This week Geoff is in Suffolk to catch up with the fabulous jazz pianist, singer, composer and author Chris Ingham.

Sitting at Chris’s piano in Suffolk, we trace how a kid who refused lessons became a singer-pianist, bandleader and repertoire obsessive who builds shows people actually want to hear. Chris takes us from The Beatles and Sinatra to Hoagy Carmichael and Dudley Moore, revealing why “themes” hook audiences, why standards are the best teachers, and how self-discipline sticks only when it's born from love rather than orders.

We get granular on practice that works in real life. Chris breaks down his tiers of using a playalong app: fast, fluent warm-ups on familiar tunes; awkward-key transpositions to stretch the hands and the ear, and ultra-slow when a tune like ‘Falling Grace’ has to be learned from scratch.

Then he opens up Bill Evans' ‘Very Early’ with a clear map: track tonal centres, hear the cadences, respect the sudden "brick wall" modulation, and let thirds and sevenths light the way. Comping becomes a story, not filler. His improvisation on this 1960’s standard (accompanied by the Quartet jazz play along app) provides a wonderful demonstration.

Between craft insights come the human beats that shape taste. Dave Frishberg's ‘Songbook’ shifted his compass. Sondheim still makes him tear up. He's honest about his reading abilities as a past weakness, the kind of nerves that only show up when preparation hasn't, and the chord colours he loves—sus 13 with the added third and those rich C minor 11/13 sonorities that hang in the air.

If you care about standards, tonal centres, and making audiences lean forward, this conversation brings both method and heart.

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Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.