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 Coltrane 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
19,012 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 876 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 16) 55.
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
October.
Sat 17: SunOrbitUs @ Culture House, Sunderland. 11:00am - 5:00pm. Closing event in a year-long piece of music. 11:00am-1:00pm Improvisation workshop w. Faye MacCalman; 2:00-5:00pm Collective Improvised Performance by Sunderland residents. SOLD OUT!
Sat 17: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 17: Martin Taylor @ Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £48.72; £43.37. Solo guitar. SOLD OUT!
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Jump jive.
Sun 18: Guisborough Big Band @ Redcar Rugby Club. 5:00-8:00pm. ‘Charity Big Band Birthday Bash’ in aid of Parkinson’s UK & Young Sounds UK. Free (donations on the door).
Sun 18: Martin Taylor @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £23.30. Solo guitar.
Sun 18: Ben Crosland Quartet with Steve Waterman @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Mon 19: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Tue 20: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. Pete Tanton (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Tue 20: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Head, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Tickets from Tully’s, Rothbury. Coquetdale Jazz. Note change of venue.
Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Scotty Adair.
Wed 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: FILM: Blue Moon @ Washington Arts Centre. 1:00pm. £4.50 (inc. bf). Biopic of lyricist Lorenz Hart.
Wed 21: De'Sean Jones’ Urban Art Orchestra @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00.; £5.00. student, unwaged; free to Mercury Awards ticket holders. De'Sean Jones (tenor sax, EWI); Tjoe Man Cheung (guitar); Mikele Montolli (double bass) + others TBA.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 21: Roby Glod-Steve Sewell Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Thu 22: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 22: Mercury Prize @ Utility Arena Newcastle. 8:00pm. £60.25.; £48.75. Line-up inc. Knats.
Thu 22: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Bandstand!, Exhibition Park, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.20 (inc. bf) via Instagram. Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Thu 22: Olly Styles Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.75.
Fri 23: Sara Oschlag w. Arnie Somogyi Trio @ The Lit & Phil. 1:00pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Ben Lawrence (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); John Hirst (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: Emma Fisk’s Hot Club du Nord @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Maja Bugge & Dave Evans @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Fri 23: Knats @ King Street Social Club, North Shields. 7:00pm. £17.00., £14.70., £11.30., £5.50. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Fri 23: Sara Oschlag & Arnie Somogyi w. Ben Lawrence @ Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Ben Lawrence (keyboards); Arnie Somogyi (double bass).
Fri 23: Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook @ Redhills, Durham. 8:00pm. James Pearson (piano); Sam Burgess (double bass); Chris Higginbottom (drums); Alex Garnett (sax); Polly Gibbons (vocals). Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: SwanNek + Jacob Egglestone @ Fabio’s Bar, Durham. 9:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
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'
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- Who is Hilma?
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- 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
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- More Djangology from John Taylor
- Louis Armstrong Night on BBC 4
- Django Related Bliss by Liz
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- Liz Gives Her Age Away!
- Kevin McKenzie Quartet - Schmazz at the Cluny
- 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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