Acker Bilk

Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, MBE (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat.

Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, MBE (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat.

Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, MBE (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat.

Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk, MBE (28 January 1929 – 2 November 2014) was an English clarinetist and vocalist known for his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register style, and distinctive appearance – of goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat.

Society Records presents this pristine high-fidelity digital transfer of Mister Acker Bilk accompanied by Johnny Bastable's Chosen Seven and Bob Wallis & The Storyville Jazzmen performing My Early Days!

The direct successor to an earlier Lake collection, Acker Bilk's Acker, Mr. Acker Bilk's Lansdowne Folio rounds up four tracks from A Golden Treasury of Bilk, a single, three previously unreleased numbers, and finally, a dozen more from the original Lansdowne Portfolio album. It's a gripping collection as well; though Bilk was certainly well on his way to embracing the pop mainstream by this time, and his ear for melody was certainly leaning toward the more popular end of things, still his stabs at Cole Porter's "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," the traditional "Lord Let Me in the Lifeboat," and "Go Tell It On the Mountain" are nothing if not rousing and, if Bilk's version of "Tishomingo Blues" has little of the drama of Ken Colyer's earlier Denis Preston-produced rendition of the same number, again one must remember the very different audiences that the two men were playing to.

Mr Acker Bilk is an English clarinettist, synonymous for many with jazz clarinnet. His unique tone, rich, versatile and as expressive as the human voice, has become a benchmark against which other jazz clarinettists are measured. He is considered as the European answer to Benny Goodman and his wonderful sound is recognizable from the very first blow. This collection contains 15 great jazz classics and it is a musical experience, really impossible to resist to hear again and again. Enjoy the magic of Mr. Acker Bilk and his clarinet.

Acker Bilk – or Mr. Acker Bilk, as he was billed – has won immortality on rock oldies radio for his surprise 1962 hit "Stranger on the Shore," an evocative ballad featuring his heavily quavering low-register clarinet over a bank of strings. To the jazz world, though, he has a longer-running track record as one of the biggest stars of Britain's trad jazz boom, playing in a distinctive early New Orleans manner. After learning his instrument in the British Army, Bilk joined Ken Colyer's trad band in 1954 before stepping out on his own in 1956. By 1960, a record of his, "Summer Set" – a pun on the name of his home county – landed on the British pop charts, and Bilk was on his way, clad in the Edwardian clothing and bowler hats that his publicist told his Paramount Jazz Band to wear. Several other British hits followed, but none bigger than "Stranger," which Bilk wrote for his daughter Jenny.

Acker Bilk – or Mr. Acker Bilk, as he was billed – has won immortality on rock oldies radio for his surprise 1962 hit "Stranger on the Shore," an evocative ballad featuring his heavily quavering low-register clarinet over a bank of strings. To the jazz world, though, he has a longer-running track record as one of the biggest stars of Britain's trad jazz boom, playing in a distinctive early New Orleans manner. After learning his instrument in the British Army, Bilk joined Ken Colyer's trad band in 1954 before stepping out on his own in 1956. By 1960, a record of his, "Summer Set" – a pun on the name of his home county – landed on the British pop charts, and Bilk was on his way, clad in the Edwardian clothing and bowler hats that his publicist told his Paramount Jazz Band to wear. Several other British hits followed, but none bigger than "Stranger," which Bilk wrote for his daughter Jenny.