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Esquire Jazz Club


johnm

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Does anyone remember the Esquire Jazz Club in the 1960's on Leadmill Road I think it was ?

I recall it was a converted house; you went in on the ground floor but went up to the first floor where the band was.

There were seats round the outside of the room where it was quite dark and you could listen and have a kiss and a cuddle with your girl. The ceiling of that floor had been cut out and you could go upstairs and look down on the band and floor below.

It was considered a bit of a dive but the music was great. Many local and other bands played there.

When "pop" music started it ceased to be a jazz club . I remember seeing a group called "The Merseys" playing ( presumably became The Merseybeats ?).

I stopped going then but have very pleasant memories of the place .

John

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Hi Johnm,

Yep I remember The Esquire. Wild times could be had there! It certainly played more than jazz though.

Just a suggestion Johnm/admin, perhaps this thread should go onto the Sheffield Nightclubs web section?

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Does anyone remember the Esquire Jazz Club in the 1960's on Leadmill Road I think it was. I recall it was a converted house; you went in on the ground floor but went up to the first floor where the band was. There were seats round the outside of the room where it was quite dark and you could listen and have a kiss and a cuddle with your girl. THe ceiling of that floor had been cut out and you could go upstairs and look down on the band and floor below.

It was considered a bit of a dive but the music was great. Many local and other bands played there.

When "pop" music started it ceased to be a jazz club . I remember seeing a group called "The Merseys" playing ( presumably became The Merseybeats ?).

I stopped going then but have very pleasant memories of the place .

John

I remember it well.

It was a Jazz orienated place frequented by what remained of the beatniks of the early 60's. By the time I started going (about '64) we called ourselves Beats and the music had moved away from jazz and towards the more obscure American import stuff. - The R'n'B of it's day. This soon gave way to our move over to Mod-ism and the music that went with it.

I may be wrong but I always assumed that the "hole in the floor" was actually an original mezanine floor. I seem to remember that, up there on the mezanine, there were Barrels for tables with candles on them. The last time I went would probably have been about '67ish

The band you mentioned (as a point of interest) were called the Merseybeats first, then changed their name to the Merseys in the mid 60's

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I remember it well.

It was a Jazz orienated place frequented by what remained of the beatniks of the early 60's. By the time I started going (about '64) we called ourselves Beats and the music had moved away from jazz and towards the more obscure American import stuff. - The R'n'B of it's day. This soon gave way to our move over to Mod-ism and the music that went with it.

I may be wrong but I always assumed that the "hole in the floor" was actually an original mezanine floor. I seem to remember that, up there on the mezanine, there were Barrels for tables with candles on them. The last time I went would probably have been about '67ish

The band you mentioned (as a point of interest) were called the Merseybeats first, then changed their name to the Merseys in the mid 60's

Now you mention it I remember the barrels and candles. My girlfriend & I preferred being up there most of the time. It was a great place to be!

Thanks, John

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hI I USED TO GO THERE EVERY FRIDAY, SATURDAY.

NOT REALLY JAZZ,MORE R AND B SAW JOE COCKER ,SONNY BOY WILLIAMS,ROD STEWART.

USED TO DANCE ALL NIGHT. WOW!! GOOD TIMES!

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IT WAS AN OLD :FLOUR MILL!

Hi Pidd, Flour Mill - that answers the qeustion about the hole in the ceiling !

My memories are that it was a jazz club when I first went about 1960 although maybe that was just one night a week. It didn't take long - maybe a couple of years before it changed though and I stopped going as I was a keen jazz fan at the time and not particularly interested in "rock & roll".

John

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By the way John -

Did you know there's a book about the Esquire (and Club 60 as it was called before it moved to Leadmill Road)?

I've got it somewhere but I've just been trying to find it without success.

Here's a link to Amazon.

Club 60 and Esquire

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By the way John -

Did you know there's a book about the Esquire (and Club 60 as it was called before it moved to Leadmill Road)?

I've got it somewhere but I've just been trying to find it without success.

Here's a link to Amazon.

Club 60 and Esquire

Thanks Vox , I didn't know about that.

John

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Hi Pidd, Flour Mill - that answers the qeustion about the hole in the ceiling !

My memories are that it was a jazz club when I first went about 1960 although maybe that was just one night a week. It didn't take long - maybe a couple of years before it changed though and I stopped going as I was a keen jazz fan at the time and not particularly interested in "rock & roll".

John

Do you remember The Gloryland Jazz band ?

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John Shillito , Dave Tanton , Dave Timmis drums and Cyril Preston who you knew.

Forgot to say welcome to the Forum Jazzman I see that you are a newbie. I have not been on long myself but find it a brilliant site hope that you find it as interesting as I do.

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This brought back some memories. I used to go to the Esquire quite often, as you say it wasn't just a jazz club. Brilliant place, dark, seedy but full of life lol

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Guest nigelpigott

John Shillito , Dave Tanton , Dave Timmis drums and Cyril Preston who you knew.

Forgot to say welcome to the Forum Jazzman I see that you are a newbie. I have not been on long myself but find it a brilliant site hope that you find it as interesting as I do.

My dad Tony Pigott use to play the drums for the gloryland before he joined the climax jazz band

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My dad Tony Pigott use to play the drums for the gloryland before he joined the climax jazz band

I would have known him, as a friend Harry Jarvis played bass in the Climax Jazzmen & I watched them every week at the Cannon Hall at Firvale

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Guest kim1967

I would have known him, as a friend Harry Jarvis played bass in the Climax Jazzmen & I watched them every week at the Cannon Hall at Firvale

My Dad Tony Pigott did used to play at the Cannon Hall and I remember Harry Jarvis well. We used to leave near by when I was small. My mum still has the Sheffield Star paper cuttings from when her and dad got married. They did a feature on their wedding and the band.

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Wow, the place certainly attracted top talent! Yet unlike some beat clubs, for example in Liverpool, it didn't become famous outside its local area. I had never heard of it until I read this feature. That book looks worth picking up too.

I have a suggestion for the origin of the Esquire name. There was, from the mid-1950s onwards, a jazz record label called Esquire. It was run by Carlo and Greta Krahmer from a mansion flat in Bloomsbury and issued many hip modern jazz EPs and LPs, as well as some of the first West Indian music ever released in Britain. Its heyday was the early '60s so I suspect that the club's owners borrowed the name to attract the jazz "in crowd".

After the Krahmers died it was revived by Peter Newbrook who had been the label's accountant, and he reissued most of the jazz albums which he still had the legal rights to. He died in the early 2000s and Esquire finally was no more. I have a few promotional pressings of records which I bought from his estate.

All this could be completely off target of course, sorry for rambling on if so.

Wow, I would have loved to have seen Sonny Boy Williamson on stage. I remember seeing him on telly a few times during his tours over here late in his life. He was the man who got me into blues music.

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Some photos of the Esquire on this video along with some interesting music. I think the photos repeat after about 7 minutes.

 

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