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SHORT
BIOGRAPHY
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(Download as Word Document) |
Chuck Israels is a composer/arranger/bassist who has worked with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, J.J. Johnson, John Coltrane, and many others. He is best known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1961 through 1966 and for his pioneering accomplishments in Jazz Repertory as Director of the National Jazz Ensemble from 1973 to 1981. He is now the Director of Jazz Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
Chuck is a guest composer/director with various European jazz ensembles and orchestras as well as a frequent performer with the Barry Harris Trio. "The Eindhoven Concert," a CD of Chuck's compositions and arrangements, played by the Metropole Orchestra under Chuck's direction, with trumpet soloist Claudio Roditi, has been released on Azica Recordings. "The Bellingham Sessions" is his most recent small group release as a leader (Audio Ideas Recordings). Mood Records has released a concert of Chuck's compositions and arrangements played by the Hannover Philharmonic Orchestra under his direction, and Chiaroscuro Records has just released historic National Jazz Ensemble recordings on CD.
Among Chuck's many recordings as a bassist, some outstanding ones include: Coltrane Time, with John Coltrane; My Point of View, with Herbie Hancock; Getz au Go-Go, with Stan Getz; and many recordings with the Bill Evans Trio, including The Town Hall Concert; The Second Trio; Trio '65; Live at the Trident; Time Remembered; and Live at Shelley's Manne Hole.
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LONG
BIOGRAPHY
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(Download as Word Document) |
Bassist and composer, Chuck Israels was raised in a musical family. His step-father, Mordecai Bauman is a singer who performed extensively with composer Hanns Eisler and who, along with Chuck's 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 and the appearance of Louis Armstrong's All Stars in a concert series produced by his parents in 1948 gave Chuck his first opportunity to meet and hear jazz musicians.
Chuck studied the cello and played guitar in junior high school. Later musical training took place at Indian Hill, a summer workshop in the arts directed by his parents and at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City. A year at Massachusetts Institute ...
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PHOTOS
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Chuck Steve & Arnie Harvard - 1957 |
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Photo: John Meloy |