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Jazz gigs in Britain, outside the metropolitan areas, are largely a labour of love. Opera and classical orchestras get huge subsidies and sponsors, jazz just struggles through on a wing and a prayer. It’s great to see when this pays off and satisfies a real need and builds an audience, as in the fortnightly Jazznights sessions organised by Shakatak drummer Roger Odell at a wonderful pub, the Cherry Tree in a little village, Belchamp St Paul on the Essex/Suffolk border. This Sunday the usual evening session is being expanded into an all-day ‘festival’ with sax virtuoso Derek Nash headlining the afternoon proceedings and top vocalist Tina May rounding up the evening session. Both will in all likelihood be so entertaining it would be a shame to have to choose between them. With excellent food and beer available throughout the day, and with the first real summer for years upon us, this was a very pleasurable way to relax in the countryside with a superb line up of British Jazz.
TINA MAY remains the most expressive and technically gifted jazz singer on the UK scene.” So 
says Kenny Mathieson of The Scotsman and few would disagree as Tina has become the most popular singer on the UK jazz scene with a range of CDs to her credit including her stunning duets with Nikki Iles and her Live In Paris recording with her French band.
The brilliant multi-saxophonist DEREK NASH headlined the afternoon session running from At the forefront of the British Jazz movement, Derek Nash is “one of the most versatile 
saxophonists in the UK today” (The Guardian). He has been a member of the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra since 2005, has led Sax Appeal for over thirty years, fronts the funk/fusion band Protect the Beat, and is a member of the Ronnie Scott’s Blues Explosion.
Andy Watson has been a professional musician for the whole of his working life as both player and educator. He is0 a session player which includes live and TV work including seven West End Shows. As a solo artist he has performed nationally and internationally at many 
different venues and festivals as well as in schools and colleges as both a guitar teacher and as a lecturer. Andy has also directed many workshops around the UK and written for “Guitarist” and “Music Teacher” magazines. Andy is a Graduate with a Diploma in Light Music and a graduate of Jazz from 
the City of Leeds College of Music. Associate of the Royal College of Music with a diploma in Classical Guitar Performance
Dr Kevin Flanagan comes from Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. He initially studied music and 
philosophy at the University of New Hampshire, and was part of Antares, a free improvisatory group that toured the New England through the mid-70s to early 80s. During this period he was also involved in jazz, blues, and popular music, both recording and performing. He settled in the UK in the mid-80s, and worked on the London jazz and pop scene, playing and recording with members of Pink Floyd, Ben E. King, the Sex Pistols, Paul Weller, Boo Hewerdine, Jools Holland, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, Portishead, and many others. By the late 1980s he 
was primarily involved with jazz, playing with his own group or with musicians such as Dick Morrissey, Alan Barnes, Dave Newton, Gerard Precenser, Don Weller, Dave Cliff, Mark Edwards, Adrian Utley, and the Tommy Chase quartet around the festivals of the UK and Europe, including festivals in Brecon, Edinburgh, Soho, and Bath in this country; and festivals in Milan, Paris, the North Sea festival, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and others.
Harry Greene – Saxophone and guitar – Harry has been playing the saxophone for eight years. His passion is jazz/blues/fusion and he loves the freedom of improvisation. From an early age he gained valuable experience playing the ‘sitting in’ spot with the Roger Odell trio at their regular Jazz Nights. He’s been welcomed at two excellent jazz clubs in Bury St Edmunds; The Devil’s Kitchen Collective and the Hunter Club, where he’s building up an enviable CV playing with Alan Barnes, Derek Nash and Liane Carroll to name a few. Harry’s also a member of the Cambridge Jazz Co-op. In 2011 he was voted West Suffolk Young Musician of the Year; and at Bures Music Festival, scooped the Alan Crumpton Memorial Cup.
All were superbly supported by the Roger Odell Jazznights Trio which included BERNIE HODGKINS 
(bass) ROGER ODELL (drums) and Simon Brown on piano with vocal support from our resident songbird Larraine Odell
Jazznights presents the best in modern jazz at:
The Function Suite, The Cherry Tree, Knowl Green, Belchamp St Paul, Suffolk, CO10 7BY.
Tel: 01787 237263
Advance reservation on 01787 237653 or email info@jazz-nights.com.
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