Triumph of the Spirit by Jeffrey Fisher

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A quick wit slowed his progress through public schools, but by high school Jeff was already composing, writing papers on relativity theory, and receiving his first rejection notices on poems sent to the New Yorker and Saturday Review. His parents had plans for him to study law, and Jeff compromised by majoring in theatre in college and dropping out a year later to be a beatnik poet in San Francisco. Though he studied vibraphone and percussion, piano, composing and arranging at different schools and universities, Jeff usually sought out working musicians to help guide his progress.

After an exciting and eventful year composing for theatre, working with a lightshow company, and performing with the Buffalo-based rock band Dope Wash in 1969, Jeff undertook a ten-year study of the blues. Hitchhiking and riding trains to lower his overhead, he brought his musical and songwriting talents into various clubs and coffeehouses from New York to San Francisco, Mexico to Canada. Landing in Oakland, California, he played with blues and soul groups, and became immersed in jazz. He learned the string bass, and started arranging for a six-piece jazz ensemble. 1985 saw him studying composition and film scoring in Los Angeles.

In 1989 he opened his own art gallery, and has had shows at both museums and galleries. Moving to a small village in the mountains of Northern New Mexico in 1994, he absorbed and performed the local music, and played keyboard and piano with local bands at hotels, restaurants, television and local festivals. In 1995-96, he produced six albums of neo-classical music for healing and massage background. He began to teach T'ai Chi and give Acupressure/Reiki/Reflexology treatments to supplement his income from bucking hay and cleaning acequias.

Jeffrey A. Fisher was a founding member of the Evidence Quartet, which worked steadily in Taos and popularized the music of Thelonius Monk. Fisher also performed with jazz great Frank Morgan, Spanish music legend Antonio Apodaca, Gaelic music on ice instruments at 11,000 feet and solo piano regularly at the Sad Café and the historic Plaza Hotel.

Jeffrey Fisher is now playing bass in Los Angeles, working through the Musicians Union, Local 47; and working on a new CD based on "Search for Peace," a symphonic piece he composed and had performed for his mother's memorial in 1990.

He also author of a book on Chinese philosophy and martial arts, five volumes of poetry and forthcoming books on cooking/nutrition, the I-Ching and meditation. He teaches Tai Chi Chuan, practices Reiki and Reflexology, and lectures widely on nutrition and healing. His collected compositions include works for orchestra, string quartet, marching band, jazz and vocal arrangements, piano, string bass and woodwind ensemble.

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