Six voices and a Latin Jazz sextet combine to bring you the best in Brazilian/Cuban Jazz - a recording sure to bring you listening pleasure for years to come.

11 MP3 Songs in this album (69:55) !
Related styles: LATIN: Latin Jazz, JAZZ: Afro-Cuban Jazz

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Details:
Born October 22, 1928 in Durand, Michigan, Clare Fischer is an uncommonly versatile musician, a master with many muses. Trained in the classics, inspired by jazz artists, healed by the rhythms of Latin and Brazilian music, his eclectic sound finds expression in every chart and instrument he touches.
A veteran studio musician and a composer of rare quality, Fischer began his studies in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at South High School with director of music, Glenn Litton. After receiving his masterâs degree in composition from Michigan State University, where he studied with Dr. H. Owen Reed, he traveled extensively with âThe Hi-Loâsâ as pianist-conductor for 5 years. About the same time, his musical ascension began with his critically acclaimed arrangements for Dizzy Gillespieâs âA Portrait of Duke Ellington.â Fischerâs influences, absorbed along the way, are as distinct as his music: Stravinsky and Shostakovich, Bartok and Berg, Dutilleux, boogie-woogie pianist Meade Lux Lewis, Nat âKingâ Cole, Duke Ellington, Bud Powell and early Lee Konitz - Fischerâs self-expression knows no boundaries.
âI relate to everything,â he explains. âIâm not just jazz, Latin, or classical. I really am a fusion of all of those, not todayâs fusion, but my fusion.â
In 1983 classical concert artist Richard Stoltzman commissioned Fischer to write a symphonic work using Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn themes. The resulting composition, âThe Duke, Sweeâpea and Me,â features Stoltzman on clarinet and is performed with symphony orchestras around the world. More recently Fischer was commissioned by Stoltzman to write a âSonatine for Clarinet and Pianoâ in three movements, which he has recorded with RCA on his album, âAmerican Clarinetâ and is being published by Advance Music in Germany.
In 1986 Clare won his second Grammy Award - this one for his album, âFree Fall,â the first having been won in 1981 for his album, âSalsa Picante plus 2 + 2.â Since that time he has spent more time as a jazz educator, performing solo piano concerts and conducting clinics and master classes in universities and music conservatories in Scandinavia, Europe and throughout the United States.
In the last few years Clare has appeared in Paris, Switzerland, Croatia, Finland, Norway, Germany with the WDR Big Band, Holland with the Metropole Orchestra, Austria in Graz and at the Vienna Konzerthaus and in Mexico City at the Ollin Yolítzli Concert Hall in a concert commemorating the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim on the anniversary of his death in December, 1996. In 1998 he also performed at the Choro Festival with Hélio Delmiro in Sáo Paulo, Brazil and returned in July, 2000 for a three-city tour in that country with Delmiro.
In addition to Dizzie Gillespie, Fischer has written for Cal Tjader, George Shearing, Diane Schuur, Natalie Cole, Prince, Chaka Khan and Rufus, The Jacksons, Earl Klugh, Prince, Robert Palmer, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Spike Lee, João Gilberto, Paula Abdul, and most recently Brian McKnight, Regina Belle, J. Spencer, Norman Whitfield, Branford Marsalis, Tori Amos, a French group - âCharts,â a Japanese group - âSing Like Talking,â Vanessa Williams, Brandy, Tony! Toni! Toné! and many others. His arrangements for strings are truly a revelation.
Since beginning his professional career, Fischer has recorded over 45 albums as leader and has arranged, composed and/or played on another 100 plus albums for other recording artists. His discography reads like a âWhoâs Whoâ of the recording industry. Recent releases include âClare Fischerâs Jazz Corps,â a big band album made up of 20 brass, 6 woodwinds plus rhythm; and âSymbiosis,â recorded with Hélio Delmiro on unamplified Brazilian guitar and Clare on digital piano. In January 2001 Fischer produced his first classical CD, âAfter the Rain,â made up entirely of his own symphonic works. This was followed by his latest recordings, âOn a Turquoise Cloud,â in 2002 featuring a full clarinet choir, âIntrospectivo,â a solo piano recording in 2005, and in 2006 his latest clarinet choir recording, âA Family Affair.â
In December 1999 Michigan State University School of Music conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts Degree on Clare in recognition of his âcreativity and excellence as a jazz composer, arranger and performer.â
Clare has three grown children; Lee, Brent and Tahlia. Of the three it is Brent who has developed into the composer to carry on in the writing tradition of his father, and he is also Clareâs regular bassist as well as his manager.
As for this particular album, Clare writes, âWhen most people think of Latin-Jazz, they invariably refer to rhythms from Cuba. Equally important are those from Brazil that make up a major portion of this album. However, I donât consider that I play âCubanâ or âBrazilianâ music, but that I use the feeling of both to my own ends. In light of this personal focus, you will find music in unusual settings.
âI consider that âClare Fischer and Friendsâ (six singers and all of the musicians) are part of one group. This is not considered a singersâ group with back-up musicians â we are all one. This is a jazz album and the voices become instruments in relationship to the group.
âI hope you enjoy this music. I had a wonderful time putting it together.â
---Clare Fischer