Chuck Israels
Chuck Israels | |
|---|---|
 Chuck Israels in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles H. Israels |
| Born | August 10, 1936 New York City |
| Origin | New York City, New York |
| Genres | Jazz, cool jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, arranger |
| Instrument | Double bass |
| Website | chuckisraelsjazz |
Charles H. Israels (born August 10, 1936)[1] is an American jazz composer, arranger, and bassist who is best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio. He has also worked with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, J. J. Johnson, John Coltrane, and Judy Collins. He has won one Grammy in 2020 for his work on mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato's album "Songplay".
Biography
[edit]Born in New York City,[2] Chuck Israels was raised in a musical family which moved to Cleveland, Ohio, when he was 10. His stepfather Mordecai Bauman was a singer who performed extensively with composer Hanns Eisler. He, along with Israels' mother, Irma Commanday, created a home environment in which music was a part of normal daily activity. Paul Robeson, Pete Seeger, and The Weavers were visitors to the Bauman home. In 1948, the appearance of Louis Armstrong's All Stars in a concert series produced by his parents gave him his first opportunity to meet and hear jazz musicians.
In college, Israels had the opportunity to perform with Billie Holiday. His first professional job after college was working with pianist Bud Powell in Paris. His first professional recording was Stereo Drive (aka Coltrane Time) with John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Kenny Dorham, and Louis Hayes.[1] The recording showcased Israels as a composer with his composition "Double Clutching". Israels is best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1961 through 1966, having replaced the deceased Scott LaFaro, [1] and for the Jazz Repertory as Director of the National Jazz Ensemble from 1973 to 1981.[1] He made recordings with Kronos Quartet and Rosemary Clooney in 1985. He was the Director of Jazz Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington until 2010. In 2011, he created the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra and recorded Second Wind: A Tribute to the Music of Bill Evans in 2013. In 2020 Chuck Israels received a GRAMMY for his work on mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato's album "Songplay".
Humphrey Lyttelton, presenting Jazz 625 in 1965, said that Israels was "a superb technician who handles the double bass as easily as if it were a guitar... Chuck Israels is one of the reasons why musicians have come reeling away from performances by the Bill Evans Trio in a mood poised between elation and utter despair."
Discography
[edit]As leader
[edit]| Year | Album | Group |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | National Jazz Ensemble Vol. 2 | National Jazz Ensemble |
| 1992 | Meeting on Hvar | Chuck Israels International Trio |
| 1998 | The Eindhoven Concert | Chuck Israels and the Metropole Orchestra with Claudio Roditi |
| 1999 | The Bellingham Sessions | Chuck Israels Quartet |
| 2013 | Chaconne a Son Gout | Chuck Israels Quartet |
| 2008 | Convergence | Chuck Israels Trio |
| 2012 | It's Nice to Be with You | Chuck Israels Trio |
| 2013 | Second Wind: A Tribute to the Music of Bill Evans | Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra |
| 1975 | National Jazz Ensemble | National Jazz Ensemble |
| 2015 | Joyful Noise: The Music of Horace Silver | Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra |
| 2016 | Garden of Delights | Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra |
As sideman
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1239. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ Yanow, S. (2015). Chuck Israels: Biography., AllMusic, Retrieved August 31, 2015.
External links
[edit]
- 1936 births
- Living people
- American jazz composers
- Jewish American composers
- American jazz double-bassists
- American male double-bassists
- American music arrangers
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
- Western Washington University faculty
- Jewish jazz musicians
- Musicians from Cleveland
- Jazz musicians from New York (state)
- Jazz musicians from Ohio
- 21st-century American double-bassists
- 21st-century American male musicians
- 21st-century American Jews
- Bill Evans Trio members