Pioneer Jazz Educator At College of The Canyons
Even in the 1970s, many major academic institutions and music conservatories had yet to incorporate jazz studies into traditional music pedagogy. Even though there were music institutions with strong jazz programs, finding qualified teachers — those who were at the pinnacle of their field — meant having to draw from the jazz profession, rather than from academia. The College of the Canyons found Fischer by accident. At the suggestion of his wife, Roz, Fischer visited COC as a possible outlet to play his horn and to meet others with like interests. It didn't take long for COC to figure out who he was. In 1977, Fischer became the first Instructor of Jazz Studies at College of the Canyons. At COC, he quickly established a formidable program and built it over twenty-eight years, retiring February 12, 2005. Of the many legacies Fischer built, he spearheaded the first RK Downs Jazz Festival, held Annually at COC. Fischer helped build it over the years.
Read more about this topic: Stewart "Dirk" Fischer, California
Famous quotes containing the words pioneer, jazz and/or college:
“America is the civilization of people engaged in transforming themselves. In the past, the stars of the performance were the pioneer and the immigrant. Today, it is youth and the Black.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
“There’s more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that’s because the audience doesn’t really know what’s happening.”
—Pat Metheny (b. 1954)
“I never feel so conscious of my race as I do when I stand before a class of twenty-five young men and women eager to learn about what it is to be black in America.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American college professor. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B3 (July 27, 1994)