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Ike Isaacs - Guitarist 1919-96
Ike Isaacs
Ike was born in Rangoon, Burma in 1919 -
their forebears being of Baghdadi Jewish
origins. They emigrated to London as young adults, where his son Mark
was born. The family then emigrated again to Australia when Mark was
four.
Ike was a chemistry graduate he
chose to pursue a career in music & started his own Jazz group while in
India - the family left Burma
for India and Isaacs was employed by the Maharajah of Patiala. In 1944 Ike turned pro with the Leslie Douglas Bomber Command
Band. He later joined Cyril Stapleton's BBC Show Band as their guitarist
& worked on a series of orchestral albums. He played for 12 years with
the Ted Heath Band & featured in Braden's Weeks & the Max Bygrave Show
& has made several Albums, notably - Ike Isaacs Lutes & Flutes - The
Music of Michel Le Grand. Ike joined the Diz Disley Trio on their world
tour with Stephane in 1974.
Worked as a chemist. In the UK
in the late 40s he freelanced, playing radio shows and leading his own
small groups. Among the musicians with whom he played and sometimes
recorded during the 40s and 50s were
Ted
Heath,
Ralph Sharon. A busy session musician, very active in studio
work and playing in all manner of musical styles, Isaacs' first love was
for jazz and through the 60s, 70s and 80s he played with leading jazz
musicians, A notable player on both acoustic and electric guitars,
Rangoon 1940 - LR Paul Ferraz sb, Reuben
Solomon cl, Dean Wong vcl, Cedric West gtr, Ike Isaacs gtr
In 1942, two young, self taught jazz guitarists
, arrived in Calcutta from Burma, the eastern most outpost of what was British
India. Fleeing on foot, barely ahead of the Japanese, were part of Reuben
Solomon’s Jive Boy’s..one of the hottest bands in Rangoon. Ike Isaacs went
from Calcutta to Mussoorie and played in a hotel there until he left for England
on a scholarship around the same time as Cedric. Ike was also self taught.
Described as a master technician, Ike Isaacs was the dominant guitarist in
English jazz until the mid-1970s. Ike is featured in the list of the great jazz
guitarists. He played with all the greats, including a 2 year world tour with
Stephane Grapelli.


Isaacs was an autodidact, and started playing
professionally while he was a chemistry student at University. In 1946 he moved
to England where he freelanced for many years; he played in the BBC Show Band,
as well as with George Chisholm (1956) and Barney Kessel (1968).
In the 1960s and 1970s he played with Stephane
Grappelli extensively, including with Diz Disley's Hot Club of London. Isaacs
played with Digby Fairweather, Len Skeat (Bass) and Denny Wright in the group
Velvet in the 1970s as well. Isaacs moved to Australia in the 1980s, where
he taught at the Sydney Guitar School.

1959
Ike Isaacs talks guitars with two fellow Guitarists
Bert Weedon & Jack
Llewellyn
during a break in his recording session
Photograph by Mark Hamilton

1954 New Musical
Express Poll Winners
Firstly,
musical expression and performance must not be likened to athletics or such
competitions, with one assessing if this person plays faster than the other,
or more technically and so on or so forth, comparing each feature of one’s
playing with that of another. In such cases, one is blinded by a player’s
prowess in a particular technical facet and overlooks the essence of ability,
the finished product, in which one or more of the constituents may not even rise
to very great heights. When one enjoys a beautiful painting, one does not say
that the red of X is better than Y’s, or that their greens are not as good as
Z’s. It is the impact of the picture that counts, and the hall-mark of a
true artist is his ability to portray a work in its entirety to the satisfaction
of the viewer or listener, and with such an impact as to move him emotionally or
aesthetically.
In fact, I was having a conversation with guitarist Alan Hodgkiss-who will be
remembered by many, I am sure, as an excellent guitarist who played with
Stephane Grappelly in the mid-forties and also knew Reinhardt personally. Alan
is now not only a teacher of guitar, but also an authority on modern art, and he
stresses the importance of form, whether musically or in art and asserts that
any great performance is so complete in its form that any addition would
certainly be superfluous; and taking anything out would give a sense of
imbalance. He also spoke of the necessity of self expression in the arts;
the completeness of an artistic person’s development has to embrace many of its
aspects and therefore the inter-relation of the art forms should be experienced
and understood by the musician if he wants to mature. Alan holds art classes in
which he encourages well known musicians to express themselves through painting,
and it is becoming apparent that this other stimulant is having advantageous
results on their musical performance, too!
Returning to the players we had in London last month, I have reviewed the
concert elsewhere, but observing their approach to playing, I feel the following
sentiments: That to them, playing is an extension of a natural
function, like scratching one’s head, or clapping one’s hands. To advance
in one’s own playing, this is an important side to be cultivated-an absolute
familiarity with the instrument and no fear, nor negative emotions towards
playing. A sense of enjoyment is so very important because it definitely
communicates itself to the listener and it does not tire the player, but
replenishes his energy.
This fact can be seen in players at a jazz club and those that have to be
bread-and-butter (clock watching) musicians. In fact, I am sure one or more of
us has experienced the exuberance felt in the former situation, whereas a sense
of boredom and lack of enthusiasm arises in the second
circumstance. The only way to benefit is to try and develop this alive
attitude to your own playing, whatever you have to do. As I have told some of
my guitar-playing friends whenever I have heard a grumble: “Be thankful that you
have the good fortune to be earning your living using a pick rather than a
pick-axe!”
From
Ike Isaacs Guitar Forum published in the Crescendo magazine.
 
Ike made a number of light music recordings,
with Cedric West and Gordon Toland on
- Sounds of Guitar,
I Love Paris
Themes from the Small Screen
Ike Isaacs
on Video 1993
Ike Isaacs
with Dave Smith 1994
Book, 24 pages

Ike Isaacs, who died in
1996, was one of the great chordal masters of the guitar, with a sophisticated
harmonic sense that would transform a jazz standard into a shimmering
masterpiece. As a follow-up to his best-selling book Guitar Moods� (out of print
but can still be found), Ike wrote this collection of distinctive solo guitar
pieces to encompass a variety of musical styles, compositional ideas and guitar
techniques to expand the guitarist's awareness of the harmonic possibilities of
the instrument. Includes Starlight, which Ike performs on
his
CD Intimate Interpretations. Ike was a strong mentor to accomplished British
jazz guitarist, - Martin Taylor.
Ike Isaacs
and I used to play every Thursday at the Pizza On The Park—that was my first
experience of duo work. It’s a fantastic thing to do, because there’s no room
for mistakes you’re so exposed. Working with Ike Isaacs was a great experience
for me I consider him to be one of the greatest guitar players ever. My
association with Ike in those few years really transformed me; I really grew as
a musician, through working with him. I learned so much from Ike, just sitting
playing together he knows things that nobody else knows on the guitar. He’s
unbelievable. He can get the message across very well—he’s a very good teacher.
Yes, he taught me a lot about the guitar—a lot about life too. We’ve become
very, very good friends, and we were always having philosophical debates, you
know. I miss him a lot. I’d like to do the duo thing again with Ike. Maybe he’ll
read this and come back and see us!

circa 1976 - Phil Bates - Bass, Diz Disley,
Stephane, Ike Isaacs,
Ike Isaacs Documentary
Listen to his story and his masterful playing. For
the last fifteen years of his life Ike lived and taught in Sydney and became a
much loved member of the Sydney jazz community. Quite a story for a self
taught young men who passed through Calcutta and benefited from the jazz culture
of the time ..and proved to the world that jazz musicians from the subcontinent
could be worldclass !.
Melody Maker Jazz
Polls - Guitar
1957 Guitar
1. Ken Sykora (1923 votes)
2. Dave Goldberg (1234)
5. Ivor Mairants (410)
6. Ike Isaacs (324)
10. Cedric West (40)
11. Roy Plummer (31)
1958 Guitar
1. Ken Sykora (49.4%)
4. Dave Goldberg (6.7)
5. Ike Isaacs (6.4)
6 Ivor Mairants (4.2)
10. Roy Plummer (0.7)
1959 Guitar
1. Dave Goldberg (28.0%)
3. Ken Sykora (22.5)
4. Ike Isaacs (6.8)
8. Ivor Mairants(2.2)
The Ike Isaacs International Guitar Competition

Impromptu jam session pose on the Summerfield stand at the British Music Fair,
London c. 1976. Left to right:
Louis Gallo with CSL D Gypsy {sales tag still attached), Ray Gallo (playing an
oval sound hole CSL Gypsy),
Ike Isaacs and Maurice Summerfield on cutaway Electric Ibanez models.
Ike's nephew Australian-based pianist-composer Mark Isaacs
(b. 1958) has pursued a unique and demanding career path that has seen him gain
international acclaim in both jazz and classical music. Such diversity was
nurtured in the crucible of a highly musical family. Mark's father was on
friendly terms with many of the biggest names in jazz. Duke Ellington came for
dinner one time and there were visits from George Benson, Joe Pass, Wes
Montgomery, Barney Kessel
and many others. As Mark grew older he would have informal jams with some of the
famous musicians who would visit the Isaacs household. Mark's father was
an accomplished jazz guitarist and songwriter who had one of his songs recorded
and released by Petula Clark and his mother had been trained as a classical
pianist as well as often singing jazz standards.
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