Chris Ingham
Born '62 in the North East of England (cine film exists of him wielding a Beatletar in a North Shields garden in late '64), did a decent Noddy Holder until his voice broke, became a jazz head in his teens which both suited and fuelled his innate isolationist tendencies and mistaken superiority complex, dabbled with Drama and English at Warwick University 1981-85, played in distressingly quirky art 'n' b band The Locomotives 1983-87, married his sixth-form sweetheart in '88, was half of arch miserablist duo Because 1990-91 (with Jim Irvin, of this parish), was quarter of the unbearably hip Flanagan Ingham Quartet 1994-2001, wrote for MOJO and UNCUT until there was nothing left to say, authored Rough Guides to The Beatles (2003) and Frank Sinatra (2005), is currently able to feed his family thus:
a) producing/composing
b) lecturing in jazz and pop at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
c) gigging as a freelance jazz pianist
Collectors of non-rock press Ingham-related items should look for the following:
• Rough Guide To Frank Sinatra (Rough Guides/Penguin 2005)
• Rough Guide To The Beatles (Rough Guides/Penguin 2003, 2nd ed. 2006, 3rd ed. 2009)
• Billie Holiday (MQP/Unanimous 2000)
• Flanagan Ingham Quartet: Zanzibar (Gray Brothers 1995
• Flanagan Ingham Quartet: Textile Lunch (33 Jazz 1999)
• Because: Mad Scared Dumb And Gorgeous (Haven 1992)
• The Locomotives: Bourgeois Voodoo (Big Beat 1987) very rare
• The Locomotives: From The Finest Rolling Stock (Media Burn 1985) very rare
Feel free to bother Chris at cjr.ingham@outlook.com
51 articles
List of articles in the library
Alan Hull, Lindisfarne: Alan Hull 1945-1995
Obituary by Chris Ingham, MOJO, January 1996
WHEN I WAS 15 – AND FIVE YEARS AN EX-PAT GEORDIE – MY contemporaries idolised Strummer and Weller. I wanted to be like Alan Hull. ...
Frank Sinatra: Stan Britt: Sinatra – A Celebration
Book Review by Chris Ingham, Jazz on CD, February 1996
ON FINISHING Kitty Kelley's depressing, unrelentingly seamy His Way, you were so stuffed full of (alleged) details concerning the less admirable aspects of Sinatra's remarkable ...
The Carpenters: Interview with Richard Carpenter
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1996
For the grisly details of pill addiction, anorexia nervosa and blue velvet jackets, try Ray Coleman's book. Today, Richard Carpenter talks to Chris Ingham about ...
Claire Martin: Mojo Rising: Claire Martin
Profile and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1996
CLAIRE MARTIN may well be the best British jazz singer for a generation, but she drives like a maniac. "Nervous?" she cackles, slamming into third, ...
Charlie Watts, The Rolling Stones: Ten Questions for Charlie Watts
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 1996
Long Ago And Far Away, standards performed by jazz quintet, string orchestra and vocalist, sounds like a continuation of your last album, Warm And Tender. ...
Mose Allison: A Chat with Mose Allison
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, September 1996
Where do you think your vocal style come from? ...
Steely Dan: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 1996
THEY QUIT TOURING IN '74; broke up in '80. Now the arch hipster auteurs of literate, cynical, smart-ass rock jazz – the creators of some ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 1996
"WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ALL THAT?" ENQUIRES PAUL McCartney after half a dozen silly-voice choruses of ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road’. ...
Red Snapper: Mojo Rising: Red Snapper
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, January 1997
IT COULD HAVE gone so wrong. A trio of thirtysomething musos with jazz/hip-hop tendencies and chops to spare, take to jamming in Hammersmith and decide ...
Ben Folds Five: Whatever and Ever Amen (Sony)
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 1997
Piano/bass/drums trio whose 'Underground' was a summer Top 40 hit. This is their second album, their first for Sony. They are, wouldn’t you know, big ...
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1997
All the single hits (1970-1986) and ‘Une Nuit A Paris’ from Manchester's art-pop maestros, famously named after the average volume of the male ejaculation. Plus ...
Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis: April In Paris With Branford And Ellis
Report and Interview by Chris Ingham, unpublished, April 1997
NOTE: Commissioned by Nick Coleman at The Independent, this interview remained unpublished due to Branford and Ellis canceling their live appearances. ...
The Kinks, Ray Davies: Ten Questions for Ray Davies
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1997
What's happening in Kink land? ...
Prefab Sprout: Andromeda Heights
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, May 1997
ONCE, WHILE LISTENING To Prefab Sprout's Protest Songs, wide-eyed in admiration at the musical facility, the poetic imagination, the sheer individuality of it all, my ...
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1997
According to the man himself, Paul can bash out a song in the time it takes Linda to whip up a soyasome supper. But is ...
Bjork: Homogenic (One Little Indian)
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 1997
JUST HOW good is Bjork? Artists appearing fully-formed, uncompromisingly individual, interesting but often disturbingly idiosyncratic – think of Thelonious Monk or even Kate Bush – ...
The Beach Boys: The Pet Sounds Sessions
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 1997
The stereo mix, outtakes, session excerpts, stack o' tracks, stack o'vocals: more Pet Sounds you couldn't hope for, on 4 CDs. ...
The High Llamas: High Llamas: Cold And Bouncy (Alpaca Park)
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, February 1998
IF YOU LOVE The Beach Boys and other purveyors of the pocket symphony as much as the highest Llama Sean O'Hagan obviously does, then Hawaii ...
Mark Hollis, Talk Talk: Mark Hollis on Mark Hollis
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, February 1998
Why all-acoustic this time? ...
Pulp: No Success Please, We're British: Pulp: This Is Hardcore (Island)
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, May 1998
At it since 1983, missus! Can they keep it up now the camera's on them? ...
Eddi Reader: Angels And Electricity (Blanco Y Negro)
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1998
EVEN ALLOWING for our response to singing being largely subjective, some voices just do the job, don't they? For me, Eddi Reader is up there ...
Miles Davis Quintet 1965-68: Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (Sony/Columbia)
Review by Chris Ingham, Uncut, July 1998
6 CD set of innovative, hugely influential jazz group covering ESP, Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Water Babies, Miles In The Sky and Filles De Kilimanjaro ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 1999
SO EFFICIENT, SO all-pervasive has been Canadian pianist-singer Diana Krall's rise in the jazz world (and beyond, in sales terms), an American jazz magazine offered ...
Frank Sinatra: The Best of Frank Sinatra: A Home Taping Special
Guide by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 1999
BECAUSE OF THE near-flawless nature of a handful of albums (Wee Small Hours, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, A Swingin' Affair, Only The Lonely), it would ...
Randy Newman: Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 1999
NEWMAN FANS have been baying for this kind of set for a while, especially as the songwriter's back catalogue has been unavailable on CD for ...
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 1999
Like the set of a James Bond finale, the cavernous, converted power station of Metropolis Studios is all walkways, bridges and industrial lifts. At the ...
Cassandra Wilson: Fellow Traveller
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
Chris Ingham: What was the selection process for your Miles Davis tribute album Travelling Miles? ...
Wings: Paul McCartney And Wings: Band On The Run
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
25th anniversary 2-CD edition of 1973 classic, featuring US-related album (including 'Helen Wheels') plus audio documentary CD. ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
IN THE immediate post-Beatles period, Paul McCartney was a critic's whipping boy. Compared to the lustrous pop of Abbey Road, the open-hearted panoply of All ...
Ben Folds Five: The Unauthorised Biogrpahy Of Reinhold Messner
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, May 1999
Piano-led trio’s third album proper. ...
Ben Folds Five: Steinway to Heaven: The Ben Folds Five
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1999
On a three-man mission to revive the grand piano’s sex appeal ...
Ben Folds Five: The Ben Folds Five: Steinway to Heaven
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1999
IT'S TEMPTING TO IMAGINE that in eschewing guitars and positioning the grand piano as the centrepiece sound of their three maverick alt-pop albums, the Ben ...
Duke Ellington: Black, Brown, Beige and Sacred: A Journey through Duke Ellington
Guide by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 1999
IT'S HARD to overstate Duke Ellington's stature as a 20th century musician. Honoured by world leaders, respected by legit' cats and revered by jazz musicians ...
Macy Gray: Lady Sings The Blues: Macy Gray’s On How Life Is
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, August 1999
Striking debut album from LA singer-songwriter. ...
Prefab Sprout: Catching Up with Paddy Mac
Interview by Chris Ingham, unpublished, November 1999
This is an unpublished interview with Paddy McAloon on the release of 38 Carat Gold: The Best Of Prefab Sprout. ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, unpublished, 2000
THERE IS THE aura of legend surrounding the business of Pharoah Sanders. The fez, the dashiki, the Egyptian Prince goatee and the very name conjures ...
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, January 2000
IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS, A HIATUS ALMOST unheard of in rock. In the 1970s. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen – studio auteurs infused with the ...
Paul Weller: The Don: Paul Weller
Profile and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 2000
He’s been assailed by business bosses, punk rivals and ex-bandmates. Now, with a landmark fifth album in the can. Paul Weller shows Chris ...
John Martyn: Glasgow Walker/Classics
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 2000
30th-odd album plus old song collection from Glaswegian songwriter. ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Life After The Capeman
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 2000
PAUL SIMON AND I are alone in a large, dim, empty room in a Manhattan rehearsal complex and he’s zippered up to his throat, ever-present ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 2000
PAUL SIMON and I are alone in a large, dim, empty room in a Manhattan rehearsal complex and he’s zippered up to his throat, ever-present ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, Jazzwise, December 2000
WAITING FOR Walter Becker and Donald Fagen AKA Steely Dan in their publicist’s New York office, I spot two mouth-wateringly opulent 24 CD sets of ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 2001
I WAS IN the Lionel Hampton band in ’49. Betty joined months after me, we picked her up in Detroit. We never sang together, everybody ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 2001
THOUGH CONFUSING at least as many as it impressed at the time, seven months and several listens on, the litany of anguish that is Kid ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Simon And Garfunkel: Live From New York City, 1967
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, September 2002
NEITHER AS gritty as Dylan or as political as Ochs or Baez, Simon And Garfunkel's folk-rock style had a cool, preppy awareness and an alluring ...
Steely Dan: Everything Must Go
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 2003
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, maestros of pristine '70s jazz-rock, follow-up 2000's multi-Grammy-winning comeback Two Against Nature. ...
Randy Newman: The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2003
Excellent 18-song retrospective solo recital from one of the great individual singer-songwriters. ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 2004
After the world domination of her debut, the lovely follow-up. ...
Madeleine Peyroux: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
Live Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2005
Francophile jazz singer makes for a better class of busker at the Edinburgh Festival. ...
Norah Jones: Right On Time: Norah Jones: Not Too Late (Blue Note) ****
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, February 2007
The bar has been raised with Norah's triumphant homemade third album, declares Chris Ingham ...
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