Chris Ingham Quintet - ‘Steely Jazz’, forthcoming album and UK tour dates.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Pianist / vocalist Chris Ingham and his quintet are due to release "Walter / Donald", a series of jazz arrangements of Steely Dan songs. They will be touring estensively from July to November

We have received the following press release;

WALTER · DONALD
A BECKER & FAGEN SONGBOOK Vol. 1
CHRIS INGHAM QUINTET
Chris Ingham vocals, piano
Harry Greene saxophone, guitar
Paul Higgs trumpet, flugelhorn
Geoff Gascoyne bass
George Double drums, harmony
Downhome Records DOHO007
Released: September 2025

“Ingham has a warm and generous way with music…his style is based on rhythmic presence and dynamic propulsion” DOWNBEAT

“Fleet piano…one of Britain’s best jazz singers” JAZZ RAG

The songs of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, aka Steely Dan, stood alone in 1970s rock; cryptic, pungent lyrics and sophisticated, detailed music deeply influenced by, in the writers’ own words, “the best jazz players of the ‘50s and ‘60s”.

Steely Dan’s legend substantially derives from the duo’s increasing obsession with recording perfection featuring a revolving roster of the world’s greatest rock and jazz
musicians (often baffled by Becker and Fagen’s inscrutable standards) playing meticulously crafted arrangements. However, at the heart of Steely Dan is a monumental, idiosyncratic collection of highly cultured songs, often as poignant as they are cynical, though rarely interpreted outside some dedicated and painstaking Dan tribute outfits.

Following his Hoagy Carmichael, Dudley Moore and Stan Getz projects, Chris Ingham concludes his Repertoire Quadrilogy with Walter/Donald, placing Becker and Fagen’s work in a small jazz group context with the aim of re-illuminating some remarkable compositions. Initial qualms that such an exercise would satisfy neither Dan fans nor jazz enthusiasts have recently been assuaged by the rapturous reception given to the quintet’s early Steely Jazz live shows.

Chris Ingham’s Steely Jazz - Live 2025
Sat 5 July LINCOLN Jazz Festival
Sun 27 July WRITTLE Jazz Festival
Sat 23 Aug SOUTHEND Jazz Centre

Wed 17 Sep LONDON Pizza Express, Dean Street Walter/Donald album launch

Thurs 18 Sep DISS Corn Hall
Sat 20 Sep SOUTHWOLD Arts Centre
Wed 24 Sep EASTLEIGH Concorde Club
Thurs 25 Sep CAMBRIDGE Jazz Club
Sat 27 Sep BURY ST EDMUNDS Hunter Club
Sat 18 Oct HADLEIGH Town Hall
Sun 30 Nov WIVENHOE Music Mix

CHRIS INGHAM QUINTET

Chris Ingham piano/vocal/guitar
Rated by the London Evening Standard as “one of Britain’s best singer-pianists’, Chris has performed over 250 festival and club performances of his repertoire shows and has released four acclaimed CDs: Hoagy, Dudley, Stan and Hoagy II. He is musical director of film song quintet Jazz at the Movies and classic modern jazz sextet Rebop. Chris is also a record producer (Ruthie Henshall, Joanna Eden), author (Rough Guides to The Beatles and Frank Sinatra) and TV composer (Wartime Crime, How The Beatles Changed The World). Based in Suffolk, he curates jazz clubs in Diss (Corn Hall) and Bury St Edmunds (Hunter Club).

Harry Greene saxophone/guitar
Multi-instrumentalist Harry Greene was part of the Royal Albert Hall “Ronnie Scott’s at 60” gala and has performed with Cory Wong, Mica Paris, Bernard Purdie, PBUG, Ricky Wilson, Prince’s side-woman Marva King, Jo Harrop, Incognito and Olly Murs. He is musical director and co-leader (with singer Ashton Jones) of Funk Soul Orchestral which has performed sold-out shows at Ronnie Scott’s and venues throughout the UK. As a composer, he has contributed to a host of prime time TV shows.

Paul Higgs trumpet/piano
Arranger and trumpeter for NYJO for many years, Paul has worked as a musical director at the RSC and National Theatre, as a TV and film composer and a record engineer and producer. One of the UK’s most resourceful and expressive jazz trumpeters, Paul has worked with Nancy Wilson, Shorty Rogers and John Dankworth, runs his own successful repertoire shows (A Brief History of Jazz, Shades of Miles) and has released two CDs of his unique jazz/classical crossover group Pavane featuring his own evocative compositions.

Geoff Gascoyne double bass
An arranger, composer, bassist and producer of renown, in a 35-year career Geoff has worked with Michel Legrand, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Sir Willard White, US3, Sting, Charlie Watts, Benny Golson, Bill Bruford, Jacqui Dankworth, John Martyn, Dianne Reeves, Guy Barker, Claire Martin, Eartha Kitt and he played a major part in the rise of Jamie Cullum with whom he worked exclusively from 2000 to 2007. He has been central to the development of two highly successful music apps Session Band 1, 2 & 3 and Quartet 1, 2, 3 & 4.

George Double drums/vocal
Drummer with Art Themen’s Organ Trio, John Etheridge’s Blue Spirits and many of Chris Ingham’s projects including Rebop and Jazz at the Movies. He has worked with Dame Shirley Bassey, Grammy Award Winner Jack Jones, Marc Almond, Mica Paris, Ruthie Henshall, Paul Jones and Kym Mazelle and has played on West End shows Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Avenue Q, Sinatra and Anything Goes. A respected published drum educator, notably for Trinity College, London, George also curates East Anglian jazz clubs in Hadleigh, Southwold and Frinton.

WALTER · DONALD tracklist

1. Any Major Dude Will Tell You 4.03
Many Becker/Fagen songs seem to feature disreputable characters doing unspeakable things. By contrast, this is a warm-hearted, optimistic message of encouragement. From Pretzel Logic (1974).

2. I Got The News 5.11
One of the less celebrated cuts from Aja (1977), a glorious, multi-themed romp with carnal undertones - and overtones.

3. What A Shame About Me 4.34
From their Grammy-winning comeback album Two Against Nature (2000), a compelling tale of an ironic underachiever who, confronted with the possibility of a nostalgic erotic tryst, ultimately maintains dignity by exercising his personal code of loserdom.

4. Your Gold Teeth II 4.10
A sardonic, hallucinatory scenario rather belying the gentle jazz-waltz setting. Flavours of Zappa and Dylan plus, in the bridge, the most obscure set of chords in the Dan canon. From Katy Lied (1975).

5. Razor Boy 3:16
In a deceptively seductive Latin soundscape, the narrator regards his subject with a faintly threatening scepticism, though his vulnerability is never far from the surface. From Countdown To Ecstasy (1973).

6. Haitian Divorce 5.17
One of several Becker/Fagen songs alluding to a ménage a trois situation (see also Gaucho, Everything You Did, Rose Darling), this details the goings on of Babs, Clean Willy and the Charlie in the Greasy Chair in a slyly satisfying narrative. From The Royal Scam (1976).

7. The Last Mall 4.06
From Steely Dan’s final studio album Everything Must Go (2003), a wry, bluesy account of a desperate dash to the shops in the face of imminent apocalypse.

8. Only A Fool Would Say That 3.12
A modest gem from their debut album Can’t Buy A Thrill (1972), expressing impatience with media-hyped idealists (who may or may not have been imagining no possessions) on behalf of people doing their best to survive.

9. Green Flower Street 4:32
A vivid teenage fantasy of an exotic, dangerous romance, from Donald Fagen’s solo album The Nightfly (1982)

10. Paging Audrey 6:25
This remarkably touching song of regret for transgressions long past was first heard on Walter Becker’s solo album Circus Money (2008)

11. Black Friday 4.58
A corrupt money man and his journey to being a hippie fugitive in Australia. From Katy Lied (1975).

Press comments for previous Chris Ingham albums:

Hoagy (2014)
“This is just lovely…” SUNDAY TIMES, TOP 10 jazz CD of 2014
“Captures the spirit of a 20th-century giant…a delightful package” **** OBSERVER
“Outstanding quartet…inspired solo forays…nifty and concise arrangements ” LONDON JAZZ NEWS
“Mighty fine piano…perfect underpinnings…[an] outstanding CD” BEBOP SPOKEN HERE
“Hoagy Carmichael was special…Ingham knows and understands” MOJO

Dudley (2016)
“A vibrant and moving homage” DOWNBEAT
“Unfailingly tuneful with gentle harmonic guile…Dudley would have been delighted” OBSERVER
“Swing, humour and poignancy…a jazz joy” MOJO
“An intimate and affectionate tribute that’s very Moore-ish indeed” JAZZ JOURNAL
“The emotional range and depth that this fine ensemble has made playing Dudley’s music has resulted in an intimate and heartfelt pleasure” LONDON JAZZ NEWS

Stan (2018)
“The phenomenally gifted Mark Crooks…the quartet is everything you could wish for – swinging, supple and, most importantly, always appropriate. Ingham’s mastery of
the subtle differences in style is impressive” JAZZ JOURNAL
“Crooks’s tenor rises to the challenge…a performance that strikes a balance between muscle and lyricism” SUNDAY TIMES
“Ingham has chosen well…an excellent collection featuring the superb saxophone sound of Mark Crooks…the band are in fine classic swinging form…extremely expressive…” LONDON JAZZ NEWS
“Another superb album…a musical love potion…recommended - highly” BEBOP SPOKEN HERE

Hoagy II (2023)
“My album of the year, witty, original re-arrangements” JAZZ RAG
“Captures the essence of Carmichael’s catchy, jazz-influenced melodies and their droll, laconic lyrics perfectly ... The performance of all four musicians is superb”
JAZZ JOURNAL
“Engaging and often surprising… the range of songs is quite extraordinary” JAZZWISE
“The performances are all first-class, the arrangements neat and interesting, and the variety beyond reproach” LONDON JAZZ NEWS

Chris Ingham: 07799 650009
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