John Fischer

This article is about the American painter and creative jazz musician; he is not to be confused with the Austrian jazz bassist and music producer Johnny Fischer . For other people, see John Fisher (disambiguation) .

John J. Fischer (born August 11, 1930 in Antwerp , Belgium, † August 17, 2016 in New York City ) was an American pianist , composer and painter .

In the 1970s he was one of the most important figures on the New York loft scene and ran the Environ music gallery with his wife, Frances Fischer-Waaskes . More than a thousand events have taken place there. Everything that was well known in the experimental jazz scene in the USA at that time has performed there - for example. B. Anthony Braxton or the Art Ensemble of Chicago .

Career

Fischer did not come to the USA until he was 15, after his parents were fleeing Nazi Germany - Fischer is of Jewish origin - first found shelter in Vichy France and then stayed in Cuba for two years before moving to the USA in New York were allowed to. In the 1950s and 1960s, John Fischer worked successfully as an artist. His bread sculptures and his baking performances in Central Park were particularly well received. He was invited several times to the famous Johnny Carson Show. Through his friendship with Perry Robinson he found access to the New York improvisation scene and founded the group Interface , which was also successful in Germany. ( Moers Festival . Berlin Jazz Days ). Since the early 1980s, he lived temporarily at his second residence in Geneva . Here he put together the group European Interface, which has given concerts at many festivals in Europe. ( Saalfelden , Leipzig , Bregenz , Amsterdam , etc.). Since the beginning of the 1990s, John Fischer concentrated increasingly on painting. Fischer designed digital images using computers. But he also gave occasional concerts with the band Interface , which included Perry Robinson and Vincent Chancey .

Since 1995 Fischer has been a regular lecturer for free painting and computer art at the Marburg Summer Academy .

Discography (selection)

• Composers Collective Poum : Perry Robinson, Mark Whitecage, Laurence Cook , Mario Pavone (1974)
• Interface with Mark Whitecage , Perry Robinson, Armen Halburian , Rick Kilburn, John Shea, Jay Clayton , Laurence Cook (1975)
• Interface with Marion Brown (1979)
• European Interface The Bregenz Session with Theo Jörgensmann , Andrea Centazzo and Melvyn Poore (1983)
• Environ Days with Lester Bowie , Perry Robinson, Charles Tyler , Arthur Blythe (1991)
• The New Interface Trio , with Mike Richmond , Ben Kilmer (1994)

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• Allan Stone Gallery New York 1964
• Allan Stone Gallery New York 1970
• Palais de Nations Geneva 1981
• Atelier Rolf Glasmeier Gelsenkirchen 1985
• Jazz meets Art Zurich 1985

literature

• Kunzler Jazz Lexicon 2002

Web links

• Pianist John Fischer died in New York at the age of 86 (obituary by Hans Kumpf on the Jazzpages)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Kumpf: Pianist John Fischer died in New York at the age of 86. www.jazzpages.com, September 3, 2016, accessed September 7, 2016 .