Acker Bilk
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Bilk, Acker
| For The Record... |
| Born Bernard Stanley Bilk on January 28, 1929, in Pensford, England; children: Jenny. Began playing the clarinet while stationed in Egypt during Suez Crisis, 1948; formed the Paramount Jazz Band, late 1950s; released hit single "Summer Set," 1960; wrote and recorded hit theme song for British television series Stranger on the Shore, 1961; recorded theme song for film A Taste of Honey, 1963; recorded hit single, "Aria," 1976; named member of the Order of the British Empire, 2001. Awards: Order of the British Empire, member, 2001; Ivor Novello Award for "Most Performed Work." Addresses: Management—53 Cambridge Mansions, Cambridge Rd., London SW11 4RX, England, phone: 44 (0) 20 7978 5885, fax: 44 (0) 20 7978 5882, e-mail: enquiry@ackermusicagency.co.uk. |
Clarinetist, band leader, guitarist
Initially associated with the British traditional or "trad" jazz movement, Acker Bilk rose to prominence in Britain and the United States as the bandleader responsible for the hit instrumental "Stranger on the Shore," which became the theme song of a popular British television series. As a trad jazz musician, Bilk rejected the use of amplified instruments and was also against the use of saxophones—most commonly associated at the time with bop and hard bop jazz—preferring instead the instrumentation most commonly associated with jazz music prior to World War II. As a result, his early recordings featured Bilk on clarinet, with accompaniment on banjo, trumpet, trombone, drums, and piano. As the years progressed, Bilk alienated some of his trad audience by integrating saxophones, string orchestras, and synthesizers into his band lineup. He made up for the loss of his trad followers by recording widely and touring frequently, and by using a humorous form of stage patter between musical numbers.
Born Bernard Stanley Bilk in the Somerset village of Pensford in rural England, Bilk was given the name Acker, Somerset slang for "friend," at an early age. He received piano lessons as a young man, but did not take his musical education seriously. Employed for a period of time at the Willis Tobacco factory, Bilk also engaged in competitive boxing. He began playing the clarinet in 1948 while serving in the Royal Engineers. While stationed in Egypt where he was assigned to guard the Suez Canal, he fell asleep on guard duty. This infraction resulted in imprisonment while awaiting a court martial. He was able to while away his time by practicing on a military clarinet that he was loaned while incarcerated for three months. Due to an early sledding accident, Bilk lacked the finger normally used as a finder on the clarinet, and he developed a unique style as a result. His style was further altered by the lack of two teeth that had been knocked out in a fight. The signature sound he eventually perfected had ample vibrato, and developed a fullness of tone in the clarinet's lower registers.
After returning to England, Bilk moved to Bristol and began performing in various jazz groups. He relocated to London to join a band led by Ken Colyer, but disliked the urban environment and moved back to Bristol, where he formed the Bristol Paramount Jazz Band. He returned to London in 1951 with his band, staying with his wife in a factory attic in Plaistow. His distinctive playing and innate leadership abilities prompted him to drop "Bristol" from the band title and rename it Acker Bilk and the Paramount Jazz Band. The band received its first big break when it was hired to play a six-week gig in Dusseldorf, Germany. This booking gave the group ample time to perfect their timing, musicianship, and repertoire, which consisted of raw blues and rag-time vamps. Returning to England, Bilk outfitted the band in Edwardian England-era attire. Bilk sported a bowler hat and finely trimmed beard that became his signature style on album covers throughout the 1960s.
In 1960 the group enjoyed its first hits with "Creole Jazz" and "Summer Set," an instrumental named humorously after the region where Bilk grew up. The editors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD described Bilk as "an impressive middle-register player who seldom uses the coloratura range for spurious effect, preferring to work melodic variations on a given theme. Though he repeats certain formulae, he tends to do so with variations that stop them going stale."
In 1961, Bilk wrote and recorded a song named for his daughter, Jenny. The song languished in obscurity until it was selected as the theme song for a BBC children's program, "Stranger on the Shore." Producer Dennis Preston convinced Bilk to include strings on the recording session, and the Leon Young String Chorale was enlisted to provide the orchestration. The song "Jenny" was re-titled "Stranger on the Shore," and brought Bilk great success on both sides of the Atlantic. He followed up on the success of "Stranger on the Shore" with the theme to the film A Taste of Honey, which also registered as a hit. He made numerous television appearances during this period, including a guest appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, where he was introduced by Sullivan as "the bearded clarinetist, Mr. Acker Bilk."
In an attempt to progress artistically and stave off creative stagnation, Bilk experimented with styles and instruments throughout the remainder of the 1960s. He hired Bruce Turner, a renowned hard bop saxophonist who had gained notoriety in the 1950s due to scathingly negative reviews by such trad-friendly critics as Philip Larkin. Turner predictably divided Bilk's audience, but his eventual departure prompted the editors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD to write that "Turner's departure was welcomed like the passing of the plague by Bilk's occasionally too vociferous fans, but he added a certain mainstream punch to a band that was in some risk of dead-ending itself."
The Paramount Jazz Band underwent several personnel changes throughout the 1960s. Original trumpet player Colin Smith departed and was replaced by Rod Mason, who in turn was replaced by Mike Cotton. Trombonist John Mortimer was replaced by Campbell Burnap. With this lineup he recorded Blaze Away, which included "Aria," his first hit in more than ten years. Blaze Away also featured a new recording of "Stranger on the Shore," a composition that Bilk fondly referred to as his pension plan. While "Aria" and "Stranger on the Shore" safely appealed to Bilk's core audience, other compositions, such as "Black and Tan Fantasy," served to appease hardcore jazz aficionados.
In 2001 Bilk was honored by Queen Elizabeth II as a member of the Order of the British Empire, for his musical accomplishments. He continued to record and tour extensively throughout the 1990s and beyond, despite a six-month battle with throat cancer in 1999 and 2000. He has also dedicated much of his time to running a successful music booking and publishing company. He has been a frequent performer at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and has performed in the Giants of Jazz Concerts with Humphrey Lyttelton and George Melly. In 2003 he performed with the reunited Paramount Jazz Band for concerts that also featured the Big Chris Barber Band and Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen. He also guested as a clarinetist on Van Morrison's 2002 Down the Road and in a 2003 Blue Note debut What's Wrong with This Picture?
Selected discography
Mr. Acker Requests, Nixa, 1958.
Mr. Acker Marches On, Pye, 1958.
Mr. Acker Bilk Sings, Pye, 1959.
Mr. Acker Bilk Requests (Part One), Pye, 1959.
Mr. Acker Bilk Requests (Part Two), Pye, 1959.
The Noble Art of Mr. Acker Bilk, Pye, 1959.
Seven Ages of Acker, Columbia, 1960.
Mr. Acker Bilk's Omnibus, Pye, 1960.
That's My Home, Philips, 1960.
Acker, Columbia, 1960.
A Golden Treasury of Bilk, Columbia, 1961.
Mr. Acker Bilk's Lansdowne Folio, Columbia, 1961.
Stranger on the Shore, Columbia, 1962.
Above the Stars and Other Romantic Fancies, Columbia, 1962.
A Taste of Honey, Columbia, 1963.
Great Themes from Great European Movies, Columbia, 1965.
Acker in Paris, Columbia, 1966.
Blue Acker, Columbia, 1968.
Horn of Plenty, Columbia, 1971.
Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band, Dixieland, 1971.
Some of My Favorite Things, PRT, 1973.
Love Songs, Bridge, 1973.
That's My Desire, PRT, 1974.
Serenade, PRT, 1975.
The One for Me, PRT, 1976.
Invitation, PRT, 1977.
Meanwhile, PRT, 1977.
Sheer Magic, Warwick, 1977.
Extremely Live in Studio 1, PRT, 1978.
Free, PRT, 1978.
When the Lights Are Low, PRT, 1978.
(With Max Bygraves) Twogether, Piccadilly, 1980.
Acker Bilk in Holland, Timeless, 1983.
It Looks Like a Big Time Tonight, Stomp Off, 1985.
Blaze Away, Timeless, 1987.
Acker Bilk Plays Lennon & McCartney, GNP, 1988.
Best of Acker Bilk, GNP, 1989.
Heartbeats, Pickwick, 1992.
Chalumeau—That's My Home, Apricot, 1993.
Love Album, Pickwick, 1993.
Hits Blues & Class, Castle, 1994.
Acker Bilk & Strings, Castle, 1994.
Acker Bilk, Castle, 1994.
Imagine, Castle, 1994.
Some of the Best, Delta, 1996.
More of the Best, Delta, 1996.
The Best of Acker Bilk, Excelsior, 1996.
The Best of Acker Bilk, Prime Cuts, 1997.
The Very Best of Acker Bilk, Taragon, 1998.
Great Moments, Timeless, 1998.
Classic Themes, Crimson, 1998.
Unissued Acker, Harlequin, 1999.
The Frankfurt Concert, Hitchcock, 2000.
Acker, Kenny & Chris, Pulse, 2001.
Sweet Georgia Brown, Trad Line, 2002.
Acker, Lake, 2004.
Sources
Books
Cook, Richard and Brian Morton, Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 3rd edition, Penguin, 1996.
Larkin, Colin, editor, Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 3rd edition, MUZE, 1998.
Online
"Acker Bilk," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (February 9, 2004).
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:
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Acker Bilk
- Genres: Jazz
Biography
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. The single stayed 55 weeks on the British charts and crossed the sea to America, where it hit number one in an era when radio was open to oddball records of all idioms (Bilk gratefully called "Stranger" "my old-age pension"). Released on English Columbia in Britain, several Bilk albums came out in America on the Atco label, and he continued to have hits until the British rock invasion of 1964 made trad seem quaint. With that, Bilk moved into cabaret and continued to have some success in Europe, leading jazz bands, recording with lush string ensembles, and even scoring another hit, "Aria" (number five in Britain), in 1976. Continuing to perform through the 2000s, Bilk slackened his pace so that he could pursue, like Miles Davis, a hobby of painting. ~ Richard S. Ginell, RoviHarperCollins Guide to Rhyming Slang:
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Acker Bilk
acker bilk
milk
milk
Bernard 'Acker' Bilk is a British jazz clarinettist.
| ace of spades, abergavenny, A.I.F. | |
| adam and eve, adrian quist, airs and graces |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Acker Bilk
| Acker Bilk | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Bernard Stanley Bilk |
| Born | 28 January 1929 [1] Pensford, Somerset, England |
| Genres | easy listening, traditional jazz |
| Occupations | Clarinetist |
| Instruments | Clarinet |
| Years active | 1954 – Present |
| Labels | Atco Records, EMI, Columbia Records, Castle Records, Philips Records, Stomp Off Records, GNP Records, Lake Records |
| Website | Official site |
Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk MBE (born 28 January 1929) is an English clarinettist. He is known for his trademark goatee, bowler hat, striped waistcoat and his breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register clarinet style.
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Contents
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Biography
Bilk earned the nickname Acker from the Somerset slang for 'friend' or 'mate'. His parents tried to teach him the piano, but as a boy, Bilk found it restricted his love of outdoor activities including football. He lost two front teeth in a school fight and half a finger in a sledging accident, both of which Bilk has claimed to have affected his eventual clarinet style. He learned the clarinet while serving in the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone after his sapper friend John A. Britten gave him a clarinet that he had bought at a bazaar and had no use for. The clarinet had no reed and Britten fashioned a makeshift reed for the instrument out of some scrap wood,[2] and by the mid-1950s he was playing professionally.[3]
Bilk was part of the boom in traditional jazz that swept the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. He first joined Ken Colyer's band in 1954, and then formed his own ensemble, The Paramount Jazz Band, in 1956.[3] Four years later, their single "Summer Set," a pun on their home county co-written by Bilk and pianist Dave Collett, reached number five in the British charts[4] and began a run of eleven top 50 hit singles.
Bilk was not an international star until an experiment with a string ensemble and a composition of his own as its keynote piece made him one in 1962.Upon the birth of his daughter, he composed and dedicated a melody entitled "Jennifer" (her name). He was approached by a British television serial series for permission to use that melody, but to change the title to "Stranger on the Shore". He went on to record it as the title track of a new album in which his signature deep, quivering clarinet was backed by the Leon Young String Chorale. The single was not only a big hit in the United Kingdom, where it stayed on the charts for 55 weeks, gaining a second wind after Bilk was the subject of the TV show This Is Your Life, but also shot to the top of the American charts at a time when the American pop charts and radio playlists were open to just about anything in just about any style.[5] As a result, Bilk was the first British artist to have a single in the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[6] (Vera Lynn was the first British artist to top the U.S. Billboard charts with "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" in 1952). "Stranger on the Shore" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[7] The album was also highlighted by a striking interpretation of Bunny Berigan's legendary hit "I Can't Get Started." At one point, at the height of his career, Bilk's public relations workers were known as the "Bilk Marketing Board", a play on the then Milk Marketing Board.
In January 1963, the British music magazine, NME reported that the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain had taken place at Alexandra Palace. The event included George Melly, Diz Disley, Alex Welsh, Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer, Monty Sunshine, Bob Wallis, Bruce Turner, Mick Mulligan and Bilk.[8] Bilk recorded a series of albums in England that were also released successfully in the United States (on the Atlantic Records subsidiary Atco), including a memorable collaboration (Together) with Danish jazz pianist-composer Bent Fabric ("The Alley Cat"). But his success tapered off when British rock and roll made its big international explosion beginning in 1964, and Bilk shifted direction to the cabaret circuit. He finally had another chart success in 1976, with "Aria," which went to number five in the United Kingdom. In May 1977, Bilk & His Paramount Jazz Band provided the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest.[9] His last chart appearance was in 1978 when the TV promoted album released on Pye/Warwick "Evergreen" reached 17 in a 14 week album chart run. In the early 1980s, Bilk and his signature hit were newly familiar, thanks to "Stranger on the Shore" being used in the soundtrack to Sweet Dreams, the film biography of country music legend Patsy Cline. Most of his classic albums with the Paramount Jazz Band have been reissued and are available on the UK based Lake Records label.
Bilk has been described as "Great Master of the Clarinet".[10] His clarinet sound and style was at least as singular as had been those of American jazzmen such as Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Russell Procope, and "Stranger on the Shore" – which he was once quoted as calling "my old-age pension" – remains a beloved standard of jazz and popular music alike.
Acker Bilk continues to tour with his Paramount Jazz Band, as well as performing concerts with his two contemporaries, Chris Barber and Kenny Ball (both of whom were born in 1930) as the 3B's.
One of his recordings is with the Chris Barber band, sharing the clarinet spot with the band's regular reedsmen, John Crocker and Ian Wheeler. He made a CD with another legend of British Jazz Wally Fawkes for the Lake Records label in 2002. He has appeared on two recent albums by Van Morrison, Down the Road and What's Wrong With This Picture?.
See also
- West Country dialects
- Django Reinhardt, another influential jazz musician whose dexterity seemed unimpaired by finger-damage
References
- ^ Researcha
- ^ "Acker Bilk". 45rpm. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dira/ackerb.htm. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
- ^ a b "Biography". Ackers Music Agency. http://www.ackersmusicagency.co.uk/biography.htm. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
- ^ Roberts, Dave (2009). Guinness British Hit Singles. Guinness Superlatives. p. 65.
- ^ allmusic ((( Acker Bilk > Biography )))
- ^ "Mr. Acker Bilk & the Paramount Jazz Band". Regent Centre. http://www.regentcentre.co.uk/event/mr-acker-bilk-paramount-jazz-band. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 131–132. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 116. CN 5585.
- ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest — The Official History. 2010 Carlton Books, UK. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1
- ^ Freespace.virgin.net
External links
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Mentioned in
Great Instrumental Hits: 50's-80's
(1995 Album by Various Artists)
Best of Acker Bilk [GNP]
(1989 Album by Acker Bilk)
Acker Bilk Plays Lennon & McCartney
(1988 Album by Acker Bilk)
Taste Of Honey
(1963 Album by Acker Bilk)
Bobby Gordon
(Jazz Artist, '60s-2000s)
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