may have been the same biographer who contacted our Tjader site.

I knew he did tap dancing but didn't know about the film role. Pretty cool!

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Clare Fischer, R.I.P.

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