Following this he played with Stan Getz (1951–53) and Gerry Mulligan (1953–54), as well as with Mose Allison, Eddie Bert, Bob Brookmeyer, Jimmy Raney, Johnny Williams and Tony Fruscella.
In a 2010 JazzWax interview by Marc Myers with Mose Allison quoted in the 2016 liner notes for the CD reissue of the Stan Getz The Soft Swing album by Phono, Allison credits Isola with introducing him to Getz in 1956: By the late 1950s Isola returned to Detroit and kept working periodically with local bands or in jam sessions but well out of the spotlight.
Isola was also active in the Cass Corridor area of Detroit in the 1970s playing jazz standards with pianist Bobby McDonald and others at Cobb's Corner Bar.
[citation needed] He worked as a drummer briefly at Captain Hornblower's in Key West, Florida, in the late 1980s with pianist Johnny Williams.
The 1994 concert was released on Parkwood Records as Live at Windsor Jazz Festival III with Jackson and Belgrave as co-leaders.