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MIDWEST RECORD - OCEAN OF CONSCIOUSNESS
[+ Show ]
Volume 31/Number 214
June 1, 2008
JEFFREY FISHER/Ocean of Consciousness: In which we find a new ... Volume 31/Number 214
June 1, 2008
JEFFREY FISHER/Ocean of Consciousness: In which we find a new use of new age music, Fisher uses it as a basis to try to make sense of the war that’s tearing the kids apart internally as they fight and try to cope. Calling back to the Sanskrit Bhagavad-Gita texts that recall similar situations, he sets to music the feelings and textures that go with war. Since this is a two disc set, he uses to second disc to semi-further the agenda but uses it as a back drop to his relationship with nature. Very much an important set of music for thinkers, you can bet this isn’t easy music and it will take you places. You can almost picture Oprah getting up on her soapbox and getting behind the impact of this set. Very much material existing on a higher plane, in several ways.
8888 (Healing Music of the South West)
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JEFFEY FISHER EXPLORES WORLD OF CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL ON NEW CD "TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT"
[+ Show ]
SEPTEMBER 2007
Inspired by visual art, Jeffrey Fisher’s Triumph of the Spirit recording uses th... SEPTEMBER 2007
Inspired by visual art, Jeffrey Fisher’s Triumph of the Spirit recording uses the sounds of orchestral instruments to create music reflective of humankind’s consciousness serving as the bridge between the heavens and earth. “There is an evolution of the human spirit that will triumph over the forces of darkness,” explains Fisher. “It’s a progression of enlightenment that leads to understanding both our world and our place in the universe.”
Although he has played many different types of music, from rock to jazz, during his career, Fisher chose to make this music orchestral because he feels the sounds from these symphonic instruments are universal. “European musicians created and refined the instruments in a symphony orchestra over hundreds of years. Those sounds are proven to affect the listener’s mind, body and spirit in a positive and uplifting way. Yes, this music can be looked at as ‘modern classical music’ because of the instrumentation, but many of the melodies and motifs are more influenced by jazz, blues, indigenous music and pop-rock than by traditional classical repertoire. The idea is not to mimic or re-configure Beethoven, but to create something new for today’s audience.” While the melodies and instrumentation are mentally stimulating, the music also resonates deeply within the listener on several levels. This combination provides a calming and relaxing atmosphere for enjoying the music which allows the recording to fit well into new age lifestyles from massage therapy to Reiki.
Fisher’s CDs can be purchased at record stores and specialty shops throughout the United States, as well as online at his website (HealingMusicOfTheSouthwest.com), webstores such as amazon.com and cdbaby.com, and many digital download locations including iTunes.
Fisher composed this music a decade ago while living in the artistic community of Taos, New Mexico, where his friend Charles Collins (a renowned painter and one of the leaders of the modern Southwest style) was creating a collection of work titled Triumph of the Spirit (also the name of the painting that appears on the cover of Fisher’s CD). As Collins unveiled each new sketch and began his painting, Fisher used the imagery and symbolism as inspiration to simultaneously write a new orchestral composition. When Collins finished the initial five large paintings, Fisher unveiled his associate musical pieces in a collaborative show. Some of these Collins paintings (known for their use of light, translucent glazes and timeless themes) can be viewed at charlescollinsgallery.com in the section “Between Worlds.”
Now Fisher’s Triumph of the Spirit CD is being released and marketed internationally for the first time. The title composition relates the feeling of an indigenous person leaving a place of classic perfection to make his way in the earthly world. Fisher explains “The Beginning of Wisdom” as an attempt to capture “a moment of enlightenment, a leap into another world to see who we really are.” The music for “Emperor of the Soul” is “symbolic of two worlds coming together, two forces colliding, until man emerges from the ocean reborn.” The piece “Rituals of Paradox” represents “the birth of civilization.” “Eternal Companions” brings together the companionship theme of humans with other beings, with nature, and with God.
“Because I’ve played in various kinds of bands and orchestras all my life, I hear the sound of each instrument, and have studied their combinations. I work in a very traditional way, using score paper to put down each instrument. However, today’s composers have something that did not exist in the past — a digitized orchestra. This allows the composer, in a cost-effective way, to achieve his or her vision exactly, to paint freely with the sounds.”
Fisher is an incredibly versatile musician who has professionally performed new age, world music, neo-classical, traditional jazz, blues, rock’n’roll, folk and R&B. He has played more than a dozen different instruments, and is highly proficient on piano and acoustic standup bass. His last album was the orchestral Fairy Tales (a score for the ballet “Hans Christian Andersen”) premiering in Palm Springs in 2006, and the CD winning both iParenting and Parent-to-Parent awards[??1]. He also has five other previous neo-classical/new age CDs (Moon Song, One Hundred and Eight, Clouds, The Healing and Angels of the Rays), several specifically designed for healing and massage therapy. Other compositions include works for string quartet, solo piano, marching band, jazz band, jazz vocals, woodwinds, and acoustic bass in various ensemble settings.
Fisher has performed with jazz great Frank Morgan, the Thelonius Monk-inspired traditional jazz group Evidence Quartet, the Charles Connally Texas Blues Band, Stax Records vocalist Lee Sain, folksinger Sun-Day Martinez, Spanish music legend Antonio Apodaca, world-music bandleader Achyutan[??2], and New Mexico’s Trio Jalapeno, among others. Fisher even performed Gaelic music on ice instruments at a ski resort situated at 11,000-feet elevation. He graduated from the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles with a certificate in composing and arranging, and went on to study under top teachers to further explore film scoring, orchestration and acoustic bass performance (taught by Terry Plumarie and Frank Tusa).
Beyond the world of music, Jeffrey is a true Renaissance man. He is an accomplished painter (oils and watercolors) who has exhibited in both museums and galleries. He has published five volumes of poetry and a book on Chinese philosophy and martial arts (T’ai Chi Basics). He teaches T’ai Chi Chuan; gives acupressure, Reiki and reflexology treatments; and lectures widely on nutrition and healing. Over the years he has taught a wide variety of skills to others including music, painting, writing, cooking, mathematics, philosophy, and general “educational improvement.” When he wasn’t making a living playing music, Jeffrey worked at a variety of jobs including designing and building stage sets off-Broadway, being a motorcycle messenger in New York City, tuning pianos, working in a print-shop and book-bindery in San Francisco, “bucking hay” (stacking bales), picking cherries, cleaning acequias (irrigation ditches) in New Mexico, running art galleries, framing pictures, and building houses (and other construction jobs).
Jeffrey attended Pomona College, where he studied writing, music, acting and experimental theatre. An avid reader, especially of French poetry and the Beat Generation writers, he found the academic world too limiting, and at the age of 17 left for San Francisco to work on his writing. After attending the Aspen Writers Workshop and New York University’s School of the Arts, Fisher moved to Buffalo to attend the state university and studied everything from computer languages and neuro-physiology to William Blake and vibraphone. After playing drums in a popular local rock band and attending the original Woodstock Festival, Fisher began learning guitar and decided to study the origins of blues guitar. He spent several years playing in coffee houses and bars, and traveling across the country several times – one night hanging on to the back of a freight train with one hand while the other held his 1945 Epiphone acoustic guitar. Fisher ended up in Berkeley where he started playing electric guitar on the blues and R&B “chittlin’ circuit” backing legendary artists. Eventually he switched to standup bass and began to explore the world of jazz with his own group.
After several years of intense musical studies in Los Angeles, Fisher moved out of the big city to focus on composition and painting. In the early Nineties, he composed and performed his first full-length orchestral composition, and also enjoyed the first solo museum exhibition of his paintings. Fisher relocated to New Mexico for nearly a decade and lived in a small village outside of Taos. Fisher began teaching T’ai Chi, a method for training the mind and body. “T’ai Chi is the basis for my own philosophy and my life, and is integral in preparing me to create music.” Fisher returned in recent years to the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs, the area where he was born and raised. His home, ranch and studio run on solar energy and are totally off-the-grid. He often uses nature as inspiration for his art, whether it is fruit groves in his paintings or naturalness[??3] in his music.
“Music can be a transformative tool,” explains Fisher. “Music is like the food we eat or the air we breathe — it goes very much deeper than ideas, philosophies of social change or even religion. I try to make my orchestral music very accessible so that anyone, even without formal training, can easily appreciate it. I like to think my music tells a story, and all the instruments are characters with something to say.”
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COMING OUT OF A JAZZ BACKGROUND, JEFFREY FISHER GOES FOR GRAND ORCHESTRAL SWEEP ON NEW CD "TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT"
[+ Show ]
JEFFREY FISHER
Inspired by visual art, Jeffrey Fisher’s Triumph of the Spirit recording uses the ...JEFFREY FISHER
Inspired by visual art, Jeffrey Fisher’s Triumph of the Spirit recording uses the sounds of orchestral instruments to create music reflective of humankind’s consciousness serving as the bridge between the heavens and earth. “There is an evolution of the human spirit that will triumph over the forces of darkness,” explains Fisher. “It’s a progression of enlightenment that leads to understanding both our world and our place in the universe.”
Although he has played many different types of music, from rock to jazz, during his career, Fisher chose to make this music orchestral because he feels the sounds from these symphonic instruments are universal. “European musicians created and refined the instruments in a symphony orchestra over hundreds of years. Those sounds are proven to affect the listener’s mind, body and spirit in a positive and uplifting way. Yes, this music can be looked at as ‘modern classical music’ because of the instrumentation, but many of the melodies and motifs are more influenced by jazz, blues, indigenous music and pop-rock than by traditional classical repertoire. The idea is not to mimic or re-configure Beethoven, but to create something new for today’s audience.” While the melodies and instrumentation are mentally stimulating, the music also resonates deeply within the listener on several levels. This combination provides a calming and relaxing atmosphere for enjoying the music which allows the recording to fit well into new age lifestyles from massage therapy to Reiki.
Fisher’s CDs can be purchased at record stores and specialty shops throughout the United States, as well as online at his website (HealingMusicOfTheSouthwest.com), webstores such as amazon.com and cdbaby.com, and many digital download locations including iTunes.
Fisher composed this music a decade ago while living in the artistic community of Taos, New Mexico, where his friend Charles Collins (a renowned painter and one of the leaders of the modern Southwest style) was creating a collection of work titled Triumph of the Spirit (also the name of the painting that appears on the cover of Fisher’s CD). As Collins unveiled each new sketch and began his painting, Fisher used the imagery and symbolism as inspiration to simultaneously write a new orchestral composition. When Collins finished the initial five large paintings, Fisher unveiled his associate musical pieces in a collaborative show. Some of these Collins paintings (known for their use of light, translucent glazes and timeless themes) can be viewed at charlescollinsgallery.com in the section “Between Worlds.”
Now Fisher’s Triumph of the Spirit CD is being released and marketed internationally for the first time. The title composition relates the feeling of an indigenous person leaving a place of classic perfection to make his way in the earthly world. Fisher explains “The Beginning of Wisdom” as an attempt to capture “a moment of enlightenment, a leap into another world to see who we really are.” The music for “Emperor of the Soul” is “symbolic of two worlds coming together, two forces colliding, until man emerges from the ocean reborn.” The piece “Rituals of Paradox” represents “the birth of civilization.” “Eternal Companions” brings together the companionship theme of humans with other beings, with nature, and with God.
“Because I’ve played in various kinds of bands and orchestras all my life, I hear the sound of each instrument, and have studied their combinations. I work in a very traditional way, using score paper to put down each instrument. However, today’s composers have something that did not exist in the past — a digitized orchestra. This allows the composer, in a cost-effective way, to achieve his or her vision exactly, to paint freely with the sounds.”
Fisher is an incredibly versatile musician who has professionally performed new age, world music, neo-classical, traditional jazz, blues, rock’n’roll, folk and R&B. He has played more than a dozen different instruments, and is highly proficient on piano and acoustic standup bass. His last album was the orchestral Fairy Tales (a score for the ballet “Hans Christian Andersen”) premiering in Palm Springs in 2006, and the CD winning both iParenting and Parent-to-Parent awards. He also has five other previous neo-classical/new age CDs (Moon Song, One Hundred and Eight, Clouds, The Healing and Angels of the Rays), several specifically designed for healing and massage therapy. Other compositions include works for string quartet, solo piano, marching band, jazz band, jazz vocals, woodwinds, and acoustic bass in various ensemble settings.
Fisher has performed with jazz great Frank Morgan, the Thelonius Monk-inspired traditional jazz group Evidence Quartet, the Charles Connally Texas Blues Band, Stax Records vocalist Lee Sain, folksinger Sun-Day Martinez, Spanish music legend Antonio Apodaca, world-music bandleader Achyutan, and New Mexico’s Trio Jalapeno, among others. Fisher even performed Gaelic music on ice instruments at a ski resort situated at 11,000-feet elevation. He graduated from the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles with a certificate in composing and arranging, and went on to study under top teachers to further explore film scoring, orchestration and acoustic bass performance (taught by Terry Plumarie and Frank Tusa).
Beyond the world of music, Jeffrey is a true Renaissance man. He is an accomplished painter (oils and watercolors) who has exhibited in both museums and galleries. He has published five volumes of poetry and a book on Chinese philosophy and martial arts (T’ai Chi Basics). He teaches T’ai Chi Chuan; gives acupressure, Reiki and reflexology treatments; and lectures widely on nutrition and healing. Over the years he has taught a wide variety of skills to others including music, painting, writing, cooking, mathematics, philosophy, and general “educational improvement.” When he wasn’t making a living playing music, Jeffrey worked at a variety of jobs including designing and building stage sets off-Broadway, being a motorcycle messenger in New York City, tuning pianos, working in a print-shop and book-bindery in San Francisco, “bucking hay” (stacking bales), picking cherries, cleaning acequias (irrigation ditches) in New Mexico, running art galleries, framing pictures, and building houses (and other construction jobs).
Jeffrey attended Pomona College, where he studied writing, music, acting and experimental theatre. An avid reader, especially of French poetry and the Beat Generation writers, he found the academic world too limiting, and at the age of 17 left for San Francisco to work on his writing. After attending the Aspen Writers Workshop and New York University’s School of the Arts, Fisher moved to Buffalo to attend the state university and studied everything from computer languages and neuro-physiology to William Blake and vibraphone. After playing drums in a popular local rock band and attending the original Woodstock Festival, Fisher began learning guitar and decided to study the origins of blues guitar. He spent several years playing in coffee houses and bars, and traveling across the country several times – one night hanging on to the back of a freight train with one hand while the other held his 1945 Epiphone acoustic guitar. Fisher ended up in Berkeley where he started playing electric guitar on the blues and R&B “chittlin’ circuit” backing legendary artists. Eventually he switched to standup bass and began to explore the world of jazz with his own group.
After several years of intense musical studies in Los Angeles, Fisher moved out of the big city to focus on composition and painting. In the early Nineties, he composed and performed his first full-length orchestral composition, and also enjoyed the first solo museum exhibition of his paintings. Fisher relocated to New Mexico for nearly a decade and lived in a small village outside of Taos. Fisher began teaching T’ai Chi, a method for training the mind and body. “T’ai Chi is the basis for my own philosophy and my life, and is integral in preparing me to create music.” Fisher returned in recent years to the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs, the area where he was born and raised. His home, ranch and studio run on solar energy and are totally off-the-grid. He often uses nature as inspiration for his art, whether it is fruit groves in his paintings or naturalness in his music.
“Music can be a transformative tool,” explains Fisher. “Music is like the food we eat or the air we breathe — it goes very much deeper than ideas, philosophies of social change or even religion. I try to make my orchestral music very accessible so that anyone, even without formal training, can easily appreciate it. I like to think my music tells a story, and all the instruments are characters with something to say.”
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THE CELEBRITY CAFE - JEFFREY FISHER "TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT"
[+ Show ]
Reviewer: Sari N. Kent
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9
“Triumph of the Spirit,” from Jeffrey Fisher,...Reviewer: Sari N. Kent
new
Reviewer's Rating: 9
“Triumph of the Spirit,” from Jeffrey Fisher, is a record that will be musical poetry to any listener. Its fearless instrumentations and powerful beats will hypnotize listeners and infuse them with the urgency to complete their own victories.
“Triumph Of the Spirit (Adagio Non Troppo)” is a symphonic gem of elegantly proportioned rhythms as Fisher blends a classical tone with a magical melody that allows listeners to envision themselves accomplishing a task they previously believed to be impossible.
With “The Beginning Of Wisdom (Allegro Appassionato)” there is a more forceful, take charge pace to the track. Along with more mystifying piano work there is also an underlying futuristic tone that is accompanied through deep instrument sounds. This combination makes this song one that will stick in listeners’ minds long after the track culminates.
“Emperor Of the Soul (Andante Espressivo)” has an uplifting beat to it. Listeners might picture this song being played when an important dignitary makes his entrance at some grand event. On the other hand, the rhythm of the song also has a page-turning bend that might cause listeners to see themselves taking control of a situation and not allowing anyone to stand in the way of their ultimate target.
Jeffrey Fisher’s “Triumph of the Spirit” has dynamic melodies that will empower any listener to attain as many conquests in their life as they can and be proud in doing so.
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REVIEW - FAIRY TALES
[+ Show ]
#63
Sept ~ Dec 2007
Fairy Tales – Jeffrey Fisher: This enjoyable modern classic listening experi...#63
Sept ~ Dec 2007
Fairy Tales – Jeffrey Fisher: This enjoyable modern classic listening experience was specifically created as the score for the ballet “Hans Christian Anderson.” Fairy Tales orchestrates three of Anderson’s classic children’s storybook fantasies – “Thumbellina,” “Red Shoes” and “The Mermaid.” While capturing the sound of a full orchestra, this recorded version was created, instrument by instrument, layer by layer, on a keyboard synthesizer. ISBN 015882043120
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RELEASES NEW CD... FAIRY TALES
[+ Show ]
Jeffrey Fisher is truly a modern-day Renaissance Man, not just adept at a few creative tasks, but do...Jeffrey Fisher is truly a modern-day Renaissance Man, not just adept at a few creative tasks, but dozens upon dozens of different ones.
Fortunately for music lovers, his latest endeavor is an original neo-classical orchestral music CD, Fairy Tales, that he created specifically as the score for the ballet “Hans Christian Andersen.”
This is music that stands totally on its own as an enjoyable modern classical listening experience, but it also can enchant children and their families as they envision the original timeless stories the music so aptly illustrates.
Fairy Tales orchestrates three of Andersen’s classic children’s storybook fantasies – “Inchellina” (sometimes known as “Thumbellina,” the tiny adventuresome girl searching for someone her size), “Red Shoes” (the story of a selfish dancer taught an important life lesson) and “The Mermaid” (she falls in love with a human prince, but must make difficult decisions).
Fisher uses his musical skills to highlight each instrument of the orchestra in a way that not only illustrates the personalities and emotions of the fictional characters, but also perfectly captures the sound of a full orchestra, even though this recorded version was created, instrument by instrument, layer by layer, on a keyboard synthesizer.
What makes Jeffrey Fisher a true Renaissance Man? He is an incredibly versatile musician who has professionally performed new age, world music, neo-classical, traditional jazz, blues, rock’n’roll, folk and R&B.
He has played more than a dozen different instruments, and is highly proficient on piano and acoustic standup bass.
“Whenever my high school band teacher was lacking an instrument for an upcoming concert, he would put me in a practice room for a few weeks and tell me to learn the part,” remembers Fisher. “That certainly came in handy later when I started composing for orchestras.”
He has performed with jazz great Frank Morgan, the Thelonius Monk-inspired traditional jazz group Evidence Quartet, the Charles Connally Texas Blues Band, Stax Records vocalist Lee Sain, folksinger Sun-Day Martinez, Spanish music legend Antonio Apodaca, and New Mexico’s Trio Jalapeno, among others.
Beyond the world of music, Jeffrey is an accomplished painter (oils and watercolors) who has exhibited in both museums and galleries. He has published five volumes of poetry and a book on Chinese philosophy and martial arts (T’ai Chi Basics). He teaches T’ai Chi Chuan; gives acupressure, reiki and reflexology treatments; and lectures widely on nutrition and healing.
After composing and recording the music of Fairy Tales, it served as the performance soundtrack for “Hans Christian Andersen” which premiered in October 2006 at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs.
It was performed by the San Gorgonio Ballet (comprised of both children and adults including local dancers as well as professionals from such esteemed companies as the Joffrey).
For the piece “Dance of the Butterfly Children,” Fisher says, “I tried to capture the joyous, carefree essence of children dancing.” For the “Red Shoes” story, Fisher uses darker sounds like that of the oboe to portray the trickster character “The Mad Cobbler” who makes the magical, mystical shoes. ]
Fisher created a waltz for the scene in “The Mermaid” in which she goes to the ball to try to catch her prince.
“On this album, I used the full sounds of the orchestra and occasionally gave expressive solos to instruments such as the viola or the bass clarinet that would normally only be heard in the background.”
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FAIRY TALES BY JEFFREY FISHER
[+ Show ]
Jeffrey Fisher is truly a modern-day Renaissance Man, not just adept at a few creative tasks, but do...Jeffrey Fisher is truly a modern-day Renaissance Man, not just adept at a few creative tasks, but dozens upon dozens of different ones. Fortunately for music lovers, his latest endeavor is an original neo-classical orchestral music CD, Fairy Tales, that he created specifically as the score for the ballet “Hans Christian Andersen.” This is music that stands totally on its own as an enjoyable modern classical listening experience, but it also can enchant children and their families as they envision the original timeless stories the music so aptly illustrates.
Fairy Tales orchestrates three of Andersen’s classic children’s storybook fantasies – “Inchellina” (sometimes known as “Thumbellina,” the tiny adventuresome girl searching for someone her size), “Red Shoes” (the story of a selfish dancer taught an important life lesson) and “The Mermaid” (she falls in love with a human prince, but must make difficult decisions). Fisher uses his musical skills to highlight each instrument of the orchestra in a way that not only illustrates the personalities and emotions of the fictional characters, but also perfectly captures the sound of a full orchestra, even though this recorded version was created, instrument by instrument, layer by layer, on a keyboard synthesizer.
Fisher’s CDs can be purchased at select specialty stores and gift shops and online at his website (www.HealingMusicOfTheSouthwest.com), webstores such as www.amazon.com and www.cdbaby.com, and many digital download locations including iTunes.
What makes Jeffrey Fisher a true Renaissance Man? He is an incredibly versatile musician who has professionally performed new age, world music, neo-classical, traditional jazz, blues, rock’n’roll, folk and R&B. He has played more than a dozen different instruments, and is highly proficient on piano and acoustic standup bass. “Whenever my high school band teacher was lacking an instrument for an upcoming concert, he would put me in a practice room for a few weeks and tell me to learn the part,” remembers Fisher. “That certainly came in handy later when I started composing for orchestras.” He has six previous neo-classical/new age CDs, several specifically designed for healing and massage therapy. His other compositions include works for orchestra, string quartet, marching band, jazz band, jazz vocals, solo piano, woodwinds, and acoustic bass in various ensemble settings. He has performed with jazz great Frank Morgan, the Thelonius Monk-inspired traditional jazz group Evidence Quartet, the Charles Connally Texas Blues Band, Stax Records vocalist Lee Sain, folksinger Sun-Day Martinez, Spanish music legend Antonio Apodaca, and New Mexico’s Trio Jalapeno, among others. Fisher even performed Gaelic music on ice instruments at a ski resort situated at 11,000-feet elevation. He graduated from the Grove School of Music in Los Angeles with a certificate in composing and arranging, and went on to study under top teachers to further explore film scoring, orchestration (“We spent a year-and-a-half dissecting every note of Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’.”) and acoustic bass performance (taught by Terry Plumarie and Frank Tusa).
Beyond the world of music, Jeffrey is an accomplished painter (oils and watercolors) who has exhibited in both museums and galleries. He has published five volumes of poetry and a book on Chinese philosophy and martial arts (T’ai Chi Basics). He teaches T’ai Chi Chuan; gives acupressure, reiki and reflexology treatments; and lectures widely on nutrition and healing. Fisher not only believes he can learn anything he sets his mind to, over the years he has taught a wide variety of skills including music, painting, writing, cooking, mathematics, philosophy, and general “educational improvement.” He once ran an ad in a newspaper advertising his ability and willingness to “teach anything to anyone.” When he wasn’t making a living playing music, Jeffrey worked at a variety of jobs including designing and building stage sets off-Broadway, being a motorcycle messenger in New York City, tuning pianos, working in a print-shop and book-bindery in San Francisco, “bucking hay” (stacking bales), picking cherries, cleaning acequias (irrigation ditches) in New Mexico, running art galleries, framing pictures, and building houses (and other construction jobs).
After living and traveling all over the United States, Fisher returned in recent years to the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs, the area where he was born and raised. He often uses nature as inspiration for his art, whether it is fruit groves in his paintings or naturalness in his music. He notes that the album Fairy Tales was composed and recorded totally using solar energy that he installed in his totally off-the-grid home and studio.
He started playing in school bands at age nine with interest in both traditional classical repertoire and the rock’n’roll and rhythm’n’blues he heard on the radio. When he was 13, he read the famous Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda and “other consciousness raising books.” Jeffrey attended Pomona College, where he studied writing, music, acting and experimental theatre. Always an avid reader, and inspired by The Beat Generation poets and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, Fisher headed for San Francisco “to be a beatnik poet.” After attending the Aspen Writers Workshop and New York University’s School of the Arts, Fisher moved to Buffalo to attend the state university there and studied everything from computer languages and neuro-physiology to William Blake and vibraphone. After playing in a popular local rock band and attending the original Woodstock Festival, Fisher began learning guitar and decided to study the origins of blues guitar. Following several years of playing in coffee houses and bars, and traveling across the country several times – one night hanging on to the back of a freight train with one hand with the other holding his 1945 Epiphone acoustic guitar – he ended up in Berkeley where he started playing electric guitar in the blues and R&B “chittlin’ circuit” backing legendary artists. Eventually he switched to standup bass and began to explore the world of jazz with his own group. After several years of intense musical studies in Los Angeles, Fisher moved out of the big city to focus on composition and painting. In the early Nineties, he composed his first full-length orchestral composition (performed at his mother’s memorial), and also enjoyed the first solo museum exhibition of his paintings.
Fisher relocated to New Mexico in 1994 for nearly a decade and lived in a small village outside of Taos. He got his first computer and used it to begin composing and recording original contemporary classical material released on the CDs Moon Song, One Hundred and Eight, Clouds, The Healing and Angels of the Rays. His recording Triumph of the Spirit was composed to accompany the visionary paintings of Taos artist Charles Collins. Fisher also began teaching T’ai Chi, a method for training the mind and body. “T’ai Chi is the basis for my own philosophy and my life - I feel as if I am doing T’ai Chi all the time. We are so lucky to live in an age of so many progressive ideas; it seems like we’re close to a realization that social, political and spiritual consciousness are the same. T’ai Chi helps us slow down, focus, and actually live those ideas; music is a language and a state of being that brings us closer to reality, closer to our true selves. These are arts that can change our world.”
After composing and recording the music of Fairy Tales, it served as the performance soundtrack for “Hans Christian Andersen” which premiered in October 2006 at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs. It was performed by the San Gorgonio Ballet (comprised of both children and adults including local dancers as well as professionals from such esteemed companies as the Joffrey). For the piece “Dance of the Butterfly Children,” Fisher says, “I tried to capture the joyous, carefree essence of children dancing.” For the “Red Shoes” story, Fisher uses darker sounds like that of the oboe to portray the trickster character “The Mad Cobbler” who makes the magical, mystical shoes. Fisher created a waltz for the scene in “The Mermaid” in which she goes to the ball to try to catch her prince. “On this album, I used the full sounds of the orchestra and occasionally gave expressive solos to instruments such as the viola or the bass clarinet that would normally only be heard in the background.”
According to Fisher, “Everything I have learned about life goes into my music – philosophy, physical movement, politics, fictional characterizations, visual art, the rhythms of poetry, experimental theater, healing and spiritual beliefs. Everything in life is more interrelated than most people realize.”
supersonic
