Crafting Illusions : At 43, Andre Fischer, producer of the record smash ‘Unforgettable,’ is an entertainment business veteran with a variety of interests

So what do you do after you’ve just produced one of the biggest records of the year? In fact, one of the biggest records of quite a few years?

For Andre Fischer, the producer of 11 songs on his wife, Natalie Cole’s, Grammy Award-winning recording “Unforgettable,” the answer is simple: Move on to the next project.

And this one’s not too shabby an outing, either. Imagine Tony Bennett singing a program of 20-plus Frank Sinatra hits--and doing it (in direct contrast to the huge orchestral palette of “Unforgettable”) within the intimate confines of Bennett’s regular rhythm section of pianist Ralph Sharon’s trio.

Scheduled for release in September, “Perfectly Frank” will be yet another twist in the road for a producer and former drummer who prides himself on the kaleidoscopic variety of his interests. His record productions have included work with the group Rufus, featuring Chaka Khan; Janet Jackson; Anita Baker; Diane Schuur, and, coming soon, a jazz album with vibraphonist Milt Jackson.

“Each project is different,” Fischer explains. “On one, you may be called by a record company because they liked your work on something else that they heard, and they figure you may be the best one to work with an act that they have.

“On another, they might call you to act as a trouble-shooter, and they need your experience to handle someone who’s either out of control, or who is immature, or who is a new act in need of an experienced hand.

“You may be called by an artist because you’ve worked with them before, or because they’ve always wanted to work with you, or simply because you’ve both admired each other’s work.”

But what is it, exactly, that Fischer does? Few professions are so vague in the public’s mind as that of record producer. Is he like a film director dealing with a cast of star actors? An orchestra conductor leading an array of virtuosos?

“I’m a hip shop foreman,” says Fischer with a laugh. “I’m a catalyst--in other words, I bring elements together. I protect vulnerabilities. I enhance. I capture. Sometimes I’m a magician, a musician, a mercenary and a psychologist. Sometimes I’m a paid irritant. Other times all I try to do is capture a performance. Which means I have to make the environment exist in such a way that it can happen.

“And that is my art--trying to mix and balance and preserve an illusion. Because what was real is only a musical moment. The rest is a reconstruction of it to try to convince you that that musical moment happens every time you play the tape or the CD. That is the art of producing music.”

Tall and well-conditioned, with the articulate self-confidence of the world traveler he is, Fischer, at 43, is an entertainment business veteran. Accompanying his musician father on the road with such bands as Woody Herman and Harry James, Fischer recalls “sitting in the lap of Dodo Marmarosa and meeting Lennie Tristano (both jazz pianists) when I was 4 years old.

“I can remember being in a hotel room with my dad when Duke Ellington walked in and started talking about Billy Strayhorn. And meeting George Shearing when I was real small, and hanging out at recording sessions with my uncle Clare (Fischer) when he was playing piano and arranging for the vocal group, the Hi-Los.”

Currently renovating a home in Studio City, ever concerned with the details of anything he sets his mind to, Fischer describes each aspect of the process--from the installation of the Mexican tile pavers in the family room to the newly created circular staircase and brick-walled bathroom--with the pride of proprietorship.

But his path from “Unforgettable” to “Perfectly Frank” has not been without pitfalls. Nor did the Bennett production lack its moments of difficulty and high drama.

“Going in to work with Tony--somebody who’s done 92 albums--is like being dropped in a war zone,” says Fischer. “And it’s like you have to be a quick study, assess the turf--which was turf these performers were on before you were born--and know that your interaction with them is going to be based on respect that you have to earn.”

“So you not only have to jump into the war zone, you’ve got to show what you know in a short period of time,” he continues, “while at the same time assessing all their strengths and weaknesses. You’ve got to find out where to tread and where not to tread, and deliver a financially viable product. Because in any recording session, the producer has two masters. One is the record company putting up the money, the corporation; the other is the artist who, after all this period of time, thinks he knows everything there is to know.”

Despite the problems, Fischer has no reservations about the end results. Playing a few early tracks from “Perfectly Frank,” he smiles almost beatifically, listening to Bennett smoothly working his way through “The Lady Is a Tramp” and “Autumn in New York.” It sounds, from this observer’s nonobjective point of view, like some of the best singing Bennett has ever done.

“All productions have their own difficulties,” says Fischer. “But they’re not impossible to surmount. Because if you’re experienced in this business, you know that all this stuff is what comes with producing records. It’s different from other ways of making a living, sure. But if it wasn’t different, it wouldn’t be exciting. It would be rote; it would be General Motors, except we’d be making records instead of cars.”

It’s unlikely that Fischer will do anything as mechanical and predictable as producing cars. Even his more commercially oriented productions are approached with a consideration not only for the details of the work, but also for the overview of the process.

“There are only so many notes, only so many configurations,” he says. “And the one constant in my business--the only constant--is the nature of the technology, the studio tools, used to capture the music. The human condition, and the thought, and the access to the music is constantly changing, and different in each situation.

“If I’m in the studio to manufacture something, as I sometimes am, that requires a certain perspective. To manufacture means I must be competitive with that which is already out there in the market at the moment.”

But Fischer feels best when he is working with the kind of music that generates a creative energy not determined by the needs of the marketplace.

“I was brought up as a jazz and classical elitist,” he says. “Neither titles nor things impress me. Earthquakes and tidal waves impress me. When I go in the studio it feels most wonderful when I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen--when I’m there to capture a moment.”

“Will what I do be in the time capsule as of great value to future generations?” he asks. “Well, let’s keep things in context. It won’t rank up there with (former United Nations Secretary General) Dag Hammarskjold--and people like him who did things that meant something to humanity. But I’m happy with it for what it is. I feel good about the work I do.”