Acker Bilk - Acker Bilk Plays Lennon & McCartney

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 1987
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:56
Size: 105,7 MB
Art: Front

(2:22) 1. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
(3:36) 2. With a Litle Luck
(3:24) 3. Imagine
(2:53) 4. Michelle
(3:33) 5. Woman
(2:55) 6. World Without Love
(3:59) 7. Mull of Kintyre
(3:08) 8. Fool on the Hill
(3:28) 9. Ebony & Ivory
(2:56) 10. Nowhere Man
(3:31) 11. Yesterday
(3:06) 12. She's Leaving Home
(3:09) 13. Here, There & Everywhere
(3:51) 14. Pipes of Peace

Acker Bilk was a solid English Dixieland jazz clarinetist who also crossed over into easy listening albums. Acker Bilk Plays Lennon & McCartney probably won't be enjoyed by most rock or jazz fans but it is an entertaining listening experience. One of the interesting things about it is that it includes as many solo cuts from the careers of Lennon & McCartney as it does tracks that the two wrote for The Beatles.

The album's sweeping string arrangements and insipid keyboard lines sometimes get in the way of Bilk's concise clarinet playing but his musical personality still manages to shine through. Bilk mostly sticks firmly to the melodies of the songs but often starts improvising at the fade out. Ultimately, the album may contain kitschy elevator music but it's of the sort that's played in the better elevators and the tunes do show how melodically gifted both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were.
By Nick Dedina https://www.allmusic.com/album/acker-bilk-plays-lennon-mccartney-mw0000651957

Personnel: Acker Bilk clarinet

Acker Bilk Plays Lennon & McCartney

---

Acker Bilk - That's My Home

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:17
Size: 105,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:20)  1. That's My Home
(3:10)  2. China Boy
(2:57)  3. Nagasaki
(3:24)  4. Maryland March
(2:43)  5. Creole Jazz
(3:18)  6. Jazz Me Blues
(3:34)  7. Savoy Blues
(1:53)  8. New Orleans Stomp
(3:37)  9. Buona Sera
(3:10) 10. South
(2:21) 11. Lazy River
(4:12) 12. Milenberg Joys
(2:44) 13. Original Dixieland One-Step
(4:48) 14. Black Label Blues

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 https://www.allmusic.com/artist/acker-bilk-mn0000926115/biography

That's My Home

---

Acker Bilk - Clarinet Moods

Styles: Clarinet Jazz 
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:52
Size: 113,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:09)  1. Stranger on the Shore
(2:52)  2. Summertime
(3:49)  3. Night and Day
(2:47)  4. I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now
(3:43)  5. Long Ago (And Far Away)
(3:00)  6. Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)
(2:51)  7. Body and Soul
(4:42)  8. Stardust
(3:10)  9. Embraceable You
(2:39) 10. I'll Get By
(3:43) 11. That Old Devil Called Love
(2:17) 12. Ole Buttermilk Sky
(2:39) 13. Pennies from Heaven
(3:22) 14. South of the Border
(4:02) 15. Try a Little Tenderness

For many, Jazz clarinet is synonymous with one man: Acker Bilk. His unique tone, rich, versatile and as expressive as the human voice, has become a benchmark against which other Jazz clarinetists are measured. In the '60s Bilk became a cult figure, a popularity matched by some stunning chart successes. This collection of great standards was recorded in 1995, and demonstrates that Bilk's apparently effortless delivery of melody, and his ability to draw from the clarinet a wealth of colors and tones, remain apparently unquenchable. EMI Gold. 2007. ~Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Clarinet-Moods-Acker-Bilk/dp/B000MV91QG

Clarinet Moods

---

Chris Barber & Acker Bilk - That's It Then

Size: 161,1 MB
Time: 69:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1997
Styles: Jazz, Dixieland
Art: Front

01. Just A Closer Walk With Thee (6:26)
02. Stranger On The Shore (4:34)
03. Bugle Boy March (3:57)
04. Wabash Blues (6:54)
05. On The Sunny Side Of The Street (7:52)
06. South (5:31)
07. Lou-Easy-An-I-A (7:14)
08. Panama (9:57)
09. Poor Butterfly (7:49)
10. That's My Home (4:23)
11. High Society (5:01)

Recording dates: Recorded in concert on December 13 and 17 1996.

During the "trad boom" of the early 1960s, the undisputed "kings" were Ball, Barber and Bilk -- the "Three Bs"as they were often known -- Kenny Ball's Jazzmen, Chris Barber's Jazz Band, and Mr. Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazz Band. Although they rarely if ever played and never recorded together (apart from occasional radio programmes), they were inseparable in the public's mind, partly because of the titles of reissue LPs such as The Best Of Barber & Bilk and The Best Of Ball, Barber & Bilk.

This excellent CD goes some way to filling that gap, with Acker Bilk as the guest of the Chris Barber Band in two concerts from the latter part of 1996. As Chris notes in the CD insert: "This is the record everyone thought they were buying 35 years ago. Millions of recordings by Barber and Bilk were sold in the 1960s and even reached the LP charts, but these recordings never had Mr. Barber and Mr. Bilk playing together. They only included other tapes of the two separate bands. Finally in truth Barber and Bilk are playing together at the same time and the same place. Playing with Acker was just as much fun as anybody could have imagined and we hope that you will enjoy this recording as much as the musicians you are hearing."

That's It Then is also notable because it was the last commercial recording featuring Ian Wheeler as a member of the band's front line (after a total of over thirty years!), and Alan "Sticky" Wickett's last recording as the drummer.

Personnel: Chris Barber (trombone), Pat Halcox (trumpet), Acker Bilk (clarinet), John Crocker (reeds & flute), Ian Wheeler (reeds), John Slaughter (guitar), Paul Sealey (banjo, guitar), Vic Pitt (bass), Alan "Sticky" Wickett" (drums).

That's It Then

---

The Jive Aces - Recipe For Rhythm

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:16
Size: 117.4 MB
Styles: Swing
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[2:53] 1. Aces Shuffle (Feat. Jeremy Wakefield & Miss Carmen Getit)
[3:26] 2. Something Can Be Done About It (Feat. Miss Carmen Getit & Steve Lucky)
[3:28] 3. Love Me Or Leave Me (Feat. Mark Isham)
[3:44] 4. Buona Sera (Feat. Toni Elizabeth Prima)
[3:05] 5. Once More (Feat. Chick Corea)
[2:50] 6. London Rhythm (Feat. Vic Flick)
[3:34] 7. Fever
[4:37] 8. Affinity, Reality And Communication (Feat. Mark Isham)
[3:53] 9. The Few
[3:29] 10. Up A Lazy River
[3:46] 11. Summertime (Feat. Chick Corea)
[2:58] 12. Happy All The While (Feat. Jeremy Wakefield)
[3:11] 13. Sway
[3:00] 14. Heading Home (Feat. Miss Carmen Getit)
[3:16] 15. We'll Meet Again (Feat. Mr. Acker Bilk & Toni Elizabeth Prima)

The Jive Aces is the UK's top jive/swing band. This six piece group have performed all around the world and starred on TV, radio, at festivals, theatres,clubs and top charity and corporate events, reaching the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals in 2012.

Recipe For Rhythm

---

Acker Bilk - The Magic Clarinet Of

Styles: Clarinet Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:19
Size: 140,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:55)  1. Jean
(3:04)  2. We've Only Just Begun
(3:19)  3. The Rose
(3:14)  4. Eres Tu (Touch The Wind)
(3:03)  5. Morning Has Broken
(4:00)  6. You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
(2:38)  7. I Left My Heart In San Francisco
(4:05)  8. I Can`t Stop Loving You
(4:15)  9. Hey Jude
(3:43) 10. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
(2:43) 11. Ramblin` Rose
(2:48) 12. If I Give My Heart To You
(3:18) 13. Never My Love
(2:51) 14. Stranger On The Shore
(2:37) 15. Let It Be Me
(3:40) 16. My Way

Sixteen popular tunes (including "Hey Jude," "Ramblin' Rose, " "We've Only Just Begun, " "The Rose, " and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco") are given soothing, pleasant arrangements by the famous clarinetist on this disc. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-magic-clarinet-of-acker-bilk-mw0000187856

Personnel: Acker Bilk (clarinet); David Katz (violin).

The Magic Clarinet Of

---

Acker Bilk - The Very Best Of Mr. Acker Bilk

Styles: Clarinet Jazz 
Year: 1998
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:35
Size: 85,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:40)  1. Summer Set
(3:36)  2. Buona Sera (long version)
(3:18)  3. That's My Home
(2:56)  4. Stranger On The Shore
(2:45)  5. Above The Stars
(2:59)  6. Lonely
(3:05)  7. Limelight
(2:58)  8. A Taste Of Honey
(2:18)  9. Only You (And You Alone)
(2:48) 10. Stranger On The Shore (with Bent Fabric)
(2:34) 11. Alley Cat (with Bent Fabric)
(3:32) 12. Aria

Acker Bilk is best remembered for his crossover pop hit "Stranger on the Shore," a middle-of-the-road smoothie that featured his honeyed clarinet well to the fore. This 12-song best-of reprises that along with other similar fare. 

Two selections find him working with pianist Bent Fabric, first on a duet version of "Stranger," then on Fabric's big elevator music hit "Alley Cat." But the biggest surprise here is the inclusion of the "long version" of "Buono Sera," done up in a style that's equal parts Louis Prima wedded to full-blown Dixieland trad and definitely the most un-pop-like selection on here. ~ Cub Koda http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-very-best-of-acker-bilk-mw0000047128

The Very Best Of Mr. Acker Bilk

---