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Acker Bilk

Acker Bilk 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.


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Album Review

Acker Bilk: The Frankfurt Concert

Read "The Frankfurt Concert" reviewed by Dave Nathan


England's Acker Bilk's big hit of 1961, the sugary, vibrato packed “Stranger on the Shore" masked the fact that Bilk had been (and continues to be ) a fine New Orleans jazz performer. Bilk was a leading member of the traditional jazz revival in Great Britain during the late 1950's and early 60's sharing that spot with Humphrey Lyttelton. With “Stranger", the clarinetist became the first British artist to top the US pop music charts paving the way for that ...

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Obituary

Acker Bilk: Legendary jazz clarinettist dies aged 85

Acker Bilk: Legendary jazz clarinettist dies aged 85

Source: Michael Ricci

Clarinettist Acker Bilk, who personified the trad jazz revival of the 1950s and '60s, has died after a lengthy illness at the age of 85. His most famous song Stranger on the Shore was the UK's biggest selling single of 1962 and made him an international star. Born Bernard Stanley Bilk, he changed his name to Acker - Somerset slang for “mate" - after learning to play the clarinet in the Army. His last concert was in August 2013. Pamela ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

"I Think The Best...

Pickwick Music
2009

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All The Hits Plus More

Pickwick Music
2001

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The Best Of Stranger...

Pickwick Music
2001

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The Frankfurt Concert

Hitchcock Media Records
2001

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Reflections

Pickwick Music
1993

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