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Scrumpy & Western The definitive guide to the West Country music |
"Mister" Acker Bilk MBE"Jazz Legend & Clarinet King"biography | discography | gigs | gallery | links Who Is Acker Bilk?The chances are that if you were asked to name a clarinet player, the first name that would spring to mind is Acker Bilk. Somerset-born Acker became world famous in May 1962 when he became the first British artist to top the US pop music charts, paving the way for other acts from the UK. Acker was born Bernard Stanley Bilk, on 28th January 1929 in Pensford, Somerset. "Acker" means "friend" in Somerset dialect, and he acquired that nickname from an early age. His father was a carpenter by trade, but also played the church organ; and Acker learnt piano and recorder as a child. He learnt to play clarinet in 1948 while on military service with the Royal Engineers in Egypt. The story goes that Acker was imprisoned for three months for falling asleep on guard duty and learnt clarinet while in jail; presumably having plenty of time to practice! After being demobbed, Acker returned to Bristol working for the WD & HO Wills' tobacco factory during the day, and playing jazz with his own band - the earliest incarnation of the Paramount Jazz Band in the evenings. The jazz scene was blooming at this time, and in 1954 Acker relocated to London where he joined Ken Colyer's band for several months. However, the Big Smoke was not for him, and he returned to the West Country later that year. He reformed the Paramount Jazz Band playing locally, and touring nationally and internationally - records show a tour of Poland in the summer of 1956! John Chilton's 'Who's Who of British Jazz' book states that he also played with the Bristol Crescent City Stompers in 1957, between different incarnations of the Paramount Jazz Band. In the late 1950s, he married Jean "the best looking girl in the village", and fathered two children, Peter and Jenny. Trad jazz had been popular in the UK throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, and Acker Bilk was one of the key figures in the trad boom, along with the likes of Kenny Ball and Chris Barber. The band became famous not only for their gigs and recordings but for their distinctive waistcoats and their leader "Mister" Acker Bilk's trademark bowler hat and beard. This was the braindchild of was Peter Leslie, Acker Bilk's publicist - who also wrote a number of thrillers in the 1960s. It was he who came up with the idea of the Paramount Jazz Band being smartly dressed in striped waistcoats and bowler hats, and, when Acker went from Pye to EMI, Peter Leslie turned in some fantastic sleeve notes, written in a literary style that was perfected in the late eighteenth century, with proper names capitalised, and ten words where one would do. Although professional for a few years, it was not until the 1960 that Acker Bilk really hit the big time. Acker's first chart hit was in early 1960, when Summer Set (an instrumental tribute to his home county) reached the Top 5. The following year he released Stranger On The Shore. The song was originally written for daughter Jenny and named after her, but the title was changed when the BBC used it as the theme tune of the eponymous BBC children's TV series. Stranger On The Shore topped the British chart in 1961, and went on to top the Amercian chart some six months later; the first British artist to top the US pop music charts. The record, which would nowadays be described as easy listening, perhaps seems an unlikely double number one on both sides of the Atlantic, but in those pre-Beatles days the charts contained a fairly eclectic mixture of ballads, rock 'n' roll and Dixieland-style trad-jazz. It was during this period that Acker employed a friend of his as the band's road manager - Adge Cutler. It was Acker who first gave Adge the chance to try out some of his Somerset songs (such as Drink Up Thy Zider, written in 1958) on a real audience. But that, as they say, is another story... Over the next few years Acker had several more chart successes in the UK - although strangely, he was unable to follow up his US success. Acker's hits were a mixture of instrumental and vocal trad jazz numbers (including his song about Somerset That's My Home) and laid-back easy listening hits. His last hit in the 1960s was the theme of the film A Taste Of Honey in 1963. Both trad jazz and Acker's easy listening style were chart casualties when The Beatles and the Rolling Stones changed the face of popular music forever. But during the late 1950s and early 1960s Acker and his band were regularly to be heard on the BBC radio and Radio Luxembourg, as well as being frequent guests on British TV music and variety shows. In 1968, Acker, with his brother Dave Bilk (who had been Acker's road manager before Adge Cutler), opened a jazz club at The Granary - a famous and sadly-missed music venue in Bristol. under Acker's guidance, it opened as a seven days a week jazz club on Tuesday 8th October 1968 with music supplied by the Avon Cities Jazz Band who regularly played there for the next 10 years (they also provided the music for the last night of jazz in 1978 as well). Acker Bilk appeared on Thursday 10th October 1968. Although no longer a familiar face in the charts, Acker continued to play and record the music for which he is famous, and still performs regularly in many countries around the world to this day. His easy listening albums have remained popular and he returned to the UK top 5 with Aria in 1976. Illness meant that he 'retired' from touring in 1999; the first real break in his recording and touring regime since the 1950s. but you can't keep a good man down, and late in 2000 he was back on the road again. In 2001, he was awarded an MBE for services to music. 2009 saw him celebrate his 80th birthday and Acker divides his time between his birthplace Pensford in Somerset, where he still has a house, and Potter's Bar in Hertfordshire, which is closer to the jazz clubs of London where he is still a regular attraction. With his band's current line-up, Acker Bilk has successfully integrated the top 'younger' jazz talent in the UK into the band with the introduction of Enrico Tomasso (Trumpet), Ian Bateman (Trombone) and John Day (Bass) to the line-up, which includes the ever-present Ritchie Bryant (Drums) and Colin Wood (Piano). The band has a new vitality which is guaranteed to make their shows go with a swing. Apart from giving Adge Cutler his first break as a performer, and his Somerset roots, Acker qualifies for inclusion in the Scrumpy & Western genre for his Somerset humour which he uses to great effect on stage, as anyone who has seen him will know. Long may he continue to delight the fans with it and his clarinet playing. 
Acker Bilk Selected DiscographyAcker Bilk must be one of the most prolific recording artists of all time, having made literally hundreds of records since the 1950s, in both the jazz field and his famous easy listening clarinet style. To add to the confusion, many of Acker's records have been repackaged several times. So this initial list is intentionally incomplete to start with - I hope to add to it as time goes on. Meanwhile, if you spot any errors or know any records I've missed, please let us know.
Recordings with other artistsAcker has also made several records with other artists and has appeared on compilations with others, notably fellow trad jazz musicians Kenny Ball and Chris Barber. Details of more of these will be added in due course. Yur's one for starters:
Acker Bilk Links
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