Chuck Israels

chuck israels jazz orchestra

second wind album

Chuck Israels' new recording Second Wind: A Tribute To The Music of Bill Evans is now available on Amazon, CD Baby, and Apple Music.

Read the review in Downbeat Magazine

chuck israels bass

SoulPatch Music Productions is proud to represent legendary bassist, composer, bandleader, and educator Chuck Israels.

Revered as one of the best bassists in the world, Mr Israels has performed and recorded with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, J.J. Johnson, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and countless others. 

Chuck Israels is available:

For performances with his quartet or Jazz Orchestra (octet)

  • Recordings as bassist with: Bill Evans Trio, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz Quartet, The Barry Harris Trio, George Russell, Phoebe Snow, Coleman Hawkins, JJ Johnson, Eric Dolphy, Jim Hall, Gunther Schuller, Rosemary Clooney
  • Appearances with Benny Goodman, Bud Powell, Billie Holiday, Barbra Streisand, Dexter Gordon, Gerry Mulligan, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Long Island Philharmonic (Christopher Keene, conductor), Brooklyn Philharmonic (Lukas Foss, conductor)

For masterclasses and clinics

  • Visiting Lecturer and Clinician at Eastman School of Music; University of Illinois; Concordia University, Montreal; New England Conservatory of Music; SUNY, Purchase, NY; Vassar College; University of Toronto; University of Montana; Stanford University; Hochschule fur Musik, Koln; Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Graz; Vienna Conservatory
  • Adjudicator: Essentially Ellington Competition, Jazz@Lincoln Center; Notre Dame Jazz Festival; Martial Solal Concours International de Jazz Piano
  • Director of Jazz Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington; California State University, Hayward, CA
  • Professor of Jazz Studies, National Faculty, Olympia, Washington; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

For commissions to compose, rehearse, and conduct music for any group, band, or orchestra including big bands and symphony orchestra:

  • Compositions and arrangements performed by Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Berkshire Music Center, Richard Stoltzman, Eastman Jazz ensemble, Swedish Radio Jazz Orchestra, West German Radio Jazz Orchestra, North German Radio Jazz Orchestra, Radio Denmanrk Jazz Orchestra, Hannover Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra.
  • As conductor/composter/arranger: The Eindhoven Concert - Metropole Orchestra, Claudio Roditi, trumpet soloist (Azica Records); Hannover Philharmonic plays music composed and conducted by Chuck Istraels (Holland), Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, RIAS Big Band (Berlin Radio)
  • Conductor, Broadway productions of "Promises, Promises"; Guest Conductor, Hannover Symphony, Metropole Orchestra (Holland); Music Advisor for Paul Simon album, "Still Crazy After All These Years"

Here's what others are saying about Chuck Israels...

"This is a big band with an approach that differs from other large organizations, new and old...  Israels' charts are the heart of his band's unique personality.  It is definitely not a band that clubs you into submission.  It is mellow, subtle, highly melodic, with lines that move in wondrous ways.

This is not to say that the band deos not swing or that it does not reach peaks that excite the audience.  Its long suit, however, is the coloration and emotional depth it achieves through the voicings and judicious use of solo space.. Israels has fashioned an orchestra that flows in beautirul channels, and beauty is something jazz can use these days.

This is a band to check out.  The originals are original, the standards are freshly reworked, and they are played with passion and understanding.  The pulse, never bombastic, moves the listener as surely as it moves the band.  Israels deserves a lot of credit, but more importantly, the opportunity to be widely heard."
Ira Gitler, Down Beat

“...a fine musician who combines originality with the finest bass sound this side of Chaliapin.”
Eric Salzman, New York Herald Tribune 

“He (Bill EVans) was frequently overshadowed by the forthright solo work of his bassist, Chuck Israels, who produced a rich tone and gave his solos firm, explicit form.”
John S. Wilson, New York Times  

“Chuck Israels is supple and alert, and his solos are the most impressive he has yet recorded.”
Nat Hentoff, Jazz Review 

“He is in the company of the most stimulating writers of the day.”
Doug Ramsey, JazzTimes  

“One of best bassists on the face of the earth. Not too many like him”
Dr. Barry Harris

“… a musician to the ends of his fingertips”
Jazz Magazine, Paris