Clare Fischer is a pianist, composer and bandleader whose influences are wide-ranging--the post-World War II bebop and progressive jazz of pianist Bud Powell and saxophonist Lee Konitz, the dissonance flavorings of classical composers such as Bartok and Shostakovich, the tonal colors of Duke Ellington, and the rhythms of Latin jazz and bossa nova. Though he's focused primarily on jazz throughout his career, in recent decades Fischer has written for pop artists such as Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Prince, and has delved into classical music as well. “I relate to everything," he's said. “I'm not just jazz, Latin, or classical. I really am a fusion of all of those, not today's fusion, but my fusion."

“Extension: Clare Fischer in the 1960s" features some of Fischer's piano-trio work, arrangements he wrote for the Hi-Lo's and Dizzy Gillespie, two of his bossa nova sides with alto saxophonist Bud Shank, and several of his big-band recordings as well.