It might not be expedient to suggest that Clare Fischer is responsible defining what Big Bands should sound like. Duke Ellington did that. Nor did he take musical drama and Duke Ellington’s concepts to a new level. Charles Mingus did that. But it would be remiss not to acknowledge that Mr. Fischer was masterful and intuitive in his approach to music as he melted the musical horizon, then blurring it so a plethora of musical dialects informed his music. He dipped his sonic brush into a palette so infinite that he woke up the world to beautiful musical colours. With good reason. Clare Fischer gave new meaning to the term multi-instrumentalist. No musician was so masterful on so many instruments and as a result almost no one could write so beautifully for the instruments that comprised a big band. This is what made him so special. And how beautifully this shows on his records! And there is new reason to celebrate: Pacific Jazz a wonderful new collection of music—some of which is performed by the master himself—is out. And not soon enough, lest we forget Clare Fischer, his son, Brent Fischer is keeping his father’s legacy alive.