Instantly identifiable for his unique style of bowler hat, goatee beard and waistcoat, clarinetist Acker Bilk – born Bernard Bilk on January 28, 1929, in Somerset, England - will always be remembered for his atmospheric and evocative instrumental “Stranger on The Shore” (1961). He took up playing the clarinet in 1948 while serving in the British Army in Egypt, and subsequently became a key part of the traditional jazz boom in Britain, along with Kenny Ball and Chris Barber. He joined The Ken Colyer Band in 1954, before founding and fronting his own group, the Paramount Jazz Band, in 1956. Often credited as Mr. Acker Bilk, the clarinetist and his Paramount Jazz Band issued a few 10-inch EP releases in the late 1950s before releasing their 1960 debut album The Seven Ages of Acker. The album featured their first Top 10 hit single “Summer Set”. In 1961, Acker Bilk released the single “Stranger on the Shore”, which was not recorded with the Paramount Jazz Band. Instead, the track went in a slightly different direction and was recorded with the Leon Young String Chorale. The single reached Number 2 on the UK singles chart and Number 1 in the US. While Mr. Acker Bilk and the Paramount Jazz Band continued to release a series of albums and singles , they never again achieved the same amount of success. Although their record sales slowed down, Acker Bilk and the Paramount Jazz Band remained a popular live act and he remained a familiar face on the music scene for many more decades. In 2000, Acker Bilk was diagnosed with throat cancer. A year later, he was awarded an MBE, shortly followed by an Honorary Master of Arts Degree from the University of Bristol and two Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Worshipful Company of Musicians and The Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Acker bilk died on November 2, 2014. He was 85 years old.
