Today was Rosemary Squire's 80th birthday and she celebrated it magnificently in the Pier Pavilion, South Shields. Accompanied by the impeccable Brian Dee on piano and local boy Pete Stuart on bass it was an afternoon of pure magic.
Nostalgic? Of course it was! Yet even after all these years, the voice can still touch you and, although I occasionally held my breath wondering if she was going to make the note she always did.
Highlights included a rather wonderful song, new to me even though it dated back to a 1981 Lauren Bacall musical that ran forever on Broadway and in London - "Woman of the Year". The song was "Sometimes a Day Goes By (when I don't think of you)".
"Nice Work etc.", "Day By Day" (or was it "Day in, Day out"?) and "Imagination" were others that verified her jazz credentials. However, this wasn't a jazz gig despite the brilliance of Brian Dee and Pete Stuart - it was entertainment full stop.
If someone had told me beforehand that I would feel all emotional over an 80 year-old woman reciting Stanley Holloway's "Braan Boots" I'd have laughed - as it was I almost cried!
My only regret is that there weren't more folk present to share the rare experience of possibly one of the entertainment world's best kept secrets .For the past eighteen years we've been updating the world about jazz in the north east of England and updating the north east of England about jazz in the world. WINNER of the Jazz Media Category in the 2018 All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Contact lanceliddle@gmail.com
Bebop Spoken There
John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Colltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 2026)
The Things They Say!
This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)
Postage
18947 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 811 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 28.) 90.
Reviewers wanted
Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog.
Look forward to hearing from you. Lance
From This Moment On
September.
Mon 28: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 29: Tenderly: The Life & Times of Nat ‘King’ Cole @ Hepscott Parish Hall. 7:30pm. . £15.00., £12.00. (Early Bird advance ticket), £10.00. Off-Broadway production feat. Duane Forrest.
Tue 29: Red Kites Jazz @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 30: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller's Rest, Cockerton, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. For one week only the rehearsal night will be at the Traveller's Rest (open to the public).
Wed 30: Tenderly: The Life & Times of Nat ‘King’ Cole @ The Hearth, Horsley. 7:30pm. £15.00., £12.00. (Early Bird advance ticket), £10.00. Off-Broadway production feat. Duane Forrest.
Wed 30: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 30: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds + Juliana Day & Manon McCoy + Helen Anahita Wilson @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. A BBC Introducing-Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
October
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Rivkala @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 01: Hot Club de Heaton @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Thu 01: The Scenic Route @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.
Fri 02: Alison Gill + Markrokosmos @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music (NFOJAIM).
Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Gilby & Hunter + Andy Champion @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:00pm. NFOJAIM.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. The Abbie Finn Trio augmented by Dean Stockdale (piano).
Fri 02: Alexia Gardner Trio @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 02: Zoe Rahman Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 8:00pm. NFOJAIM. SOLD OUT!
Sat 03: New Orleans Ragtime Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club. Gavin Lee & co.
Sat 03: Anemone Quartet + Jeepe Zeeburg @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. NFOJAIM.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Caravan. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Free. Excellent blues band.
Sat 03: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.50 (inc. bf). Two sets: 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. ‘Swing Band Dance Night’.
Sat 03: Olie Brice Quartet + Alexander Hawkins + Harper Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:00pm. NFOJAIM.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sun 04: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Heugh Battery, Hartlepool. 11:00am-12 noon & 1:00-2:00pm.
Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 04: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Bill Watson (trumpet).
Sun 04: Sax Choir w. Rachel Musson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Rivkala + Ceitidh Mac + Thatcher & Knowles @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. A NFOJAIM event.
Sun 04: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. RESCHEDULED from September 27.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Rosemary Squires - Afternoon Delight
Today was Rosemary Squire's 80th birthday and she celebrated it magnificently in the Pier Pavilion, South Shields. Accompanied by the impeccable Brian Dee on piano and local boy Pete Stuart on bass it was an afternoon of pure magic.
Nostalgic? Of course it was! Yet even after all these years, the voice can still touch you and, although I occasionally held my breath wondering if she was going to make the note she always did.
Highlights included a rather wonderful song, new to me even though it dated back to a 1981 Lauren Bacall musical that ran forever on Broadway and in London - "Woman of the Year". The song was "Sometimes a Day Goes By (when I don't think of you)".
"Nice Work etc.", "Day By Day" (or was it "Day in, Day out"?) and "Imagination" were others that verified her jazz credentials. However, this wasn't a jazz gig despite the brilliance of Brian Dee and Pete Stuart - it was entertainment full stop.
If someone had told me beforehand that I would feel all emotional over an 80 year-old woman reciting Stanley Holloway's "Braan Boots" I'd have laughed - as it was I almost cried!
My only regret is that there weren't more folk present to share the rare experience of possibly one of the entertainment world's best kept secrets .
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- Nov/Dec 2008 Deaths
- Jazz Esquires at the Porthole
- Courtney Pine - C.B.E.
- Quote
- Freddie Hubbard Dead - age 70. R.I.P.
- A Funny Valentine
- (Good Time) Jazz in the Afternoon at Culler'
- Zoe Gilby and Jim Mullen at Wakefield Jazz Club
- Who is Hilma?
- R.I.P. Eartha - "Santa Baby" Dies on Xmas Day.
- An Elf Warning
- Partying at the Porthole with the Maine Street Jaz...
- Jazz in the Afternoon at Cullercoats
- The Christmas Number One (in Hong Kong)
- Oscar Peterson Trio Live at Ronnie Scott's - BBC 4
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- Count Basie Live 1965 - BBC4
- The Swing Thing - BBC 4
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- Louis Armstrong Night on BBC 4
- Django Related Bliss by Liz
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- Liz Gives Her Age Away!
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- Ned Kelly Big Band Clip from Colin Aitchison
- A Little Bit of Bebop
- BBC 4
- WJRK Play HUMPH
- Xmas Party at Blaydon
- Jools Holland and his R & B Orchestra - Report by ...
- Alan Glen Trio Raising the Bar at the Chilli
- Hong Kong News - Colin Aitchison
- Rosemary Squires - Afternoon Delight
- Perdido St. Jazzmen
- Michael Parkinson by Liz
- Favourite - Richie Kamuca by Roly Veitch
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2 comments :
80 and still performing. She certainly is a real trouper, wish I could have been there.
"Now hands that do dishes..."
Dear Lance,
Now I ask yer....eighty....fancy writing a report saying 'eighty'....when everyone else swore...blue and black... you've got to knock ten years off that....'eighty... I ask yer...just look at 'er she can't be that! But Aunt Rosemary won't mind - she does like folk who are good and kind. And you were a sport...a very good report...but 'eighty'...I ask yer!
Yes Lance it reached us down here in the South!
But we are so glad you enjoyed it and thank you for all the nice things you said.
Best regards
Frank Lockyer
(Rosemary's manager and husband!)
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