HOAGY!
Sold out at Ronnie Scott’s in 2014 and 2015, a festival hit in Canterbury, Buxton, Edinburgh, Rye, Aberjazz, Devizes, Caterham, Norwich, Woolpit and Bury St Edmunds, and a Sunday Times Top 10 Jazz album of 2014, Chris Ingham’s Hoagy! is packed with the songs and stories of one of America’s most enduring and endearing songwriters. Wry, wise, sentimental, down-home and sophisticated, Hoagy Carmichael’s songs are beloved for their warmth, wit and melodic beauty. This joyful, edifying and heartfelt salute to the Old Music Master features many engaging anecdotes and insights along with tracks from Chris’s acclaimed CD Hoagy including well-loved hits (Stardust, How Little We Know, Georgia On My Mind, Skylark, Ole Buttermilk Sky, Lazy Bones, et al) alongside obscure nuggets and delightful curiosities from Hoagy’s rich and varied songbook.
"One of Britain's best singer-pianists...sophisticated tribute...charming work" ****
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
"Captures the spirit of a 20th-century giant...a delightful package" **** OBSERVER
“Hoagy Carmichael was special...Ingham knows and understands" MOJO
"This is just lovely..." SUNDAY TIMES - JAZZ CD of the WEEK & TOP 10 JAZZ CD 2014
“Classy product…with plenty of the right kind of swing” **** JAZZ JOURNAL
“Hits the sweet spot every time” **** BBC MUSIC
“An excellent night by any criteria…the music was of the highest calibre...highly informative and entertaining” JAMES ALBRECHT, STUDIO DIRECTOR ST JAMES THEATRE, SW1
"Outstanding quartet...inspired solo forays...nifty and concise arrangements...a fine delectation of Hoagy delights conveyed masterfully" LONDON JAZZ NEWS
"Mighty fine piano...no mere hanging on the shirt-tails of the great man, Ingham has his own personality...'Dear Bix' is one of the most emotional pieces I've ever listened to...perfect underpinnings...[an] outstanding CD"
BEBOP SPOKEN HERE
A celebration of the great American songwriter Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagy Carmichael is one of the most enduring and endearing songwriters from the Golden Age of the Great American Songbook. Wry, wise, sentimental and sophisticated, Hoagy’s songs are beloved for their warmth, humour and jazz-inspired melodic beauty. From the prescient wit of ‘Old Music Master’ and the exotic misadventures of an opium-eater in ‘Hong Kong Blues’ to the spirit-calming, timeless evocation of home in ‘Memphis In June’ and ‘Georgia On My Mind’, these characterful gems of 20th century songcraft continue to have unique power to move and delight.
Infused with the hot jazz spirit of legendary jazz cornettist and Hoagy’s dear friend Bix Beiderbecke, we unearthed some fascinating curiosities from Hoagy’s songbook and aimed to invest even the most familiar standards with a straight-ahead freshness. Like all successful songbooks, composers’ intentions tend to get obscured along the way. Listening to Hoagy’s own recordings as inspiration helped us get closer to the essence of the song. Tunes we’ve played a thousand times seemed to take on a new shine.
Among the Hoagy gems here are two songs not penned by Carmichael. Banjo player Clancy Hayes wrote the still outrageous ‘Huggin’ And Chalkin’’ (a hit for Hoagy in the 1940s) while contemporary songwriting sage Dave Frishberg, the most potent and erudite of Hoagy’s Children, wrote ‘Dear Bix’. Hoagy was famously grief-stricken when Bix died and ‘Dear Bix’ sounds like a Hoagy love song channelled through Frishberg. It just seemed to belong.
The project originated as a one-off concert for a festival, but the rush of good feeling generated by the show in both audience and band couldn’t be ignored. A warm public response to Hoagy’s songs was expected, but the musicians’ inspired and joyful reaction to this rich and varied songbook was a revelation. We had no choice, here it is.
CHRIS INGHAM QUARTET
Chris Ingham vocals/piano
Paul Higgs trumpet
Geoff Gascoyne bass
George Double drums
Live
2020
Wed 15 Jan - RADLETT Centre
Wed 12 Feb LONDON Crazy Coqs
Sat 9 May SOUTHEND Jazz Centre
Sun 10 May NEWPORT Apollo Theatre (Isle of Wight)
Thurs 25 June DISS Corn Hall
Thurs 2 July MARLOW Jazz
Fri 3 July STAPLEFORD Granary
Sat 4 July ALDEBURGH Jubilee Hall
Fri 10 July BURFORD Jazz
Sun 12 July STROUD Sub Rooms
2012
Fri 19 May - BURY ST EDMUNDS Hunter Club
2013
Sat 6 July - HADLEIGH Jazz Club
2014
Fri 7 Feb - LONDON St James Theatre Studio
Fri 28 Feb – CAMBRIDGE Mumford Theatre
Wed 2 April - DEREHAM Jazz Society, Lyng
Thurs 3 April – CAMBRIDGE Modern Jazz Club
Sun 4 May - LOWESTOFT Milestones, Hatfield Hotel
Fri 20 June - BURY ST EDMUNDS Hunter Club
Thur 3 July – BURNHAM MARKET The Hoste
Wed 9 July - LONDON The Pheasantry
Wed 20 August - BELVEDERE Jazz Club, Essex
Sat 23 Aug - RYE Jazz and Blues Festival
Sun 31 Aug - NORWICH Jazz Weekender
Sat 6 September - MAIDSTONE Pizza Express
Sun 21 September – IPSWICH Jazz Club
Fri 26 September - OLD HARLOW Marigolds
Sun 26 October (lunchtime) - LONDON Ronnie Scott's
Sun 9 November - FELIXSTOWE Fludyer Arms
Sat 15 November - MAIDENHEAD Norden Farm Arts Centre
Wed 19 November - EASTLEIGH Concord Club
Thur 4 December - LONDON Bull's Head, Barnes
Mon 15 December - BEXLEY Jazz Club, The King's Head
2015
Wed 5 February - LONDON Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall
Sat 14 February (lunchtime) - WELLINGBOROUGH Castle
Sat 14 February (evening) - LINCOLN The Collection Museum
Tues 24 February - LONDON St James Theatre Studio
Tues 17 March - BRENTWOOD The Bardswell
Tues 7 April - SOLIHULL Jazz Club
Fri 10 April - STOKE BY NAYLAND Fleece Jazz
Wed 15 April - MILL HILL Jazz Club
Sat 2 May - SLEAFORD Playhouse
Thurs 14 May LONDON The Table, Southwark
Wed 20 May (1pm) - BURY ST EDMUNDS The Apex
Tue 2 June - OLNEY Carlton House Club
Tue 9 June - NORWICH Jazz Club
Wed 15 July - BELVEDERE Jazz Club
Tues 25 Aug - EDINBURGH Assembly Rooms Ballroom
Wed 26 Aug - EDINBURGH Assembly Rooms Ballroom
Thurs 27 Aug - EDINBURGH Assembly Rooms Ballroom
Tue 1 Sep - SOUTHEND Annie's Jazz
Thurs 29 October - CANTERBURY Festival
Fri 13 November - IPSWICH Royal Hospital School
Sun 15 November (1pm) - LONDON Ronnie Scott's
2016
Thurs 21 January - BURY ST EDMUNDS Theatre Royal
Sat 6 Feb - DISS Park Hotel
Fri 12 Feb - LONDON Pheasantry
Tue 16 Feb - FLEET JAZZ
Sat 27 Feb - TEDDINGTON Landmark Arts Centre
Fri 4 March - IPSWICH St Peter's by the Waterfront
Sat 5 March - MARGATE Theatre
Fri 29 April - LEICESTER Jazz House
Thur 9 June - DEVIZES Festival
Fri 10 June - CATERHAM Festival
Sat 11 June - WOOLPIT Festival
Mon 20 June - LONDON Reform Club
Wed 6 July (2pm) - EPSOM All Saints Church
Thur 7 July (1pm) - LONDON Cadogan Hall, Culford Room
Tues 18 Oct - SOUTHEND Annie's Jazz
Thur 27 Oct - SHEPPERTON Jazz Club
2017
Wed 1 Feb - LONDON Crazy Coqs (trio)
Sat 10 June - COSSINGTON Village Hall
Sat 8th July - BURY ST EDMUNDS Risbygate Sports Club
Sun 9 July - BUXTON Festival
Sun 23 July - RADLETT Arts Centre
Thur 24 Aug - ABERJAZZ Festival
Say 30 Sep - OXFORD Jazz at St Giles
2018
Fri 9 March - ILMINSTER Arts
Fri 23 March - CODSALL Community Arts Festival
2019
Fri 8 March - SOUTHWOLD Arts Centre
Wed 9 Oct - BELVEDERE Jazz Club