Chuck Israels certainly hasn't rushed to give us his recollections and notions about jazz in America. Now aged 87, the New York-born bass player usually described as a "living legend" has had lengthy, overlapping careers as player, composer/arranger/organiser and college educator. Now, he's found time to finish a look back at all of those aspects of the jazz life, in a mostly autobiographical vein.
Fascinating mainly because of Israel's six years as the bass player in Bill Evans' classic trio, which he joined in 1961 after Scott La Faro's early death. Israels declares that he was never a match for La Faro, but nevertheless helped maintained that trio's extraordinarily creative run through the mid-60s.
Yet while the book doesn't entirely cohere, it contains much fascinating, if sometimes slightly tantalising, material.
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