Acker Bilk

Bernard Stanley Bilk MBE ( born January 28, 1929 in Pensford, Somerset, England), known under the name of Mr. Acker Bilk, is an English jazz clarinetist.

Bilks father was a preacher and his mother an organist, so it was already pre-embossed musically in youth. For clarinet he came involuntarily through his military service: Because he was asleep during his service in 1947 in Egypt on guard duty, he spent three months in military detention and brought themselves there to pass the time playing the clarinet at. After his release, he became a blacksmith, but quickly came to the music and was already mid-1950s, a member of the Ken Colyer Group. In 1958 he founded with the Paramount Jazz Band his own band. Trademark was melon and goat beard and striped jazz -west the whole band. His nickname Acker comes from a southern English dialect term for friend or buddy.

With the Paramount, he toured both England and Germany and was able to celebrate in 1960 in both countries with the instrumental title Summer Set his first chart success. Another success was his version of the title instrumental piece Petite fleur, composed by Sidney Bechet.

Another song, which he had named after his daughter, Jenny, was founded in 1961 selected as the theme song for the children's television series Stranger on the Shore. Under the title of the TV series ( Stranger on the Shore), it was in a re-recording with the Leon Young String Chorale to a worldwide hit. In the U.S., the quiet Clarinet Instrumental reached # 1 and was a million seller. In the UK, where it reached number 2, it was over a year in the charts and is still the best-selling instrumental tracks of all time.

With the beginning of the Beat era jazz music occurred generally in the background, and so it was quieter around Acker Bilk in the charts. In 1976, he had with his instrumental version of the title Aria still a Top Ten hit in the UK. As a famous jazz clarinetist, he was to old age all over the world on the go. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2001. On November 10, 2011, he performed with his band together with its legendary jazz colleague Chris Barber and Kenny Ball in a farewell performance at Berlin's Tempodrom on. In 2012, he was with Chris Barber on tour in Germany.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Mr Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band ( Lake, 1958 /59)
• Mr Acker Bilk 's Folio Lansdowns ( Lake, 1960 /61)
• The Traditional Jazz Scene ( Teldec, 1959-63 )
• Stranger on the Shore / A Taste of Honey ( Redial, 1962-65 )
• Acker & Cuff ( Macjazz, 2004) with Cuff ticket