"Snake Davis has one of the most passionate Sax styles and simple bluesy approaches a-la Sanborn heard in these Isles for a while." TIME OUT
"A virtuoso saxophonist" DAILY TELEGRAPH
"The saxophone cannot have been this prominent on a Wembley stage in years" THE TIMES
"Snake is a joy to work alongside. His musical skills have no limit – in fact he’s as free as a bird" DAVE STEWART
Unfortunately we were out of the country for this gig and with great thanks to Norman, one of the Jazznights stalwarts and Geoff Harriman for some of the photographs, we give the notes below.
The Roger Odell Jazznights trio opened the evening with 4 excellent vocals from the resident songbird Larraine Odell. The trio were:
Roger Odell – drums 
Roger was one of the founder members and drummer with the jazz-funk group Shakatak. Roger has toured internationally and recorded numerous CDs, which he continues to do on a regular basis to this day.
Simon Brown – piano 
A very respected and popular jazz pianist who is equally known for his arranging skills. He is always in demand to play many gigs with other bands when he is not teaching jazz piano or playing with the Jazznights Trio
Bernie Hodgkins – double bass
Inspired by an uncle, who played and recorded with Django Reinhart and Stephane Grappelli in the legendary Quintet de Hot Club of France, Bernie 
grew up in a Jazz-oriented family. Their influence led him to become a respected bass player behind such people as Matt Munroe, Dickie Valentine and Dennis Lotus, in the early stages of his career. Bernie is particularly acknowledged as being one of the few players to bring an authentic, driving jazz feel to both the double bass and the bass-guitar, and for his fluent and creative soloing. 
Larraine Odell – vocals
Beginning her professional singing career with the group CMU with whom she recorded two albums, Larraine performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including the Purcell Room, RFH, Boxford Fleece & Ronnie Scott’s. Larraine possesses a unique smouldering tonal quality and a subtle jazz phrasing style that has elicited great praise from two of her own vocal mentors, Mark Murphy and Sheila Jordan.
Larraine Odell started with the 1933 Close Your Eyes with Words and Music by Bernice Petkere (Although composer/lyricist Bernice Petkere has only two major song hits to her credit–“Lullaby of the Leaves,” which she wrote in 1932 with lyricist Joe Young, and “Close Your Eyes” for which she wrote both music and lyric in 1933–she was known as “The Queen of Tin Pan Alley.”)
The 1935 It’s Easy to Remember (and so Hard to Forget) Music by Richard Rodgers and Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
followed which led into “That Old Black Magic,” followed which was written by composer Harold Arlen and lyricist Johnny Mercer for the 1942 film Star-Spangled Rhythm.
The final two numbers were the 1954 Don’t Go to Strangers (Music by Arthur Kent & David A Mann with Lyrics by Redd Evans and finally Larraine sang the 1946 Come Rain or Come Shine with Music by Harold Arlen and Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
For Snake Davis’s first set Bernie Hodgkins switched from the double bass to a fretless electric bass. Snake’s numbers for this set were:
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy written by Joe Zawinul in 1966 for Julian "Cannonball" Adderley
A medley of Might As Well Be Spring and Joy Spring
Georgia On My Mind by Hoagy Carmichae
After the interval, the Jazznights raffle with prizes of jazz cd’s and a bottle of wine which led into the traditional sitting in spot which is open to all musicians who have an opportunity to play with the Jazznights Trio. This featured Johnty Wilks on alto and Will Jarmin on drums with Autumn leaves followed by Geoff Harriman on Harmonica with I’ve Never Been In Love Before and then Steve Laws on Alto with Ornithology
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Snake Davis’s second set featured the Alto, Tenor, Flutes and Penny Whistle as well as on a flute plus a Japanese bamboo flute called a Shakuhashi on Gentle Rain
The playlist was:
Chicken
Gentle Rain
St Thomas’s
Winelight
Watermelon Man
Despite a heavy rainstorm in the early evening there was still a good crowdand it was nice to see several new faces for this gig.
As we were not present there are a lot less words and pictures this time (we are sure that would be considered a good move. Our thanks again to Norman and Geoff for the notes and pictures
For further information and future gigs go to www.jazz-nights.com
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