JCUK presents Chris Ingham: the songs of Hoagy Carmichael

 Hoagy Carmichael was a key figure in C20th American music. Born in 1899, to a poor, insecure family, he developed his musical talent largely by his own means, and became one of the most significant songwriters of the pre-war era. Friend of Bix Beiderbecke, admirer of Louis Armstrong, he composed several hundred tunes, including at least fifty hits. The best have become staples of the Great American Songbook which jazz singers and instrumentalists repeatedly draw from: among the finest are Stardust, The Nearness of You, and Georgia on My Mind.

Pianist and singer Chris Ingham has now produced two CDs of Hoagy songs, to much acclaim, and brings his quartet to the JCUK this afternoon to explore the legacy of this great tunesmith.