Jazz Articles about Chuck Israels

About Chuck Israels

Album Review

Registrato presso gli studi londinesi della BBC il 19 marzo 1965, suddiviso in due set per un totale di un'ora e dieci di musica, rimasterizzata dai nastri originali e disposta su singolo CD o doppio LP, il materiale (inedito) di quest'opera aggiunge un ulteriore tassello al già molto che sappiamo di Bill Evans e dei suoi svariati trii, che com'è noto (e assodato) si pongono ai vertici della letteratura specifica, anche--diremmo soprattutto--come apripista di una linea estetico-stilistico-operativa che sarebbe poi ...

Album Review

Bill Evans: At The BBC 1965

Read "At The BBC 1965" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 27, 2026

Pianist Bill Evans' only performances at London's British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) were taped in March 1965 and broadcast in May and December of that year in two half-hour segments. As it is impossible to invoke Evans' name without adding the word “legendary," that will be done now to avoid needless repetition. This was Evans' second working trio, with bassist Chuck Israels answering the call after Scott LaFaro's untimely death. Larry Bunker replaced Paul Motian, who had taken another ...

Album Review

Bill Evans: At The BBC 1965

Read "At The BBC 1965" reviewed by Jack Kenny

by Jack Kenny
May 4, 2026

Producer Zev Feldman recalls having once purchased a laserdisc of this BBC session--an early testament to his devotion to the music of Bill Evans. Feldman has curated numerous Evans projects for both Elemental Records and Resonance Records; this album marks the fifteenth occasion he has collaborated with the Evans' estate. His earlier releases include Behind the Dikes (Elemental, 2021), the 1969 Netherlands Recordings (Elemental), Some Other Time: The Lost Session from the Black Forest (Resonance, 2016), Another Time: The Hilversum ...

Album Review

Bill Evans: At The BBC 1965

Read "At The BBC 1965" reviewed by Joshua Weiner

by Joshua Weiner
April 17, 2026

Jazz 625 was a British television show, hosted by trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, that ran from 1964 to 1966 on BBC2; the name comes from the higher-resolution 625-line UHF system that the station employed for broadcast. The show featured a variety of British musicians as well as top American artists such as Art Blakey, Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Brubeck, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk and the Modern Jazz Quartet. The archives thus hold a treasure trove of mid-60s jazz and, thankfully, the 35 ...

Book Review

Bass Notes: Jazz In American Culture, A Personal View

by Harvie S
February 25, 2024

Bass Notes: Bass Notes: Jazz In American Culture, A Personal View Chuck Israels 240 Pages ISBN: 1493074849 Backbeat Books 2024 Chuck Israels developed musically in what many would say was an extremely fertile time in Jazz. I'm talking about the 1960s. Of course, his stint with Bill Evans during those years does stand out, but there is so much more. In Bass Notes, Israels has written a book that is aimed ...

Album Review

Bill Evans: Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964)

Read "Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964)" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
November 20, 2023

Maybe it is and maybe it isn't as historical in scope as some of the previous ten archival Bill Evans releases from that master of jazz discovery, Zev Feldman, and Evans' estate, but Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964) is sure fire proof you got nothing but the best on any given night at any given gig by Evans and his cohorts. From the get go, this set--recorded by Evans, bassist Chuck Israels and drummer Larry Bunker at Danish ...

Liner Notes

Bill Evans: Duos With Jim Hall & Trios '64 & '65 Revisited

by Chris May
November 12, 2023

Although the evidence is circumstantial, it is more than possible that Bill Evans' collaborations with Jim Hall came about through proximity to George Russell. Even Alan Douglas, the producer of the duo's first album, did not claim credit for the liaison; and Douglas, who the same year brought together Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, was not shy about coming forward with similar (questionable) claims. Evans was the first to meet Russell when, in late 1955, ...