Biography
Horst Fisher spent his teenage years living through the Second World War, then entered young adulthood just as his native Chemnitz was rechristened Karl Marx Stadt and turned into a showcase for the East German system. Local authorities commissioned an enormous sculpted head of Karl Marx that resembled an oversized pool ball given human features. Around the same time, Fisher took up the trumpet, first working in the small groups led by Ernst Knauth and Karl Walter before joining the sizable radio orchestra based in Leipzig during the final years of the 1940s.
His admiration for American jazz trumpeters embraced a wide range of approaches. When Leonard Feather invited him to submit a list of favorites for the Encyclopedia of Jazz, Fisher named Maynard Ferguson for his flamboyant high-note displays, Clifford Brown for his intricate improvisational command, Chet Baker and Miles Davis for their introspective lyricism, and Conte Candoli for his polished studio precision. He omitted any reference to the free-form brass style later associated with Donald Ayler, an approach that had not yet emerged. By the early 1950s Fisher had become the featured soloist with Erwin Lehn’s dance orchestra, appearing regularly on radio programs broadcast from Stuttgart, then located on the western side of the barrier officially termed the anti-Fascist protection barrier. In 1957 he achieved success leading his own large ensemble on a Philips session. He can also be heard on several dates with Bert Kaempfert, the specialist in atmospheric arrangements, including the 1982 Polydor album Now and Forever.
His admiration for American jazz trumpeters embraced a wide range of approaches. When Leonard Feather invited him to submit a list of favorites for the Encyclopedia of Jazz, Fisher named Maynard Ferguson for his flamboyant high-note displays, Clifford Brown for his intricate improvisational command, Chet Baker and Miles Davis for their introspective lyricism, and Conte Candoli for his polished studio precision. He omitted any reference to the free-form brass style later associated with Donald Ayler, an approach that had not yet emerged. By the early 1950s Fisher had become the featured soloist with Erwin Lehn’s dance orchestra, appearing regularly on radio programs broadcast from Stuttgart, then located on the western side of the barrier officially termed the anti-Fascist protection barrier. In 1957 he achieved success leading his own large ensemble on a Philips session. He can also be heard on several dates with Bert Kaempfert, the specialist in atmospheric arrangements, including the 1982 Polydor album Now and Forever.