Hoagy! - The Chris Ingham Quartet's affectionate salute to Hoagy Carmichael, one of America's most enduring and endearing songwriters, captivated the Hadleigh Jazz Club's audience at yet another sell-out performance.

Played in venues all over the UK, including London's prestigious Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, the Hoagy! project had been a long time arriving in Hadleigh, but was well worth the wait.

Born Hoagland Howard Carmichael (1899-1981), it is difficult to overstate his contribution to the great American songbook. Indeed, Hoagy's contemporary, the noted American composer Alec Wilder, described him as the "most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-orientated of all the great craftsmen" of pop songs of the first half of the 20th century.

A sentiment echoed by Chris, as he led the audience through an evening of the performer-composer's most famous, as well as lesser known, songs and instrumental numbers.

Giving a jaunty Dixieland start to the show was Hoagy's first composition Riverboat Shuffle, which immediately got matters off to a swinging start. A change of tempo was introduced with Georgia on My Mind, mostly associated with Ray Charles, and cited by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the greatest songs of all time.

Then, the playing of Paul Higgs came into its own with his trumpet solo on Stardust, one of the most covered compositions of the last century.

Chris's relaxed rendition of Lazy Bones was almost as if Hoagy was inhabiting his skin, resulting in it being very well received by the audience. By way of complete contrast, Chris seemed to revel in playing Heart and Soul's piano part badly, much to everyone's amusement.

For me, Chris and Paul's sensitively delivered atmospheric rendition of Skylark, conveyed a pastoral imagery appropriate for Suffolk at harvest time – a clever expressive emotion.

Latin, blues and rock

A bit about members of the quartet

Chris Ingham is well-known to HJC regulars as a talented pianist-singer-raconteur who never fails to entertain and inform. With the wryness, humour, wit, and insight contained in his anecdotes, from his narration one could feel warmth and empathy, as though he really 'knows' Hoagy.

Paul Higgs (trumpet) is another gifted performer who is familiar to the Club's audience. His extensive career includes working in musicals, theatre, film, and TV composition; and performances with musical luminaries, and in major concert venues around the world. The audience were fortunate to hear him play with his usual eloquence, feeling and mastery – his visits to Hadleigh are always appreciated.

Marianne Windham (double bass), the Surrey based jazz and classical musician, has been a full-time professional for many years, as well as running her own jazz clubs. She gave a polished performance to keep the rhythm cruising along – let's hope that we see more of her stylish playing at future gigs.

Completing the rhythm section, and needing no real introduction to the audience, HJC promotor George Double (drums) worked effectively with Marianne to maintain a cohesively smooth tempo backing for Chris and Paul to feed off. But on occasions, George introduced some bursts of rapid-fire solos into his playing – always fun for the onlookers.

Voted a top ten jazz album in 2014, the Quartet's acclaimed Hoagy! CD includes recordings of many of the numbers performed at the gig. It can be ordered from chrisingham.co.uk

Next up at the Hadleigh Town Hall, on Saturday 23 October, is Salud! Tom Jobim: The Beauty of the Bossa Nova.

It will feature the sublime vocals of the multi award winning Georgia Mancio, together with saxophone-clarinet star Mark Crooks. Tickets will be available from ticketsource.co.uk/hadleigh-jazz-club

Want to get a heads-up on all the forthcoming HJC gigs? Ask to be added to the club's mailing list, by contacting George Double on [email protected] or via his website at georgedouble.com

Review by Robert Carr

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