Clare Fischer (born October 22, 1928 in
Durand, MichiganDurand is a city in Shiawassee County of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 3,933.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles , all land....
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
,
arrangerIn investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
,
pianistA pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers....
and
organistAn organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
.
His parents were of German, French, Irish-Scot, and English backgrounds. In grade school he started his general music study with
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
and
tubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
as his first instruments. At the age of 7 he began to pick out four-part harmony on the piano. After two years of piano lessons the family moved to
Grand Rapids, MichiganGrand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River and is approximately 30 miles from Lake Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 197,800, making it the 114th largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Kent County,...
, where 12-year-old Clare began composing classical music and making instrumental arrangements for dance bands.
At South High School he took up
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
,
clarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet...
and
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
. His high school instructor, Glenn Litton, took an interest in the boy and, because the family could not afford it, gave him free lessons in
music theoryMusic theory is the field of study that deals with how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It identifies patterns that govern composers' techniques. In a grand sense, music theory distills and analyzes the parameters or elements of music – rhythm, harmony , melody,...
,
harmonyIn music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches, or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, and
orchestrationOrchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
. Clare returned the favor by orchestrating and copying music for him. Whenever the concert band needed an instrument, Clare would be supplied with it and the fingering chart to play it in concert. This gave him a personal training in orchestration that was invaluable.
He started his own band at 15, for which he wrote all the arrangements. After graduating in 1946, he began undergraduate studies in 1947 at
Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act. Its alumni include at least six winners of the...
, majoring in music composition and theory, and studying with
H. Owen ReedHerbert Owen Reed is an American composer, conductor, and author.-Education:Reed was raised in rural Odessa, Missouri, where his first exposure to music was his father's playing of the old-time fiddle...
. During his teens there were no funds for him to study piano, so he was mostly self-taught. Therefore his major instrument in college was cello, and piano a minor. Later he changed his major to piano and minor in clarinet.
Fischer graduated in 1951 with a B.M., cum laude, and began his first year of graduate work in composition. The U.S. Army drafted him the next year, sending him to
Fort Leonard Wood, MissouriFort Leonard Wood is a census-designated place in Pulaski County, Missouri, United States. The population was 13,666 at the 2000 census. It is named in honor of Major General Leonard Wood, who was awarded the Medal of Honor...
, for basic training. There he played alto saxophone in the band and ended his service as an arranger at the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, N.Y. After the army, Clare returned to Michigan State. In 1955 he received his Master of Music.
Next Clare was living in
Detroit, MichiganDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
, where after a concert he offered his duties to the vocal quartet
The Hi-Lo'sThe Hi-Lo's were an a cappella quartet formed in 1953. They named themselves the "Hi-Lo's" to emphasize their collective vocal range.-History:...
. For five years he was pianist and arranger for this group. He wrote his first vocal arrangements and recorded several albums as pianist and sometime vocal and instrumental arranger.
Herbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American jazz pianist and composer. He is regarded as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz...
once explained that these arrangements were a major influence on him:
- ..by the time I actually heard The Hi-Lo's
The Hi-Lo's were an a cappella quartet formed in 1953. They named themselves the "Hi-Lo's" to emphasize their collective vocal range.-History:...
, I started picking that stuff out; my ear was happening. I could hear stuff and that's when I really learned some much farther-out voicings -like the harmonies I used on 'Speak Like A Child' -just being able to do that. I really got that from Clare Fischer's arrangements for the Hi-Lo's. Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept... He and Bill EvansWilliam John Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists, including Herbie Hancock, John Taylor, Steve Kuhn, Don...
, and RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer of Impressionist music known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
and Gil EvansGil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, active in the United States...
, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were.
While with
The Hi-Lo'sThe Hi-Lo's were an a cappella quartet formed in 1953. They named themselves the "Hi-Lo's" to emphasize their collective vocal range.-History:...
, Fischer arranged a record by trumpeter
Donald ByrdDonaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.-Early life and education:...
, on which well-known standards by subtle use of strings and harps acquired a new, melancholical quality. Even though
Byrd'sDonaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter.-Early life and education:...
album
September Afternoon remained on the shelves of the record company for twenty-five years, Fischer was so lucky that the trumpeter played a copy for
Dizzy GillespieJohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
. Gillespie in his turn asked him for his own "Portrait of Duke Ellington," which was well received. In 1960 albums for vibraphonist
Cal TjaderCallen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his...
and pianist
George ShearingSir George Shearing OBE is an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group which recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records...
followed as did an eight year career of writing music for commercials. Fischer was ready to sign his first record contract.
Early career as a leader
The first recording under his own name began in 1962 for Pacific Jazz Records: "First Time Out", "Surging Ahead", "Manteca" and "Extension," plus recordings with
Bud ShankClifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He played flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra, on various recording sessions including The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds, and occasionally in live performances Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. (May...
and
Joe PassJoe Pass January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was a jazz guitarist. His extensive use of walking basslines, melodic counterpoint during improvisation, use of a chord-melody style of play and outstanding knowledge of chord progressions opened up new possibilities for jazz guitar and had a profound...
. These early records are meticulous studies in jazz,
bossa novaBossa nova is a style of Brazilian music popularized by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes and João Gilberto. Bossa nova acquired a large following, initially by young musicians and college students...
and mambo, with the harmonical depth of
BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
,
ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian composer of the Soviet period and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
and
StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of...
. They were well received by the critics, but commercially not very successful. Fischer presented himself both as pianist and arranger and composed his most famous pieces, "Pensativa" and "Morning". His many talents, however, proved a disadvantage.
- Whenever I played with a trio, people said: 'Fischer owes a lot to Bill Evans'. Who I had never heard playing. My big musical example at the time was Lee Konitz. And when I orchestrated a record it was Gil Evans, the arranger, that I copied. I called this my Evans Brothers syndrome.
Arrangements for
Sergio MendesSérgio Santos Mendes is a Brazilian musician. He has released over thirty-five albums, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk....
, Willy Ruff and others followed. In the sixties Clare began playing the organ again, having studied the pipe organ at sixteen. He began to record on a Hammond B-3 for Pacific and on an album by Cal Tjader, Soña Libre. Years later, Clare would record "T'DAAA" (1972) which showcased his skill on the Yamaha EX-42 and "Clare Declares" (1977) which once again featured the pipe organ.
Clare's roommates at the Michigan State University were Latin Americans, as were the majority of his friends outside the music department. He was introduced to the music of
Tito PuenteTito Puente, Sr., , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, Jr., was a Latin Jazz and Mambo musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey" of the timbales and "The King of Latin Music"...
,
Tito RodriguezTito Rodríguez , was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, to...
,
MachitoMachito , born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo in Havana, Cuba, was an influential Latin jazz musician. Machito played a huge role in the history of Latin jazz. His bands of the 1940s, especially the band named the Afro-Cubans, were among the first to fuse Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz improvisation...
and others. Through his friends he became interested in the Spanish language and took it as a minor on his Masters Degree. Clare's passion for music has always been matched by his love of languages. "The average person has about a fifteen percent understanding of a foreign language. He knows what language it is and is familiar with one or two words. With music it is not different. Most people only hear the lyrics to a song or feel the beat. I have always made music for good listeners, with 65 to eighty percent of musical understanding. That is why with my vocal sextet all pieces are sung in the original language, whether that is German, Spanish or Japanese."
At this time he was not yet playing Latin-Jazz, just listening to it. So when he moved to Hollywood in 1958, he went to East L.A. to play and learn more about the music. He started in a
charangaCharanga is a term given to traditional ensembles of Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra....
group with Modesta Duran as leader. Playing with many different groups, he paid his dues in the joints.
During this period he became interested in Brazilian music through the recordings of
Elizete CardosoElizete Moreira Cardoso , was a singer and actress of great renown in Brazil....
, for whom he wrote the standard "Elizete". Allegedly he cut the very first American Bossa Nova record for Cal Tjader. His liner notes illustrate how uncommon it was that Clare tried to get people to dance to something other than the twist:
- Last spring I was introduced to a friend of bassist Ralph Peña
Ralph Peña is a founding member and the current artistic director of Ma-Yi Theater Company, an Obie Award winning Asian American theatre group based in New York City...
[...] he talked to us about a new kind of music that was being played in Brazil called the 'Bossa Nova' which in slang terms might be like saying 'the new bag' or 'new aptitude'. [...] The rhythms were so infectious that, even though I usually don't dance much myself, I felt compelled to respond and found myself dancing away several hours.
(Cal Tjader Plays The Contemporary Music Of Mexico And Brazil, 1962)
Fischer did not want to tour Europe to make his fame because he had just founded a family. In the 1960s he worked frequently in the studios of California as a pianist, recording tunes to films and television advertisements. He experienced that in the studio the producer is often a musician's worst enemy. "They always want you to do something else than what you are good at. Often I was asked to play like the pianist of the Crusaders, Joe Sample. With great difficulty I did what they asked me to do and afterwards felt terrible about it. One time I was working in the studio wìth Sample. During a break he came up to me and said to my great surprise: 'I want to tell you something that really annoys me. Every time I go into a recording session they ask me to lay down some of that stuff that you do!'."
Salsa Picante years
In 1975, after ten years of studiowork and artistically successful yet obscure solo records, Fischer found a new direction. Just like
Herbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American jazz pianist and composer. He is regarded as one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. His music embraces elements of funk and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz...
and
Chick CoreaArmando Anthony "Chick" Corea is a multiple Grammy Award winning American jazz pianist, keyboardist, drummer, and composer.He is known for his work during the 1970s in the genre of jazz fusion...
he was a pioneer on the electric keyboard, and in that capacity he joined vibraphonist Cal Tjader's group. The reunion with Tjader gave a new impulse to Fischer's love of Latin-American music. He started his own group with Latino musicians, "Salsa Picante," which showed great eclecticism in musical styles. Later he added a vocal group, 2+2. Stravinsky mixed with boogie woogie, country with renaissance music.
The record 2+2 won a Grammy in 1981. Since then he has recorded "And Sometimes Voices" and "Free Fall" with the vocal group. "Free Fall" was nominated in three categories for the Grammy Awards and won under the category of "Best Jazz Album By A Vocal Duo Or Group". "Crazy Bird" was with the instrumental group and "Alone Together", a solo piano album recorded on a magnificent Hamburg
SteinwaySteinway may refer to:* Steinway & Sons, an American and German piano manufacturer* Steinway Hall, a building housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway pianos-Steinway family members:* Albert Steinway* Charles G. Steinway...
. It was recorded for Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and the German company MPS Records. Clare's MPS records have been re-released by Discovery Records. In 1999 Motor Music in Hamburg issued a CD with 24 bits re-mastered highpoints of four of his Latin-flavoured MPS records, called "Latin Patterns."
In the seventies, Fischer began doing orchestral sweeteners for r&b groups. Clare's brother's son, André Fischer, was the drummer of the band
Rufus with Chaka KhanRufus was a 1970s American funk band, from Chicago, Illinois; best known for launching the career of their lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including "Tell Me Something Good" , "Sweet Thing", and "Ain't Nobody".-Career:One of the most commercially successful...
. "Apparently the arrangements I made for their early records were appreciated, for in the following years I was hired almost exclusively by black artists." Among the artists Clare worked for are The Jacksons,
Earl KlughEarl Klugh is an American smooth jazz/jazz fusion guitarist and composer. Klugh currently resides in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia....
, The Debarges, Shot-gun and Atlantic Star. His walls are now covered with gold and platinum records from these recordings and
Grammy AwardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
Nominations, N.A.R.A.S. MVP Awards culminating in an MVP-emeritus in 1985.
Once his fame as an arranger was established, Fischer was also asked by pop musicians like
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE , is an English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record and film producer, painter, and animal rights and peace activist. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in the history of popular music...
,
PrincePrince Rogers Nelson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He performs under the mononym Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000...
,
Celine DionCéline Marie Claudette Dion , CC, OQ is a Canadian singer, occasional songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur. Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to...
and Robert Palmer. "I am surprised that my arrangements are now considered one of the prerequisites for a hit album. People feel that they make a song sound almost classical."
Classical concert artist
Richard StoltzmanRichard Stoltzman is an American clarinetist. Born Richard Leslie Stoltzman in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is part of the faculty list at the New England Conservatory...
commissioned him in 1983 to write a symphonic work using
Duke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader.Duke Ellington became one of the most influential artists in the history of recorded music, and is largely recognized as one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz, though his music stretched into...
and
Billy StrayhornWilliam Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades...
themes. The result, "The Duke, Swee'pea and Me", an eleven and a half minute orchestral work, was performed with a symphony orchestra and
StoltzmanRichard Stoltzman is an American clarinetist. Born Richard Leslie Stoltzman in Omaha, Nebraska, he spent his early years in San Francisco, California and Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from Woodward High School in 1960. Today, Stoltzman is part of the faculty list at the New England Conservatory...
on clarinet all around the world.
Later years: jazz inspirator and pop arranger
Since 1985 Clare has been writing orchestral arrangements for pop artist
PrincePrince Rogers Nelson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He performs under the mononym Prince but has also been known by various other names, most notably the unpronounceable symbol which he used as his stage name between 1993 and 2000...
. Some have appeared on Prince's albums and have been used for his movies "Under The Cherry Moon" (Clare's first screen credit), "Graffiti Bridge" and on
Spike LeeShelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He also teaches film at New York University and Columbia University...
's "Girl 6". One of Clare's Prince arrangements was also used in a revised form for the movie
BatmanThe Batman, originally referred to as the Bat-Man, is a fictional character, a comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger , appearing in publications by DC Comics...
. Prince continues to work with Clare on occasion. His December 2005 single
Te Amo Corazon"Te Amo Corazón" is a song by Prince, released as the first single from his 2006 album, 3121. It was officially released by the NPG Music Club on December 13, 2005...
, a mid-tempo Latin jazz track, featured string arrangements by Clare.
More recently, as a jazz educator, Clare has performed solo piano concerts and conducted clinics and master classes in universities and music conservatories in Europe and throughout the United States. In 1995
Just Me came out, a
Concord JazzConcord Jazz is a subsidiary of Concord Records, owned by Concord Music Group.
CD with Clare on solo piano. Featuring his Latin-jazz group and six singers, now referred to as "Clare Fischer & Friends", a JVC Music CD appeared in 1997 called
Rockin' In Rhythm.
Two gifted Dutch jazz pianists, Cor Bakker and Bert van den Brink, recorded the homage
DeClared (1993) which contains nine Clare Fischer compositions. Five years later recordings made in 1991 and 1997 with The Netherlands Metropole Orchestra led by Rob Pronk and Vince Mendoza came out as
The Latin Side. Another notable recent CD with Clare is a re-issue of Art Pepper's
Tokyo Debut on Galaxy (1995).
At the present time Clare continues to write for Prince and many other renowned artists including
Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson , known as the "King of Pop", was an American musician and one of the most commercially successful and influential entertainers of all time...
,
Amy GrantAmy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, author, media personality and occasional actress, best known for her contemporary Christian music. Grant was born in Augusta, Georgia....
, Brazilian artist
João GilbertoJoão Gilberto is a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian singer and guitarist...
(João),
Paula AbdulPaula Julie Abdul is an American pop singer, record producer, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality....
,
Natalie ColeNatalie Cole is an American singer, songwriter and performer. She achieved success in her early career as an R&B star, but smoothly changed her repertoire toward a more pop and jazz oriented musical style in the early 1990s...
and more recently Chaka Kahn and
Branford MarsalisBranford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque...
.
With his commercial work Fischer financed a costly band of twenty brass instruments, called "Clare Fischer's Jazz Corps." "I may die a poor man, but I will have a smile on my face" is what he likes to say on this subject. The recordings of this band contain an interesting arrangement of
Antonio Carlos JobimAntonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim, was a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist...
's "Corcovado". "The death of my friend
Tom JobimAntonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim, was a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist...
has affected me deeply. Like me he was 68, and I am still alive. After he died I had a dream in which I was conducting his 'Corcovado'. Only it was not a normal version, there were these harmonic countermelodies in the bass. When I awoke I wrote down what I had dreamed. It became Jobim's In Memoriam, a piece I called 'Corcovado Fúnebre.'"
One of Clare's latest projects in his own name is a recording with Brazilian guitarist
Hélio DelmiroHélio Delmiro is a Brazilian guitar player and composer.Born in May 20th, 1947, Delmiro started playing the guitar in early childhood.Since then, he has played with many of the best Brazilian musicians, among whom are Moacyr Silva, Márcio Montarroyos, Luíz Eça, Elis Regina, Elza Soares and Elizeth...
called "Symbiosis" which has been released on a "Clare Fischer Productions" recording as has his Clare Fischer's Jazz Corps recording. Both are available on Clare's web site at http://www.clarefischer.com .
Other recordings
2006 A Family Affair
2005 Introspectivo
2000 Bert van den Brink invites Clare Fischer
1999 Symbiosis – Clare Fischer & Hélio Delmiro
1999 Latin Patterns – Clare Fischer & The Legendary MPS Sessions
1998 Clare Fischer’s Jazz Corps
1997 The Latin Side - Clare Fischer & Metropole Orchestra
1997 Alone Together - Clare Fischer & the Brunner-Schwer Steinway (Previously released in 1980)
1997 Rockin’ In Rhythm - Clare Fischer & Friends
1995 Just Me - Solo Piano Excursions
1992 Memento
1990 Lembranças (Remembrances)
1988 Waltz
1987 Blues Trilogy (with Gary Foster)
1987 Tjaderama
1987 Clare Fischer Plays
1986 Freefall (Grammy winner)
1985 Crazy Bird - Re-released 1992
1984 Extension (with Jerry Coker) - Re-release
1984 Whose Woods Are These? (with Gary Foster) (Grammy nomination)
1983 Starbright (with Gary Foster)
1982 September Afternoon (with Donald Byrd)
1982 And Sometimes Voices (with 2+2)
1982 Head, Heart and Hands
1981 Clare Fischer & Salsa Picante Present 2+2 (Grammy winner)
1981 Machaca
1980 Alone Together (Du Du track, Grammy nomination)
1980 Salsa Picante
1980 Duality
1979 Clare Fischer & EX-42 orig. rel’d in ‘72 as T’DA-A-A!
1979 ‘Twas Only Yesterday
1979 Jazz Song
1978 America the Beautiful (Previously released in 1967 as Songs For Rainy Day Lovers)
1977 Clare Declares
1976 The State of His Art
1975 Music Inspired by the Kinetic Sculpture of Don Conard Mobiles
1972 Clare Fischer In the Reclamation Act of 1972!
1972 T’DA-A-A! Clare Fischer & the Yamaha Quartet
1972 Tell It Like It Is
1970 Love is Surrender
1970 Great White Hope (& His Japanese Friend)
1969 Thesaurus
1968 One to Get Ready: Four...to-Go!
1966 Easy Livin’
1965 Piano Concert
1965 Manteca!
1965 So Danço Samba
1964 Surging Ahead
1963 First Time Out
1961 Jazz
External links