Book cover of 'Jazz Arrangements of Public Domain Songs' by Chuck Israels, with a sketch of a man transcribing music and text about jazz arrangements on a brown background.

Jazz Arrangements of Public Domain Songs

By Chuck Israels

Jazz Arrangements of Public Domain Songs | Classic Americana Reimagined by Chuck Israels

This is a completely unique collection of jazz arrangements of classic American songs by the great Chuck Israels who, besides being a legendary bassist with the Bill Evans Trio, has spent many years honing his jazz arranging skills. 

This is a set of lead sheets that are both familiar and surprisingly new — perfect for players of all skill levels who want to explore classic, underplayed material in a modern jazz context.

The song list includes:

  • Jazz-oriented lead sheets for Tin Pan Alley songs, like "The Man I Love," "You Made Me Love You," "Always," "Bye Bye Blackbird" and many more.

  • Traditional Americana tunes, but given new life with Chuck Israels' hip, jazz sensibility — like "Shenandoah," "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Careless Love." 

  • Tunes that you and your audiences will recognize but have never been given jazz interpretations before. For example, please listen to "School Days," and "What'll I Do," etc. in the sample songs below.

  • A half-dozen songs with more elaborate, three-voice arrangements - great for more concert-like situations.

“Years of exposure to the way Bill Evans worked gave me some understanding of his arranging methods, and they became an essential part of the way I hear accompaniments to songs. I became intrigued by the possibilities of applying this kind of meticulous approach to some wonderful public domain songs I knew of and this book is the result.”

— Chuck Israels

Spiral-bound, 130 pages, Table of Contents.

Sample tunes: The Love Nest, Shenandoah

Do yourself a favor and listen to the sample songs below - you'll be amazed!

Sample Tracks:

  1. School Days
  2. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
  3. Careless Love
  4. Wayfaring Stranger
  5. Toot Toot Tootsie
  6. What'll I Do
  7. Shenandoah
  8. Deed I Do
  9. April Showers

Endorsements:

“This is a valuable collection of tunes often overlooked by jazzers. These songs represent very early Great American Standards and Mr. Israels quartet makes a great case for adding some of these tunes to your jazz repertoire. Thanks, Chuck, for a great job.”
— Jamey Aebersold 

“This book looks great - a wonderful resource for musicians. And Chuck's arrangements really let the song be the star of the show, a mark of a truly great arranger.”
— Alan Pasqua 

“Chuck Israels has a new book, Jazz Arrangements of Public Domain Songs, published by Sher Music. If you want to hear pure beauty, click on the audio samples of Chuck's arrangements on the bottom of its webpage at www.shermusic.com. Perfect for schools and jazz ensembles.”
— Marc Myers, JazzWax
Format: Print
$24.00
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Primary Instrument: All Instruments

“Congratulations to the great Chuck Israels on his marvelous new work, Jazz Arrangements of Public Domain Songs. Albert "Tootie" Heath often told me that the reason why he loved playing so much with Barry Harris, John Lewis, and Cedar Walton was because of their deep knowledge of melodies and their ability to incorporate them into their solos. This lost art can only be revived if there is access to these beautiful songs of yesteryear. Thank you, Chuck, for creating these wonderful arrangements and shining a light on these buried treasures.”
— Jeb Patton

“The arrangements in this book evoke in me varied and unique emotions — wistfulness, a child-like simplicity, and nostalgia for a slower-paced, less frenetic era, among other things not usually associated with jazz. But thankfully jazz is a big tent and it just got bigger with the inclusion of a whole bunch of new vehicles for improvising. Enjoy!”
— Chuck Sher

“Chuck has put together some great arrangements and really nice changes on a number of Public Domain songs, such as "After You've Gone", "Deed I Do" and others. His reharmonizations are clear and sound the way the tunes should have been written in the first place! Creative and functional both. I look forward to playing some of these myself. Highly recommended!”
— Jay Thomas

“This is a two-fer of the best kind: Chuck Israels makes it clear how in debt he is to the genius of Bill Evans, yet still establishes his unique voice with these varied arrangements. This is a must-have for any forward-thinking (yet past-honoring) jazz arranger/composer.”
— Randy Halberstadt

“This book is a terrific resource for jazz musicians and teachers. Chuck Israels' hip harmonizations make the songs fun to improvise over, and his astute arrangements contain multiple lessons on how to add color and motion to what were originally quite simple, and often relatively static, progressions. We're lucky to have this distillation of his deep knowledge of American music.”
— Dan Greenblatt

“Chuck Israels' new book will help you learn little-played pieces that will enrich the repertoire of students and professional players alike. And, in the way he arranged the pieces in this collection, he keeps alive the legacy of the unforgettable pianist at whose side he experienced so many musical adventures. Thank you so much, Chuck!”
— Enrico Pieranunzi

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