Career
He has also worked with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, J. J. Johnson, John Coltrane, Judy Collins and many others Born in New York City, Chuck Israels was raised in a musical family which had relocated to Cleveland, Ohio when Chuck was 10. He, along with Chuck"s mother, Irma Commanday, created a home environment in which music was a part of normal daily activity.
In college, Israels had the opportunity to perform with Billie Holiday, and his first professional job out of college was working with pianist Bud Powell in Paris.
His first professional recording was Coltrane Time (originally Stereo Drive) featuring John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Kenny Dorham, and Louis Hayes. The recording showcased Israels as a composer with his composition "Double Clutching".
He made recordings with Kronos Quartet and Rosemary Clooney in 1985. He was the Director of Jazz Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham until 2010.
Chuck Israels currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
In 2011, Israels created the "Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra" with some of the city"s best musicians, who released the critically acclaimed recording Second Wind: A Tribute to the Music of Bill Evans in 2013. Humphrey Lyttelton, presenting Jazz 625 in 1965, once 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.".