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.

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"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

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*CANCELLED*

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*

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2012

Fri 19 May - BURY ST EDMUNDS Hunter Club

2013

Sat 6 July - HADLEIGH Jazz Club

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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

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