Born into a music-infused environment ("When I was two years old, I used to lie underneath our grand piano with our dog while he was practicing or composing"), Brent quickly displayed an interest in, and affinity for, his father's calling, and the wholehearted support afforded his youthful explorations – "I was playing on cardboard boxes when I was three years old; he got me my first drum set when I was six"[2] – reaped early dividends for both father and son, as recalled in an interview recorded shortly after Fischer's death in January 2012: I got interested in electric bass when I was 14 and he got me an instrument.
[1]While continuing to perform and record with Salsa Picante, Fischer also began to assist his father in his commercial arranging assignments, commencing in 1985 with Prince's album Parade (not coincidentally, the first time the elder Fischer had been called upon by one of his arranging clients to participate in such a large proportion of an album's contents); his task was to provide transcriptions of the basic audio tracks sent by the clients.
[2]During that decade, Fischer continued to pursue his formal education, earning a Bachelor of Music Degree in Symphonic Percussion from California State University Northridge in 1988.
[4] However, it was not that milestone, but rather an unforeseen and unfortunate occurrence approximately one year later, that suddenly and dramatically upgraded Fischer's responsibilities vis-à-vis his father's career.
Initially, as he would recount in a 2005 lecture, this consisted simply of taking on some of the jobs his father had declined: My part started about 12, 13 years ago, when there were certain arrangements that he wasn't interested in doing.
[9]A more significant example of the latter phenomenon occurred in 2004, when those same health concerns that had already forced Fischer to step down as director of his various ensembles now prevented him from making good on a commission received from the hr Big Band of Frankfurt, requesting a jazz arrangement of Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition".
Again, speaking in 2011, Brent Fischer recounted his impromptu initiation into professional big band arranging: [H]e hadn't really gotten anything more than a sketch down on paper when his diabetes flared up.
He has worked tirelessly and, having absorbed my style over the decades, is uniquely qualified to direct these recordings, in some cases finishing works for me so, at my age, I can just listen and enjoy.While engaged in this ambitious undertaking on his father's behalf, Fischer began to build his own arranging résumé, providing backgrounds for artists such as Toni Braxton, Eric Benet, Kirk Franklin, Usher, Al Jarreau and Michael Jackson.
In retrospect, the hastening of Brent's efforts proved well-judged, as his father did not live to see his album's Grammy bid fall short, dying on January 26, 2012, more than two weeks prior to the awards ceremony.
[2] Also included is an original composition of his own, entitled "Rainforest", a radical reworking of his "Undiscovered Rainforest" (a piece previously commissioned and recorded by a Dutch ensemble, the Zapp String Quartet) as well as his arrangement of Clare's "San Francisco P.M." This time around, his efforts, and his father's, would be rewarded on February 10, 2013, with Brent's first – and Clare's first posthumous – Grammy Award[11] (the second, overall, for Fischer, the first having greeted the father and son's first recorded collaboration in 1981).
Following on the heels of his father's much-belated and oft-recounted reunion, circa late 1992, early 1993, with high school sweetheart Donna Van Ringelesteyn,[12] Fischer met his future wife, Parisa Mansoory, shortly thereafter.
With The Black Cats With Natalie Cole With Clare Fischer With Kirk Franklin With Elvis Schoenberg's Orchestre Surreal With Summer Rapture With Ray Zod With Eric Benet With Toni Braxton With Elvis Costello and The Roots With D'Angelo and the Vanguard With Dominique Dalcan With Clare Fischer With Kirk Franklin With Michael Jackson With Al Jarreau With Krista With Prince With The HR Big Band With Usher With Vanessa L. Williams With Coko With Dru Hill With Prince With Raphael Saadiq With Joss Stone With Teena Marie With Terri Walker