Vincent Ingala was born on December 10, 1992, in Prospect, Connecticut. He was given a drum set for Christmas at the age of four, later learned guitar and piano, and took up the saxophone at about ten; he is self-taught on all of them. His father worked as a mobile DJ, which put 1950s rock and roll, soul, funk, R&B and smooth jazz in the house, and as a teenager he played Connecticut restaurants and clubs. His label's biography adds that he built a cult following in the state during high school with a one-man show.

His first album, North End Soul (2010), came out on his own when he was seventeen, and he composed, recorded and produced it himself. The single "It Is What It Is" reached No. 14 on Billboard's Smooth Jazz Songs chart. Can't Stop Now (2012) added the keyboardist Gregg Karukas and the pianist Jonathan Fritzén as guests, reached No. 28 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart and produced "Wish I Was There," a No. 1 smooth jazz single. His label's biography says Billboard named him Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year for 2012, and an All About Jazz biography adds that Sirius XM's Watercolors channel named him its breakthrough artist of 2013.

Coast to Coast (2015) took its title from his move from Connecticut to Long Beach, California. It brought in the British trombonist Dennis Rollins, Lee Thornberg (formerly of Tower of Power) and the guitarist Peter White, and its title track and "When I'm With You" both reached No. 1 on the smooth jazz chart. A Christmas album followed in 2016 with the singer Ariana Savalas and the guitarist Steve Oliver among the guests.

In 2018 he left independent release and signed with Shanachie. Personal Touch was his first album for the label, with every instrument played by him, and it peaked at No. 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. It holds two covers, Billy Ocean's "Love Zone" and Alexander O'Neal's "If You Were Here Tonight," and its single "Snap, Crackle, Pop" spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz chart. Echoes of the Heart (2020) includes "Somewhere in Time" with the pianist David Benoit, the title track with the guitarist Chris Geith and "Sunset on Marco" with Steve Oliver. Fire & Desire (2021) opens with "Shadow Dancer." In the summer of 2021 he was on the bill of Dave Koz and Friends' Summer Horns shows with Mindi Abair and Kirk Whalum, among them an August 28 date at the Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, California. His label says Billboard named him Smooth Jazz Artist of the Year a second time, for 2023, on the strength of "Ridin' the Wave" and "Shadow Dancer," which held No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz Airplay chart for three weeks.

Escape With Me, his eighth album, was released on Shanachie on July 12, 2024. He again plays every instrument, wrote all but two of the songs, and brings in only the singer Lindsey Webster on "Free" and the percussionist Pablo Batista on one track. "Movin' and Shakin'" reached No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz Airplay chart in 2024, and "Let's Get to It" did the same in 2025. He tours the United States and abroad with a live band and is a Yamaha artist.

Ingala is a smooth-jazz and urban-contemporary saxophonist first, and the profile says so plainly. His records are built on R&B, funk, soul and disco grooves, mostly programmed and played by one person, with a bright tenor tone carrying hooks written for radio. He names his father's R&B, funk and soul record collection as the foundation. Reviewers describe Escape With Me as funk-driven and made for dancing, and one compared his tenor tone to that of Gato Barbieri. The jazz connection is real but specific: the saxophone is his voice, his albums chart on Billboard's jazz and contemporary jazz lists, and his collaborators and festival bills come from the smooth jazz world of Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, Peter White and David Benoit rather than the bebop tradition.