Dr. Lou Fischer is Professor of Music, Jazz Activities Coordinator and Jazz Ensemble Director at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he directs the big band program, teaches American Pop/Jazz Theory, Beginning/Advanced Jazz Arranging and Contemporary Jazz Bass. A member of the internationally recognized University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band (1971-1974), Dr. Fischer received a BM in Jazz Performance, magna cum laude (1991) and a MA in Composition with honors (1992) from the University of Denver. He holds a Doctor of Arts in Bass Performance with a secondary in theory and composition from Ball State University in Indiana. Dr. Fischer is an honorary life member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda at BSU.
Dr. Fischer's forty plus years in the entertainment industry includes composing and/or performing over two thousand commercial advertisements and over fifty Broadway shows as well as extensive music tours with Bill Watrous; Red Rodney; The Crusaders; Airto; Charlie Byrd; Tony Bennett; Andy Williams; Emmylou Harris; Rich Matteson; and the orchestras of Woody Herman, Louis Bellson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Les Hooper, Tex Beneke and Jimmy Dorsey, among many others. Dr. Fischer has multiple international album releases under his own name and can be heard on numerous recordings, including Steve Houghton's The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited; Bill Watrous' A Time for Love and Bone-ified; Shelly Berg Trio's The Joy; Frank Mantooth Jazz Orchestra's A Miracle; Sunny Wilkinson's High Wire; and Beaux J Poo Boo's All Things Are New as well as the album by Dr. Fischer, Ndugu Chancler, Fred Hamilton and Pat Coil, highTIME.
Dr. Fischer has appeared as a guest director, soloist, clinician and adjudicator at jazz festivals in Europe, Canada, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Australia and Mexico as well as at over two hundred high schools and universities in the United States. He remains in great demand worldwide, having directed the All-State Jazz Ensembles of Colorado, Texas, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee. Dr. Fischer has also directed the Music for All Jazz Band of America on multiple occasions, and he was jazz division faculty and Division Head for the renowned Music for All Summer Symposium from 1996-2010.
A longtime advocate and champion for jazz education, Dr. Fischer is Co-Founder, Past President and Past Operations Administrator of the Jazz Education Network and serves as the Conference Coordinator. His service to the International Association for Jazz Education has included roles as United States Representative, IAJE Executive Board member, Past-President of OH, Leadership-Advocacy Committee Co-Chair, Resource Team member, New Music Instrumental Chair (1989-2008), Midwest Regional Conference Planning Committee member for multiple conferences, performer/clinician/presider at international conferences, Teacher Training Institutes clinician and International Conference Selection Review Process Committee Chair. Dr. Fischer was owner and operator of his own music publishing company for thirteen years, where he distributed over 350 jazz-related materials. With many compositions, articles and method books in print, Dr. Fischer is published by Walrus Publishing, Hal Leonard, Kendor Music and Alfred Music and has been a frequent contributor to JAZZed Magazine, the Jazz Educators Journal and The Instrumentalist. Dr. Fischer plays the Yamaha Silent Basses exclusively.
