Residence Richmond, California Occupation Jazz Trumpet player | Nationality United States | |
Born October 18, 1926 (age 90) ( 1926-10-18 ) Huntsville, Texas, United States | ||
Frank R. Fisher (born 1926 in Huntsville, Texas) is a jazz trumpeter, music arranger, and composer. He has lived in Parchester Village, Richmond, California, since the 1950s. He is one of the oldest jazz musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area still performing.
Career
Fisher is a San Francisco Bay Area Jazz musician. He has been involved with music for over 70 years. He was a part of the early days of Jazz in the Fillmore District, San Francisco, California in the 40s and 50s. The Fillmore district was known as “Harlem of the West". The Fillmore became a predominately African American community during the WWII era. In 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated all interned people of Japanese origin to internment camps throughout western United States. As the Japanese population was relocated and moved out, African Americans moved into the Fillmore and Western Addition area of San Francisco.
The Fillmore District had dozens of well known Jazz clubs and over two-dozen venues. during its heyday. It was at its peak after World War II. It was known as the San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era and renaissance. One of the most famous Jazz spots in the Fillmore was Jimbo's Bop City. Many famous Jazz artists performed at Bop City, and at the clubs in the Fillmore district. Such artists as; Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Lionel Hampton, Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Stan Getz, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, Billy Eckstine, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Art Tatum, Pony Poindexter, Charlie Parker, Kenny Dorham, Jimmy Heath, Woody Herman, John Handy, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Zoot Sims. Mr. Fisher was a part of the Great Migration (African American)s, to the West Coast in the 40s.
The Fillmore Jazz scene went into decline during the 1960s, it was targeted as a 'blighted area', and was dismantled by Urban renewal.
In 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated all interned people of Japanese origin to internment camps throughout western United States. As the Japanese population was relocated and moved out, African Americans moved into the Fillmore and Western Addition area of San Francisco.
The African American community of the Fillmore District of San Francisco, California experienced growth during World War II, due to the influx of African Americans migrating to the West Coast Kaiser Shipyards of the San Francisco Bay Area, and war industry jobs. African American migrants from the South came in large numbers to work for the war industry. Black Americans settled in an area of San Francisco that was previously occupied by Japanese. In 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which interned and relocated Japanese populations throughout the United States of America.
The Fillmore district was targeted for Urban renewal, by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. In 1948 the Fillmore district was by San Francisco's city officials declared to be blighted and bulldozed. San Francisco's African American Fillmore neighborhood which was seen by some as prominent, and by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency as blighted was dismantled. The agency admits its failure. [5] The Fillmore district declined in the 60s. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency will be shutting its doors in January 2016, in the Western Addition. It was in existence for 40 years. The closing of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency's "urban renewal" efforts by the Agency itself as a failure. It did not end 'blight'. The Fillmore was a black community with thriving business, nightclubs, barbershops, banks and retail stores. [6]
He performs regularly with the 19-member Junius Courtney Big Band and arranges musical charts. He has been a member of the Junius Courtney Band since the 1960s.