Saxophone Masterclass with Chris 'Snake' Davis

Snake Davis is a saxophonist who has played with the best in the business through a career spanning three decades. Yet, it wasn’t until he reached the age of 20 that he picked up his first saxophone.

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Funded by busking and gig money, he enrolled on the diploma course in jazz and light music at Leeds College of Music. It was there that he met and made many of his life long friends, gained the great experience of disciplined ensemble playing and Snake Davis and his Alligator Shoes, the much loved nine-piece soul band was formed, playing 60’s soul music with the sax taking the vocal parts.

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After college, Snake spent several years travelling, playing on cruise boats and briefly setting up home in Brooklyn – getting tuition from hot players and visiting some of the best jazz clubs in America.

Back in England, he joined the soul revue band, Zoot and the Roots, started his long career as a session musician and first met Lisa Stansfield. The rest, as they say, is history.

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To date, Snake Davis has recorded on more than 400 tracks for over 60 artists and the list keeps growing.  Career highlights include tours with  Lisa Stansfield, The Eurythmics and Japanese rock star Eikichi Yazawa; a long association with M-People and television appearances on The Tube, Tonight with Jonathon Ross, The Paradise Club, Tyne Tees and BBC 1 The One Show with Chris Evans, Alex Jones and Gary Barlow. Two of his students were BBC Young Musician of the Year finalists in 2014 and Jess Gillam was runner up in 2016. His single, Human Nature was Record of the Week on Jazz FM and No 1 on smooth jazz single charts on CDBaby. Snake's performances were included as part of the City of Culture celebration in Hull in 2017. In March 2020 the Covid-19 lockdown saw the start of Snake as an internet livestream artist, with 3 shows and a sax workshop each week throughout the period.

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Snake plays soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, shakuhachi, flutes, whistles and vocals. He also composes and works as an educator, examiner and music director.​​