PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro

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.

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Last modified: 25/08/2010