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Brian
Epstein reformed the Beatles... but first, there was Peter Leslie and
Mr Acker Bilk!
Updated October 28th 2021 - I
had just about all of Acker Bilk's Gramophone Records and many more
besides in my
Collection. I followed
Mr Acker Bilk around the West Country from 1960-1963. I had all of his
Albums
and divested myself of Them when new Audio Technology manifested Itself
in the form of firstly, Cassettes, and secondly, CDs. I now own all the
main Acker Bilk CDs that are available, but transference to CD, whilst
enhancing the Quality of the Sound Reproduction, has omitted to
reproduce the Sleeve Notes, although one of the CD reissues has a
tribute to Peter Leslie and acknowledges this genius. I hope you enjoy
reading the amazing Words
compiled
by Peter Leslie for Acker's album sleeve notes – his Idea it was to
dress Acker and his players in
smart, fancy Waistcoats and Bowler Hats. It was an act of Genius,
matched only by his Genius with Words. I still have my Copy of The Book
of Bilk, by the way, bought for me as a
Christmas present in 1962 by my Sister, Jean (who sadly died this year
from
Cancer - she was the very best Sister a Boy could ever have had).
It, too, is a Work
of Genius, and I will never part
with it. What makes it even more precious is that it is inscribed by
Jean...
Around
the beginning of the 1950s, Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band were
booked by his Agent for a six-week Stint in Dusseldorf (sound
familiar?), following which Acker engaged an up and coming thriller
Writer, Peter Leslie, to give him and the Band a Makeover. Leslie came
up with the Idea of striped Waistcoats and Bowler Hats, and at the same
Time started to write the Band's LP and EP sleeve Notes in a kind of
mock Victorian Style. It was a visionary Move, because the band became
far and away the most successful of the "Trad" Jazz bands of the late
Fifties and early Sixties. I have most of the LPs as CDs now, but I've
managed to collect some of the LPs I had as a young Teen. I shan't rest
until I have them All transcribed on this Page for Eternity (or at
least until my Demise). They are
worthy of such Treatment, in my Opinion. This month (November 2021) I
have added the Album The Mr Acker Bilk Omnibus, his last Album recorded
on the Pye Jazz Label, and almost certainly the first Album with Sleeve
Notes by Mr Peter Leslie.
UPDATE 26th October 2021:
My love affair with Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band began when
we heard him playing "Blaze Away" on the radio. The whole family loved
traditional jazz, but we were more familiar with Chris Barber's Jazz
Band to begin with. I was charged with going into the city in 1958 and
coming back with a 78rpm single of Blaze Away. I didn't know at the
time that it wasn't available as a single, and I bought Chris Barber's
"Petite Fleur" instead, much to the disappointment of Mum, Dad and
Jean. I eventually found Blaze Away on the 10-inch LP and bought it
with my paper round money, probably a couple of months after buying
Petite Fleur, but with that LP, the die was cast, and all other trad
jazz bands paled into insignificance for me, and my obsession with
Acker began in earnest.
UPDATE 26th October 2021: Just to
let you know, I have managed to find three more albums with Peter
Leslie sleeve
notes which I shall be including in the December issue of Books
Monthly. I'm not sure
there are any more to be had, but I do keep finding albums, (some of
which I never owned, and which are compilations of material recorded by
Acker in the 1950s/60s) which contain tunes I have never heard Acker
perform before. My CD count at the moment is ten, with two more on the
way this weekend. My vinyl collection comprises two LPs and two EPs. I
am now on the hunt for memorabilia such as concert programmes etc., as
these also often contained notes compiled by Peter Leslie. The two
concerts I attended at Cheltenham Town Hall had just such concert
programmes, and I wish I had kept mine! If anyone reading this page
should happen to have such memorabilia and wouldn't mind photocopying
or photographing anything like the notes I have just mentioned, I would
be more than pleased to include them on this page! For information on THE
BOOK OF BILK, skip here to the bottom of this
page...
New
this month: November 2021
Lansdowne Jazz Series
ACKER
Volume 2 (added 5/11/2021)
Mr
Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band
Side One
There’s
A Rainbow Round My Shoulder (Rose-Jolson-Dreyer)(a)
2.19 Blues (Desfume)(a)
Side
Two
Lazy
River (Carmichael-Aredin)(b)(Vocal: Mr Acker Bilk)
Milenberg Joys (Morton)(a)
Personnel
Mr
Acker Bilk (Clarionet and Master Mind); Mr Kenneth Sims (Trumpet); Mr
Jonathan Mortimer (Trombone); Mr Ronald McKay (Tambours, Traps
&
Effects); Mr Ernest Price (Double Bass);
Mr Roy James (Tenor Banjo)
(a)
Recorded 7.4.60 (b) Recorded 5.4.60 Recording First Published 1960
Recording
Engineer: Philip Clarke
Recording Supervisor: Denis Preston
Sleeve Design: Peter Leslie
Photography: Patrick Gwynne-Jones
Mr
Acker Bilk in expressing the firm and pious Hope that the Listener has
enjoyed, read, learned, inwardly digested and indeed, profited from the
gentle Ballads performed hereon, begs
leave to draw the Attention of the Same to Others of his Works
obtainable under the same Distinguished Trade Mark, viz:-
Discs designed to revolve at a Speed of
Thirty-three and one-Third Revolutions the Minute and of one Dozen
inches Diameter:
The
Seven Ages of Acker (33SX 1205); Acker (33SX 1248 mono; SCX3321
stereo); A Golden Treasury of Bilk (33SX 1304 mono; SCX 3366 stereo);
Clarinet Jamboree (part only)(33SX1204)
The Same, restricted to a Diameter of but ten
Inches:
The
Noble Art of Mr Acker Bilk (33S 1141)
Discs
designed to revolve at no less than 45 Revolutions the Minute, yet
possessing a Diameter of no more than seven inches:
Acker’s
Away! (SEG 7904); The Seven Ages of Acker Volume One (SEG 8029); The
Seven Ages of Acker Volume Two (SEG 8076); Acker - Volume One (SEG 8089)
A
Golden Treasury of Bilk (added 5/11/2021)
Mr
Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band
Upon
Side the First
Should
I? (Brown)
Snag It! (Oliver)
Pretty Boy (Blake)(Vocal Refrain Mr Acker Bilk)
New Orleans Stomp (Hardin-Armstrong)(Trombone Mr Jonathan Mortimer)
Corinne, Corinna (Williams and Chatman)(Clarionet: Mr Acker Bilk)
Coming For To Carry Me Home (Trad. arr. Bilk)(Vocal Refrain: Mr Acker
Bilk)
Upon the
Obverse
Buona
Sera (Sigman and De Rose)(Vocal Refrain: Mr Acker Bilk)
Gatemouth Blues (Armstrong)
Club Foot (Greig)(Pianoforte: Mr Stanley Greig)
Lord, Let Me In The Lifeboat (Bechet)
Who Rolled That Stone Away? (Knight)(Vocal Refrain: Mr Ronald McKay)
Imperial Echoes (Safroni)
Those
Performing
Mr
Acker Bilk (Clarionet and Master Mind); Mr Colin Smith (Trumpet); Mr
Jonathan Mortimer (Trombone); Mr Stanley Greig (Pianoforte); Mr Ronald
McKay (Traps, Effects and Vocal Refrain);
Mr Ernest Price (Double Bass); Mr Roy James (Tenor Banjo)
The
Performance recorded upon the 9th
and 10th days of August, the 14th
day of September, and the 4th day of October in the Year of Grace Nineteen
Hundred and Sixty
Recording first published 1961
Recording
Engineers: Messrs Philip Clarke and David Sidi (Sic)
Supervision: Mr Denis Preston
Sleeve Design and Notes: Mr Peter Leslie
Colour Print: The Mansell Collection
Photography: from the Laboratories of Mr Patrick Gwynne-Jones
OO-BOP-SH’BAM OF ESHER
I
met a Sideman from an antique Band
Who said: Two vast and lidless trunks of tin
Lie at the Station, open. Close at hand
Half cut, a shattered jazzman slumps, his gin
From broken Bottle seeps. I understand
The Tour was cancelled that his art required.
Just he remains; his tarnished Saxophone
And tattered Season near, whereon I read:
“My name is Bebop, man. Like I am hired.
Hark to my music, Tradmen, and drop dead!”
Nothing beside survives. Round the dismay
Of that colossal Flop, swinging like mad,
The sound of purist Jazz floats far away.
HOHENSCUNTHORPE
At
Scunthorpe when the Take was poor
All empty lay the untrodden floor
And no fans queued up by the door
‘Till Acker rolled in happily.
Then
Scunthorpe told a different tale,
When the Drum beat to Gulps of Ale
And oats peculiarly Male
Betokened Bandstand Revelry.
Trumpet
and Trombone blared the Call
As reed and rhythm gave their all,
The Floor was jammed; they had a ball,
The Crowd who cheered so lustily.
ELEGY IN A CITY JAZZ CLUB
The
bouncer thrusts his shoulder to the door,
The night engulfs the Egghead and the Rube;
The Fans depart still calling, still for More,
And ooblies brawl their way toward the tube.
Now
blow the yammering hoorays in their Sprites,
The Go-man-go!-boys’ girls are going gone,
Gone too, the student mice in woollen tights,
To leave the Club to Acker and to Ron.
ACKER CAN
In
Zummerset did Dave and Frank
A splendid Cider Den design,
Where Ack the sacred Drinker drank,
Through Bottle, Barrel, Vat and Tank,
A Lake of Apple Wine.
So thrice FIve Pints he gently downed,
While Fans and Bandsmen gathered round;
And there were Wagers freely passed
Where jested many a tankard-bearing Bilk
That he would have three more before at last
He drank his normal bedtime Cup of Milk.
ODE
TO A CRITIC
Hail
to thee, blithe Critic!
Word thou never wrote
That was not parasitic
And got th’musician’s Goat
To the last Syllable of every envious Quote.
British
Jazz (romantic!)
With faint Praise thou damnest,
But if ‘tis transatlantic
Superlatives thou crammest
And cramming still dost seem semantically the hammest.
UPON A PROSPECT OF PUBLICATION
Ack
has not anything to blow more fair;
Square would he be, a Henry who’d deny
The stimulus of this polyphony
But wait! They pose for a photographer!
The
combo shows its paces; eyeballs, hair,
Lips, teeth, domes, elbows and temples vie
With horns and highlights for the camera’s eye -
A chance to make the Picture of the Year!
TOADY! TOADY!
Toady!
Toady” That I might
In the dressing-room at night
By some show-biz alchemy
Stay thy dread sycophancy!
At
home; on distant one-night stands;
On concert tours of foreign lands,
O what boredom I do grasp
If I accept the profferred flask!
LE BEAU BOGEY SANS MERCI
Like
what can ail thee, Constable,
Alone and unobtrusive?
The Teds have withered from the Club;
Nobody is abusive.
O
what can ail thee, Constable!
There’s no-one to solicit;
The liquors served where jazz bands play
Can hardly be illicit.
Dad,
what can ail thee, Constable,
Thy notebook at the ready?
The teenage birds have all flown home,
Each with her steady.
No
cars are left where none may park;
No dope fiends’ celebration;
The group is gone. Now why don’t you
Go too, go to the Nation?
With deepest apologies to Messrs Blake,
Campbell, Coleridge, Gray, Keats, Shelley and Wordworth.
NIXA
JAZZ TODAY SERIES
MR ACKER BILK
MARCHES ON (added 6/11/2021)
Side
1
(a)
Blaze Away (Holzman)
(b) Under the Double Eagle (Wagner)
Side 2
(a)
El Abanico (Javaloyes)
(b) C R E March
(Recorded
21.7.58)
Personnel
Mr Acker Bilk (clarionet and titular head)
Mr J Mortimer (trombone)
Mr K Sims (trumpet)
Mr R McKay (traps)
Mr E Price (double bass)
Mr R James (tenor banjo)
Sleeve
design: Ian Bradbury
Photographer: Jane Gate
Recording: Balance: Peter Kay
Supervision: Denis Preston
Mr
Acker Bilk’s Preliminary Skirmish in his Onslaught on the Agog Ears of
a Delighted and Admiring Publick took the Form of the Issue of a
Phonograph Recording designed to revolve
at a Speed of Thirtythree and One Third Revolutions the Minute, and
entitled Mr Acker Bilk Requests.” Scarce had the resounding Concussions
of this Opening Fanfaronnade died away, however - so Gratifying were
the Shouts
of Acclaim, so Loud the Protestations of Esteem - than the Redoubtable
West Countryman was obliged once more to re-form his Jolly Cohorts in
preparation for a Second Encounter.
Accordingly,
still engagingly beneath the Banner of the Purist League, the six
Capital Fellows comprising Mr Bilk’s Justly Celebrated Ensemble fell in
at the Stentorian Command
of their Leader and moved off in Good Order, with Cornet, with Fife and
Drum, in the Direction of the Phonograph Recording Manufactory; there
to engage Mellifluously yet with Proper Regard for Rhythmic
Stimulation, in the
Creation of a Worthy Successor to their Initial Salvo. Here - in the
First of what promises to be an Entertaining and Instructive Series -
Mr Bilk and his Men tussle with a Quartet of Martial Tunes.
In
the Elegant Style which has brought them Renown throughout the
Civilised World, and Parts (as they say) of Soho, this Melodic
Fusillade opens with a Stirring Rendition of the March,
Blaze Away. Hotfoot on the closing strains of this, there erupts a
Galvanic Performance of the Prussian Favourite Under The Double Eagle;
A Military Jingle from the Nimble Pen of a Herr Wagner which will not
remain Unrecognised
by those who Patronise the Searchlight Tattoo. By an Adroit manoeuver
Southwards to the Spanish Isthmus, Mr Bilk infuses a tropical air into
his Campaign by the use of the March called, in their Lingo, El
Abanico, and the
Volley terminates, in a Well-Aimed Thrust from the Mother Country, with
C R E March - these Many Years the Unofficial Battle Cry of Her
Majesty’s Corps of Royal Engineers, from which Patriotic and
Workmanlike Body derives
the Initial Nomenclature alluded to in the Title.
The
genius of Peter Leslie: The Mr Acker Bilk Omnibus: Pye Jazz Today Series
Side One
- C.R.E. March (Trad. arr. Bilk) Recorded 21.7.58
- Carry Mr Back (Bilk) Recorded 11.1.59
- Travelling Blues (Austin) Recorded 5.3.58
- Gladiolus Rag (Joplin) Recorded 7.3.58
- Jump In The Line (Higgs & Cavanaugh)
Recorded 11.1.59
- Blaze Away (Holzman) Recorded 21.7.58
Side
Two
- El
Abanico (Javaloyes) Recorded 21.7.58
- Franklin
Street Blues (Traditional arr. Bilk) Recorded 6.3.58
- Louisian-i-ay
(Darensbourg) Recorded 11.1.59
- Dardanella
(Bernard) Recorded 6.3.58
- Higher
Ground (Bilk) Recorded 11.1.59
- Under
The Double Eagle (Wagner) Recorded 21.7.58
Those Performing
Mr Acker
Bilk (Clarionet and titular head; Mr Ken Sims (Trumpet); Mr Jonathan
Mortimer
(Trombone); Mr Ernest Price (Double Bass); Mr Roy James (Tenor Banjo);
Mr Ronald McKay (Traps).
Those concerned with Production
Supervision: Mr Dennis
Preston
Recording Balance: Mr
Joe Meek
Designer:
Mr Ian Bradbery
Sleeve Notes:
Mr Peter Leslie
Engraving: Mansell
Collection
In
the Space of Time which has elapsed since first the Incandescent
Brillance of the Genius of Mr Acker Bilk burst like a Display of St
Catherine's Fire on a Traditional Music World illumined previously only
by the Fitful Flickering of Lesser Talents, a growing Clamour has been
descried from among the Serried Ranks of his Loyal Devotees. It is for
the Issue of a Handy Compendium encompassing each Aspect of the Art of
Mr Acker Bilk displayed separately in the Initial Triumvirate of
Phonographic Recordings bearing his Name. Accordingly, in the Dozen
Melodic Delicacies here Assembled, can be found Representation from
these three Categories:
Part
the First derives from Mr Acker Bilk's Splendid Phonographic Debut; a
Recording designed to revolve at a Speed of no less than Thirtythree
and One Third Revolutions the Minute and entitled "Mr Acker Bilk
Requests". The Quartet of Agreeable Jingles comprising this Succulent
Abstract arrange Themselves as follows, viz:- (1) that
Syncopated
Masterpiece, "The Gladiolus Rag"; (2) a Rhythmic Celebration of the
Charms of "Dardanella"; (3) A Performance as Spirited as it is
Authentic of the Traditional Ballad, "The Franklin Street Blues;
Fourthly (and Lastly) a Soul-Searing Rendition of "The Travelling
Blues", the Same being well chosen in View of that which occurred
thereafter. For so Gratifying were the Shouts of Acclaim, so loud the
Protestations of Esteem which greeted the Impingement of Mr Bilk's
first
Essay that he had purpose to voyage speedily to the Recording
Manufactory, there to consider his Second Task.
This
done, and the Die Cast, the Redoubtable Westcountryman caused it to
become known that his Choice had fallen upon the Exercise of his
Prodigious Laryngeal Dexterity. He was decided to sing. Thus it befell
that the Genial Bristol Blower committed to Memory the Words and Music
of those Ditties he felt inclined to Carol, insert his Head and
Shoulders within the Larger End of the Recording Horn and give his
Best, what Time the Paramount Jazz Men achieved a Seemly Display of
Virtuosity in his Aid. First commemorating in Stentorian Fashion the
Attributes of the State Endemic to his Music, the Egregious Mr B then
passes to the Glottal Exploration of a Trio of Tunes as much
Distinguished for their Originality of Approach as for their
Catholicity of Source. Of these, "Higher Ground" and "Carry Me Back"
are Negro Plantation Songs, while "Jump In The Line" was originally a
Calypso from the Facile Noddle of Mr "Blind" Blake - a Celebrated
Minstrel who had worked in the Caribbean Isles which produced this
Strange Idiom.
Scarce
had the Agog Ears of an Admiring Publick recovered from the Resounding
Concussions of this Second Fanfaronnade, however, than our Congregation
of Sonic Adventurers and its Captain were again obliged to re-form in
Preparation for yet a Third Encounter - this Time to engage
Mellifluously yet wiith Proper Regard for Rhythmic Stimulance in a
Tussle with a Quartet of Martial Tunes.
This
Melodic Fusillade erupts (to commence the Third Salvo in our Magazine)
with a Stirring Assault upon the March, "Blaze Away". Hot Foot upon the
Closing Strains of this, there exsufflates a Dynamic Enactment of the
Transatlantic Favourite "Under The Double Eagle"; a Military Air from
the Nimble Pen of Herr Wagner which will not long remain Unrecognised
by those who patronize the Searchlight Tattoo. By an Adroit Manoeuvre
Southwards to the Spanish Isthmus our Hero infuses a Tropical Aspect
into his Campaign by the Use of the March called, in their Lingo, "El
Abanico", and the Volley terminates, in a Well-Aimed Thrust from the
Mother Country, with "C.R.E. March" - these Many Years the Unofficial
Battle Cry of Her Majesty's Corps of Royal Engineers from which
Patriotic and Workmanlike Body derives the Initial Nomenclature alluded
to in the Title.
Added
March 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: Mr Acker Bilk's Lansdowne Folio
Side One
- Stars and Stripes (Sousa)
- Perdido Street Blues (Armstrong)
- Papa Dip (Armstrong)
- My Heart Belongs To Daddy (Porter)
- Gospel Train (Traditional arr. Bilk)
- Maryland March (Traditional arr. Bilk)
Side
Two
- That's
My Home
(Rene, Rene and Ellison)
- Go
Tell It On a
Mountain (Traditional arr. Bilk)
- Creole
Jazz (Luter)
- House
Rent Stomp
(Traditional arr. Bilk)
- My
Bucket's
Got a Hole In It (Williams)
- Stomp
Off,
Let's Go (Schoebe)
Those Performing
Mr Acker
Bilk (Clarionet,
Major Domo
and Shouter-in-Chief); Mr Colin Smith (Trumpet); Mr Jonathan Mortimer
(Trombone); Mr Ernest Price (Double Bass); Mr Roy James (Tenor Banjo);
Mr Ronald McKay (Temple Blocks, Traps and Shouter-in-Segundo). The
Recording committed to Posterity upon the Ninth Day, and upon the
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Days of May, in the Year of Grace Nineteen
Hundred Sixty and One.
Those concerned with Production
Supervision: Mr Dennis
Preston
Engineer: Mr Adrian
Kerridge
Sleeve Design and Commentary:
Mr
Peter Leslie
Photography: Mr Patrick
Gwynne-Jones
Though
gargantuan the Task must appear to the Tyro, it must nevertheless be
attempted: to essay definitively to evaluate the well-nigh gigantic
Contribution to the Welfare of the melodious Muse achieved by MR ACKER
BILK and those most admirable Complements to his Genius, the Members of
THE PARAMOUNT JAZZ BAND. Suffice it, however, to record here merely
that this agnate crew have together scaled the glittering Heights
whereon dwell the Giant Success and his Handmaiden, the Lady Fame.
Not
once, not twice, but thrice have these be-laurelled Gentlemen sallied
forth into the Lists, there to contest with cheaper, less worthy
Opponents for the Publick's Crown of Acclaim; and three Times too, have
they emerged victorious, with the Ballad celebrating the doughty
Leader's own West Country County of Birth, with a dulcet rondo
playing elegant Tribute (upon the reverse Side of the Kingdom) to the
Prodigal's first, and last, View of his Motherland and-redolent of the
Breeding and Manners for which Mr B's Compatriots are renowned the
Globe over - with a fetching Madrigal bidding Good Morrow to a Lady of
Latin Descent. And with each Success, planting the Standard of Jazz
Music firmly atop the vasty Peaks and desolate Wastes of popular Song,
they raise anew a different Emblem: the Standard of Appreciation of
Those whose Taste had previously aspired to Nothing better than the
Banal, the Trite and the Meretricious.
Small
Wonder, then, that from the four Corners of the Empire there ring ever
and anew the Shouts and Acclaim, the Gasps of Surprise and
Protestations of Satisfaction and Amaze at the prodigious Exploits of
(to name them All: Mr Acker Bilk himself, vociferating and wielding the
Clarionet; Mr Ronald McKay, as dexterous laryngeally as he is with the
padded Beater and the Cymbal Stick; Mr Colin Smith, a Tower of Strength
in the Brass Department and, with his fellow Mummer, Mr Jonathan
Mortimer of Trombone Fame, a big Gun of the comical Arsenal of the
Ensemble; Mr Stanley Greig, the original northern Light and Displayer
of Pyrotechnics at the Keyboard; Mr Ernest Price, the scholarly Basher
of the Bass; and Mr Roy James, whose Evocations from the Tenor Banjo
bid fair to oust from popular Esteem the Pipes of Pan).
This
tempestuous Amalgam of Expertise and Enthusiasm has now succeeded yet
again in capturing the popular Fancy with a Gothick Trifle entitled
"That Is My Home", (the which, coincidentally, may be discovered by
those of shrewd Intellect upon this very Recording). It was therefore
deemed Timely that those innumerable Persons to whose Huzzahs Mr Bilk's
Success is in no small Measure due, should be accorded the Privilege of
having revealed to them a further Selection of those airy Ballads from
his vasty Repertoire
which
"Age cannot wither nor Custom stale". And that, in a convenient
circular Form, is what lies within this Envelope today.
Added
March 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: Mr Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band: Beau
Jazz
Upon Side the First
- Grandpa's Spells (Morton) [a]
- Creole Love Call (Ellington, Jackson, Miley) [a]
- I've Found a New Baby (Palmer, Williams) [b]
- This Town (James) [c]
- Bula Bula (Mortimer) [d]
- Sentimental Journey (Brown, Green, Horner) [e]
Upon
the Obverse
- Tell
'Em About Me
(Yancey) [a]
- Chatanooga
Stomps
(Oliver) [a]
- Sneak
Away (W.
Smith) [b]
- Wilbur
(Colin
Smith) [a]
- Oh,
Marie!
(Arr. L. Prima, Written by Di Capua) [b]
- Ole
Miss Rag
(W C Handy) [a]
Those Performing
(a) Mr Acker
Bilk
(Clarionet and Vocals); Mr Colin Smith (Trumpet); Mr Jonathan Mortimer
(Trombone); Mr Ernest Price (Double Bass); Mr Roy James (Tenor Banjo);
Mr Ronald McKay (Percussion); Mr Stan Greig (Pianoforte).
(b) Mr Greig and Mr McKay alone
perform
(c) Messrs Greig and James only
- the
latter adopting a Guitar
(d) Mr Bilk and Mr McKay absent
themselves
from the band
(e) The band play as
Supernumerary to
Monsieur Per Hansen
Recorded on the 23rd June and
14th July
1962
Those concerned with Production
Supervision: Mr Dennis
Preston
Engineer: Mr Brian Pitts
Sleeve Design and Memoranda:
Mr Peter
Leslie
Photography: Mr Patrick
Gwynne-Jones
It
would scarce seem required that the Writer should (inform) before the
very Eyes, either of the Initiate or of the Jazz Type, the vasty
Catalogue of Business attending the Herculean Labours of Mr Acker Bilk:
the Awards and Honours with which He has been profusely showered speak
for Themselves. It might be prudent natheless, to recall the Fact that
between the Issue of his last Album of Jazz Fancies and that which
these poor Notes accompany, He has achieved a singular Esteem in a
differing Field, that of the solo Clarionet with the String Ensemble.
And to emphasise that, with the Collection hereby enclosed, he and his
Paramount Jazz Band (whom you may decry depicted below), in the art of
Concentration required for the Production of a Symposium as varied and
as balanced, once again tread the well-loved Paths which lead from New
Orleans with Brilliance and Fervour undimmed. With Talent as immaculate
and with Genius as replete. Here are Favourites from the agile Pens of
Messrs J R Morton, Palmer, Prima, Yancey and Ellington; original
Trifles from Mr Colin Smith (Wilbur), Mr James (This Town), and Mr
Mortimer (Bula Bula). Stentorian Songs from Mr Bilk Himself to the
Number of Three; a Pair of intimate Duos featuring Mr Greig with Mr
McKay and Mr James, and a galvanic Performance of Mr Handy's Ole Miss
Rag which introduces Monsieur Per Hansen from the Continent of Europe,
a Trumpeter of Merit.
(Transcribing
this one was a real Labour of Love. The image I managed to find of the
album cover was small and very badly photographed. Although I was able
to blow it up using specialist software, it meant that some of the
words were completely illegible. In some cases I used my knowledge of
Peter Leslie's way with words, in others I simply guessed and it seemed
to make sense. There may be errors in the above transcript, but the
gist of the text is correct. If I happen to come across a copy of this
album when the car boot sales start up again, I will make any
corrections that are necessary.)
Added
March 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: Mr Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band: Call
Me Mister
Upon Side the First
- Manana, Pasado, Manana! (Lewis, Paramor)
[Vocal: Mr
Acker Bilk]
- South (Moten-Hayes)
- Trinidad, Dad (Smith)
- Baby Brown (Hill) [Vocal: Mr Ron McKay]
- When You Smile (Bilk)
- One Sweet Letter From You (Warren-Clare-Brown)
Upon
Side the Second
- On
the Sunny SIde
of the Street (McHugh-Fields)
- Black
Label Blues
(Bilk)
- Down
in Honky Tonk
Town (Smith-McCaron)
- Home
(Clarkson van
Steeden) [Vocal: Mr Acker Bilk]
- Climax
Rag
(Scott)
Those Performing
Himself at
the Clarionet;
Mr Colin
Smith at the Valved Bugle; Mr Jonathan Mortimer wielding the Slide
Trombone; Laird Stanley Greig at the pianoforte; Mr Ronald McKay busied
about the Traps; Mr Ernest Price drooped over the Double Bass; Mr Roy
James with the Banjo or Guitar
Production of the Work
Mr Denis
Preston in
Charge of the
Recording Supervision; Mr Peter Leslie responsible for the Cover Design
and Memoranda; Mr Patrick Gwynne-Jones credited with the Creation of
the Photographic Likeness; The Whole effected upon the Second Day of
January and again upon the Eighth in the Year of Grace Nineteen Hundred
Sixty and Three.
Ever
more brightly gleam the ascendant Stars of Mr Acker Bilk and his
Paramount Jazz Band. Laurels, Crowns, glittering Trophies shower upon
their modest Crania; they are huzzahed in Hamburg, demanded in Denmark,
asked for in the Antipodes! Palms in Cathay and other Parts of the
Orient, customarily housed in inscrutable Sleeves, smart from the
Effort of Applause!
The
Leader Himself, never more sensible of the Necessity for Development
when perched atop the Pinnacle of Fame, has explored Avenues of
Endeavour complimentary to that followed by his Jazz Band to such good
Effect that his Performances with a String Orchestra are spoken of with
Breath bated throughout the Globe. So succesful indeed, both in the Old
World and upon the less civilized side of the Atlantic Ocean, have been
his Phonograph Cylinders in the Bazaars and Market Places, in this
Contest he has been Elevated from plain Mr. to the Style and Title of
Esquire.
His
Heart - that sturdy West Country Pumping Station! - remains
nevertheless with the simple unfettered New Orleans Music which first
lilted Him along the Road to the Top. And as an Earnest of this Bouleversement to
the Roots, he now
celebrates his Return and consolidates his Position with the Oeuvre under your
Hand and the
warm, sincere legend: Call Me Mister.
With
His truly remarkable Cohorts, he embarks here upon a lyric Voyage
veering ever more frequently toward the Gaiety and License of those
humid and tropic Regions where once the Infant Jazz was born. From Honky Tonk Town going South on the sunny Side to the
Home of
Baby Brown,
this epic
Crew finally reaches the calypsic Isles with Trinidad Dad,
as penned by that staunch Composer, Mr Colin Smith. And after That, of
course, it is (as the Leader Himself says in his superbly gravelled
Tones), Manana, Pasado,
Manana! (What
we have been unable to ascertain, however, is whether Black Label Blues
laments the
Passing of an ancien
regime
phonographical Manufactory or the Absence of cogent Distillate in a
Vessel formerly containing Caledonian Spirits).
Added
March 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: Mr Acker Bilk Requests Part One(*)
Side One
- Travelling Blues (Austin; Recorded 5.3.58)
- Delia Gone (Blake; Recorded 6.3.58)
Side
Two
- Gladiola
Rag
(Joplin; Recorded 7.3.58)
- Willy
The Weeper
(Melrose; Recorded 5.3.58
Personnel
Mr Acker
Bilk (Clarionet
and Titular
Head); Mr J Mortimer (Trombone); Mr K Sims (Trumpet); Mr R McKay
(Traps); Mr E Price (Double Bass); Mr J Hawkins (Tenor Banjo)
Those concerned with Production
Sleeve Design: Mr Ian
Bradbury
Engineer: Mr Joe Meek
Supervision: Mr Denis
Preston
Photography: Mr Herb
Green
The
discerning Enthusiast for Phonograph Recordings will not be slow to
descry, among the Jingles performed hereon by Mr Acker Bilk and His
Paramount Jazz Band a certain Portion of Airs particularly associated
with the formative Years of that Music which Mr Bilk favours with his
elegant Interpretations. That this is more than a lively Coincidence
may at once be judged a Fact by All acquainted with the History of the
Music on this Portion of the Atlantic Seaboard. For, as any Amateur
of the Idiom well knows, recent Years have shown a Tendency,
regrettably on the Increase for all those Bands, formerly peculiarly
associated with that Branch of the Art dubbed Traditional to progress
(as far as the Matter of Style be concerned) in a Fashion that cannot
escape Comparison with those prevailing in the Present. To such an
Extent had this Trend developed before the Advent of Mr Acker Bilk that
there remained but a single Thing common to the Majority of
Aggregations purporting to purvey Traditional Jazz, viz: that the sole
Factor Traditional to these Assemblages of musical Talent was their
Propensity for performing in the modern Manner!
Into
such a vexatiously tainted Arena the warranted Archaisms of Mr Bilk and
His Lads drop as singularly welcome Christians among the Lions of
Modernism (the Curse of the Age). This - it would be Idle to deny - is
a Jolly Crew of Fellows dedicated to the Loyal Continuance of the Jazz
Craft as laid down by the Masters Four Decades since in the City of New
Orleans.
Within
this Franework the Individuality of the Orchestra here flourishes. As
has been said by no less a Personage as Mr Bilk Himself (A Man of few
Words and Great Integrity): "We aim to play a Working Man's Music,
applying the Approach and Standards of the Crescent City Pioneers to
any Ditty we consider suitable as a Vehicle for the Talents of the
Band." The Four Works here incised are as vehicularly suitable as They
are impeccably performed. (*) Peter
Leslie is not credited on this album, but I am confident of it being
his work. The album was part of the Pye Jazz Today series and it was
shortly after this that Leslie was engaged as Acker's publicist.
Added
March 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: Mr Acker Bilk Requests Part Two(*)
Side One
- Dardanella (Bernard; Recorded 6.3.58)
- Franklin Street Blues (Trad. arr. Bilk;
Recorded
6.3.58)
Side
Two
- Easter
Parade
(Berlin; Recorded 7.3.58)
- Marching
Through
Georgia (Bilk; Recorded 7.3.58
Personnel
Mr Acker
Bilk (Clarionet
and Titular
Head); Mr J Mortimer (Trombone); Mr K Sims (Trumpet); Mr R McKay
(Traps); Mr E Price (Double Bass); Mr J Hawkins (Tenor Banjo)
Those concerned with Production
Sleeve Design: Mr Ian
Bradbury
Engineer: Mr Joe Meek
Supervision: Mr Denis
Preston
Photography: Mr Herb
Green
Glum
would be of Countenance who could resist the Irrepressibly Majestic
Effect of a Blues Song; A Dullard the Man who failed to be stirred by a
lively March; a Simpleton the Oaf who could not appreciate the Cadences
of a Ragtime Speciality or the Sonorous Beauties of One of the more
dignified Dance Measures - as Performed by Mr Acker Bilk and
His
Paramount Jazz Band. Indeed, the Versatility of this rousing Crew (now
firmly ensconced as Standard Bearers atop the Bastion of Traditional
Music in these Isles) - cannot but Command the most Felicitous
Expressions of Esteem from all Quarters of the Compass. Mr Bilk, a
Taciturn Stalwart reared in the Welch Border Country, vacated the
Clarinettist's Throne in the Combination ably led by Mr K Colyer some
Four Years since to depart to his Native City, Bristol, in which
Well-favoured Pleasaunce he developed the Nucleus of his Present Band.
This Brotherhood of Blowers and Bashers so delighted the West Country
Swells, through the Media of Wireless Telegraphy, the Electrified
Loud-hailer, the Concert Hall and other Venues too numerous to mention
- that a move to the Metropolis was deemed Inevitable - since which
Sally Eastwards the Outfit has piled One Success deservedly upon
another.
Withal,
not the least Meritorious of the Honours accruing to the Egregious Mr B
has the Distinction of being the first English Jazz Band to delight the
Ears of the Burghers of Poland - a Task so Easily Executed by Mr Bilk
and His Henchmen that Applause rang freely from Each Corner of the
Continent. Again, before the Tide of Popularity which swept them to its
Zenith in England had fully reached the Flood, these Extempore Paragons
had startled a great Shout of Acclaim from the Teutons during a
Six-week Residency at the acclaimed New Orleans Beer Bar in the
Township of Dusseldorf.
As
to how much of Success attends upon the Band in the Execution of its
Aims, suffice it to Abstract a single Fact from the Record of its
Sojourn in the German City . During the Two and Forty Days of the
Season (it is computed by Mr R McKay, the Functionary who attends to
the Percussion Traps besides acting as the Statistician of the Group),
Delighted Enthusiasts expressed their Heartfelt Appreciation by
despatching Attendants to the Rostrum bearing no less than Eleven Score
and Two Tankards of German Ale, Six and Eighty Beakers of Schnapps and
Three Bottles of Champagne Wine! (*) Peter
Leslie is not credited on this album, but I am confident of it being
his work. The
album was part
of the Pye Jazz Today series and it was shortly after this that Leslie
was engaged as Acker's publicist.
Added
March 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: A Taste of Honey (plus other Succulent and
Tasty morsels as tastily purveyed by) Acker Bilk Esquire (ably assisted
by the genius of Mr Leon Young and his Celebrated String Chorale)
Upon Side The First
- A Taste of Honey
- Fancy Pants
- Only You
- Blue Derby
- Underneath The Arches
- Jeannie
Upon
the Obverse
- Evening
Shadows
- Nature
Boy
- Lady
of the Lake
- Stella
By Starlight
- La
Vie En Rose
- Always
Where
(saith the Poet) the B. sucks, there suck I. And when that secondary
but singular Initial stands for Bilk, why then indeed the I's have It,
for at this melodic Fount the People swarm in their Thousands to listen
"as drowsy summer B's in flutter'd Ease do draw up Honey from the
Nenuphar." Now none but the Casuist can deny that what the Bee sucks is
in sooth that Amber and Mead-embellishing Syrup whose regular
Imbibition "all ills doth 'meliorate and Vapours speed." Yet - here is
Anomaly run wild! - in the Matter under Discussion (to the actual
Approach to which we have not, as yet, specifically drawn near) a
converse Occurrence obtains: Honey there be, but the B. sucks not but
rather blows it . . . for this B. and this Honey (to bring the Thing
without further Procrastination to a sharper End, (reveal Themselves as
Mr Acker Bilk and as A Taste of Honey - the One playing Pyed Piper upon
this Disc, so as diverse an Host of Romantick Felicities as may
commonly be imagined; the Other standing as Symbol for that priceless
Amalgam of Soul, Happiness, Inspiration and Tone which so regular
informs Those Oeuvres
favoured with the Patronage of Our Hero. Divers Ballads in this
Compendium will ring in the Ears of the Cognoscenti as a charmed
Familiar; Others penned by Mr B. Himself or His illustrious Colleague,
Mr Young, chart new Dimensions in the Realm of the Melodic, the
Imaginative and the Compelling; Others still will startle a Shout of
Acclaim to be discovered so unexpectedly in so bizarre but suitable a
Context! And to all of Them (we make Bold to predict) the delighted
Reaction of Those who listen will fall not far short of the Encomiastic.
Added
January 2021
The
genius of Peter Leslie: The Seven Ages of Acker
Side One
- In A Persian Market Place (Ketelbey)(Recorded
30th
September 1959)
- I'm Going Home (Bilk)(Vocal: Mr Acker
Bilk)(Recorded
30th September 1959)
- Ory's Creole Trombone (Ory)(Recorded 7th
October 1959)
- Summer Set (Collett & Bilk) Recorded
14th October
1959)
- Let The Light From The Lighthouse Shine (Vocal:
Mr
Ron McKay)(Recorded 30th September 1959)
- Berliner Luft March (Gay
Hussar)(Linke)(Recorded 18th
March 1959)
Side Two
- Tiger
Rag (La
Rocca)(Recorded 14th October 1959)
- Lucky
Rock
(Rainey)(Recorded 7th October 1959)
- Cushion
Foot Stomp
(Williams)(Recorded 7th October 1959)
- Run
Come See
Jerusalem) (Blake)(Vocal: Mr Acker Bilk)(Recorded 7th October 1959)
- Old
Comrades
March (Teike)(Recorded 10th March 1959)
Personnel
Sleeve Design: Ian
Bradbury
Recording Balance: Joe
Meek and
Philip Clarke
Sleeve Notes: Peter
Leslie
Photography: Patrick
Gwynne-Jones
Recording Supervisor:
Denis Preston
Familiars
of the gigantic Talent which sits so lightly on the wide Shoulders of
Mr Acker Bilk will not feign Surprise on learning that this Tower of
Enlightenement, this very Paragon of musicological Expertise, betrays a
Modesty varying directly as his Success. "It would ill befit the
Purveyor of a Music so eclectic as our own", quoth Mr Bilk in a recent
Conversation, "to claim boastfully any Prestige for its Excellence.
Equally it would be a Thing ignoble indeed for the Speaker", Scion of
an Hundred Generations of Men of Repute - personally to attach to
Himself any Vainglory reflecting from such Competence as he may
possess."
The
extempore Polyphony,
or "Jazz", so ably blown, plucked, bashed and thumped by Mr Bilk and
his Henchmenis
a Polyglot, Music comprehending from Strains from many a different
Host. Much the same (not to place to fine a Point on it) may be exerted
with Regard to the Leader Himself. Accordingly, it has been Mr Bilk's
Pleasure to indulge the present Collection in an agreeable and
felicitous Conceit whereby he celebrates at one and the same Time both
the more illustrious of his own Forebears and those most dominant
Aspects of the Music he so fittingly represents. Thus - if the Writer
be allowed to venture a Comparison with the "Seven Ages of Man" defined
by Another in the same Trade - a like Number of Facets of the Jass
Music and Ancestors of Mr Bilk may allusively be described among the
Jingles presented herewith - Hence the Negro Spiritual whence derives
the Soulfulness expressed upon the Countenance of Jass, properly has
(as befits the earliest chronologic Feature of the Music) in close
Fortuity with the Recollection of the Bilkdown Man, knuckling his Way
out from the Mists of Antiquity into the Dawn of History - with a rare
Eye for the Suitable, our Hero commemorates this archetypal Bilk -
Pithecanthropus Ackerectus, to give him his zoological Nomenclature -
with the Spiritual "I'm Going Home". The second Age, in this Instance,
brings to Prominence the first Warrior Bilk, the Greek Ackermemnon,
appositely recalled by a Brace of Marches (themselves second in the
genealogical Line of Jass Origins). For these Mr Bilk has chosen two of
the best-known Brass Band Tunes beloved of the Teutons. "The Gay
Hussar" and "Old Comrades".
The
Deeds of Baron Acre de Bilk would have shone with greater Splendour on
the Pages of History had it not been for an inclement Squall off the
Coast of Ushant, which put paid to his Essay at the Invasion of England
in 1065. His dismasted Vessel eventually foundered on a Rock in the Bay
of Biscay, where all Hands perished miserably, this leading to the
Expression, common in Medieval Times, that "his Barque was worse than
his Bight." Appropriately, his place in the Bilkian Hierarchy is
paralleled in the Development of Jass by the Blues. The Title - and it
was not idly chosen - is "Lucky Rock", a Ditty much favoured in her
Heyday by the late Ma Rainey.
That
Ingredient of Music with the roistering Bluster of the Ellizabethan
Adventurer Sea Captain Sir Francis Bilk, is the syncopated Marvel of
Ragtime - an Echo of Sir Francis' Exploits in foreign Climes being
provided here by the Choice of "Tiger Rag", originally derived from a
French Quadrille! And the elegant Dance Measure alluded to above brings
us in Turn to a twin Correlation of Sophistication - on the one Hand,
the aristocratic Dandyism of the Regency Buck, Beau Bilk (like his
Descendant, a West Countryman hailing from the Neighbourhood of the
City of Bath), and on t'Other, the mannered Society of the Creole
Quarter of New Orleans, replete with the splendid Noise of "Ory's
Creole Trombone" beneath the Southern Stars.
"Run
Come See Jerusalem" is a Folksong, that Contributor to Jass springing
from the Exuberance of the Man in the Saddle and Homo Sapiens
in the open Air. What more seemly, therefore, than to shout, with such
a Ballad, the Praises of that stern Guardian of Right in the Midst of
Wrong, Buffalo Bilk? "No Red Man he," the great Chieftain Sitting Bilk
once observed; "drink heap too much Fire Water. Him no say 'How', Him
only say 'When'."
And
so, at last, to Mr Acker Bilk Himself - and to the popular Song of
Today. This, the stalwart Performer celebrates quadruply, with a
descriptive Piece redolent of the Seascape: with a "Stomp" from the
nimble Pen of Mr Clarence Williams; with an Oriental Speciality
reminiscent of the Days of Haroun Al Acker and Genghis Bilk; and
finally, with his own sumptuous Tribute to the County of his Birth in
"Summer Set" (for which Mr D Collett travelled especially from Bristol
to preside at the Pianoforte.
Truly, the Glory that is Bilk transcends all the Ages and Manner of
Music!
The
genius of Peter Leslie: Stranger on the Shore
ACKER BILK ESQUIRE
accompanied by the LEON YOUNG String
chorale
STRANGER
ON THE SHORE
I
actually couldn’t wait for Stranger on the Shore to be released in the
UK, so I paid for a US Import to be sent to my Home in Brockworth,
Gloucestershire, and got it a few Months before it became available
here. The Copy I have in front of me came from the British Heart
Foundation Charity Shop and cost me £2.50 – Bargain! – it matters not
that I have no Vehicle on which to play it (yet)! Mine differs only
from the one illustrated here in the matter of the word “mono” – mine
says “stereo”. Here are the Track Listings and the superb Essay by Mr
Peter Leslie for “Stranger on the Shore” LP:
Upon Side the First
Stranger
on the Shore (Bilk & Young)
Lullaby
(New music arr. Young)
Mean
To Me (Turke & Ahlert)
Greensleeves
(New music arr. Bilk & Young)
Take
My Lips (Meravigliose Labbra)(Usuelli)
Sentimental
Journey (Green, Brown & Homer)
Upon the Obverse
Nobody
Knows (New music arr. Bilk & Young)
Is
This The Blues? (Bilk & Young)
Cielito
Lindo (New usic arr. Bilk & Young)
Deep
Purple (De Rose)
I
Can’t Get Started (Duke & I. Gershwin)
Carolina
Moon (Davis & Burke)
The
recording committed to Posterity upon the 12th Day of August and upon
the 8th Day of November in the Year of Grace Nineteen Hundred and
Sixty. Recording first published in Nineteen Hundred Sixty and One.
Those concerned with Production
At
the Studio Controls: Mr
Adrian Kerridge
Supervising: Mr Denis
Preston
Photography
of the Artiste: Mr
Patrick Gwynne-Jones
The
Album Decorations: The
Mansell Collection
Cover
Design and Commentary: Mr
Peter Leslie
Mr.
Acker Bilk, a taciturn Stalwart reared in the Welch Border Country, is a Virtuoso of
the
Clarionet. Customarily he heads a small Ensemble devoted to the
Purveyance of that extempore Polyphony or “Jazz” associated
traditionally with the Inhabitants of New Orleans – in which Guise (it
would seem scarcely necessary to remind the gentle Reader) he looms as
a Colossus over his raucous Contemporaries, overcoming by his Expertise
and Dexterity both the Intricacies of his Instrument and any Claims to
Parity which his Rivals might be foolish enough to advance. Since first
the incandescent Brilliance of this Congregation of sonic Adventurers
burst like a display of St Catherine’s Fire on a musical scene
illumined previously only by the fitful Flickerings of lesser Talents,
the Music so ably plucked, blown, bashed and thumped by Mr. Bilk and
his Entourage has increasingly commanded the Plaudits of the Swells.
Through the Media of Wirelss Telegraphy, the electrified Loud-hailer,
the Concert Hall, the Cathode Ray Tube and others too numerous to list,
they have startled great Shouts of Acclaim which ring ever more freely
from each Corner of the Land. There are, however (as the Sage has aptly
remarked), more ways of destroying a Feline than suffocating the Beast
with Cream. And the gigantic Talent which sits so lightly upon the wide
Shoulders of Mr. B. cannot easily be restricted to so confined a
Channel. What more noble an Embodiment of Man’s most cherished
Aspirations (thought he) than the dulect Cadences of that tender
Instrument, the Clarionet! What more suitable a Vehicle for the rapt
Expression of that Exaltation which burns the Breast, for the
Lamentations of the Disconsolate, for the relation of a stirring Theme!
And accordingly he presents here, in a Fashion never before essayed, a
Collection of the more lyric Pieces illustrative of these distinguished
Emotions, for the Edification of the Intelligent – what Time Mr Leon
Young and his String Chorale achieve a seemly Display of Virtuosity in
his Aid. The Results, as you shall hear, are splendid in the Extreme;
in themselves sufficient for the consequent Elevation of the Artiste
from the coarse “Mister”to the Style and Title of “Esquire”.
Yesterday, 4th April
2018, I found a
copy of this album, simply entitled “Acker” in the Sue Ryder shop in
Cromer, Norfolk, priced £2 – I had all of the albums in the 1960s, of
course, and this one dates from 1960. Here goes:
Side
One
White
Cliffs of Dover (Kent)(Vocal; Mr Bilk)
Snake
Rag (Oliver)
2.19
Blues
Fancy
Pants (Bilk, Berkwood)(Solo clarionet: Mr Bilk)
Lazy
River (Carmichael)(Vocal: Mr Bilk)
There’s
A Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder (Rose)
Side
Two
Original
Dixieland Onestep (La Rocca)
Good
Night, Sweet Prince
Good
Woman Blues (Vocal: Mr McKay)
Bottom
of the Bottle (Bilk)(Featuring Clarionet and Trumpet)
Milenberg
Joys (Rappolo)
Recorded
on the 5th, 7th and 13th days of April 1960
Personnel
Mr
Acker Bilk (clarionet and titular head); Mr Jonathan Mortimer
(trombone); Mr Ken Sims (trumpet); Mr Ronald McKay (traps); Mr
Ernest Price (double bass); Mr Roy James (tenor banjo)
And
here are the sleeve notes:
Inscribed
by Mr Peter Leslie
Like, what gives with this gear
on the
words from times past?
Should,
Sir, this curiously phrased Query, with its ill-judged Syntax and
coarse idiom, refer to the circumlocutory Nature of much of Mr Bilk’s
textual Stuff, then we must offer – albeit reluctantly – some Vestige
of Explanatory Matter. In a word, he would be Oafish who could deny a
certain Use of the Devices of Ellipsis and Hyperbole in the Rhetorical
Structure of the Master’s Blurbs.
Dig. So what IS with this spiel?
It
has been felt (no less by Mr B and his Myrmidons than by those Others
qualified to pronounce an Opinion) that it might not be inapposite for
expository Paragraphs pertinent to Mr B’s Art, together with those
Eulogistic Phrases which alone suffice to describe it, to be couched in
Language bearing some Relevance to the Period initially producing the
Music itself.
You feel, Daddyo, that all this
jazz like
goes with the mad trad music?
That,
indeed, is a vulgar sequence of Terms approximating to our Meaning.
You drag up
some corn like
she’s spoken by
some mug he had his chips two, three, four score ago – and that puts
Daddy Ack in there for percent?
Perish
the Thought. Before Mr Bilk’s gigantic Talent could properly be
digested and appreciated by a Lay Public unconditioned to such
Pyrotechnics, it was naturally necessary that this Display of
unmatchable Virtuosity should actually be drawn to their Attention.
This, the Rhodomontade of the Leader’s written Material – plus, of
course, a certain Relevance in the Question of his Attire – sufficed to
do. And, despite a preternatural Tendency to scoff at the Flippant,
those Enthusiasts for New Orleans Music most attracted to Mr Bilk’s
Variety of it have made no Complaint. Thus it has been decided to
Retain the Idiom. It would be unwise in the Extreme, nevertheless, to
assume that Mr Bilk’s Popularity devolves in any Way whatsoever either
upon his choice of Haberdashery or Millinery, or upon an aptitude for
the rotund Phrase.
You saying this is no gimmick
outfit, then? It’s
not the corn that sells the group?
Assuredly.
It is the pluterperfect Assonance of empathetic Artistes creating in an
Atmosphere of refined and balanced Relaxation which alone can produce
Success as astounding as that of the Paramount Jazz Band. Those Matters
to which you allude, as has already been stated, merely focused
attention upon this.
Yes? So? If the noise speaks for
itself,
what’s with the bookies’ lids?
If
lesser Mortals can be both symbolized and recognized by such Items as
Umbrella, a Calabash, an Havana Cigar or an Infelicity in the styling
of the Coiffure, then towering Genius of the Order of that enjoyed by
Our Hero must needs require the employment at least of a gaily
caparisoned Vest, sober Headgear, pristine Shirtings and a thinly
elegant Cravat; to symbolize respectively the Brilliance, sincerity,
Purity and Style of the Music; and in toto, the Period
whence it derives.
So what are we supposed to do,
Man? Stand
up and cheer?
It
would be more seemly (for you, as for those Critics, Dwarves whose
Pleasure is the Denigration of the Art of their own Countrymen, but
whose puny Equipment forbids them to experience that which they decry)
just to listen to the Music. There are plenty who cheer already.
Sleeve
Design: Ian Bradbery, MSIA; Recording Engineer: Philip Clarke
Engraving:
Mansell Collection
Sleeve
Notes: Peter Leslie; Recording Supervision: Denis Preston;
Recording first published 1960
The
second EP (Extended Play) record by Mr Acker Bilk
and his Paramount Jazz Band I’ve managed to get hold of is Acker’s Away
(Columbia 45 RPM extended play record SEG 7940). Here’s the track list:
Side
One
Acker’s
Away (Bilk and Leslie)
Blues
for Jimmy (Ory)
Side
Two
Lastic
(Bechet)
East
Coast Trot (Cobb)
Recorded: 10th July 1959
Personnel
Mr
Acker Bilk (clarionet and titular head); Mr J Mortimer (trombone); Mr K
Sims (trumpet); Mr R McKay (traps);
Mr
E Price (double bass); Mr R James (tenor banjo)
And
here are the sleeve notes:
Inscribed
by Mr Peter Leslie
The
truncated Version of that mammoth Tome, The Encyclopaedia of Mr
Webster, lists the Clarionet baldly as ‘a Reed instrument fashioned of
Wood, with Holes and Keys’ – a saucy Abbreviation of what should have
been more properly an Encomium, a Panegyric in praise of the Effulgence
of that melodically Anastomose Instrument. Certain it is that this
slender Engine of chromatic Concordance, this symphonious ebon Shaft,
this suave Insinuator of Melodies to convolve and wreathe their Way to
the very Centre of our pleasure-loving Souls, cannot have Justice done
to its Elegance in the mere Employment of Words. ‘To hear’, as a
celebrated French Divine has truly remarked, ‘is to know’ – and of no
Sound is this more veritable than the sonorous, reedy Depths of the
Clarionet.
Add
to this (in point of the Phonograph Recording to which these poor
Aphorisms apply) one Fact: that the Airs – Ay, and the Graces, too! –
in this especial Example devolve around the Person and the Craft of no
less able an Exponent than Mr Acker Bilk!! This realized, the Initiate
will subside against the Cushions of his Chesterfield and await the
Ultimate in musical Enlightenment. He will not long remain
disappointed. Mr B is a very Toff of the Entertainent World. Hereupon,
encouraged in his Endeavours by that most antic Ensemble, the Paramount
Jazz Men, the doughty Leader bends to his Will the exigencies of four
titillating Trifles. Of these, the First and the Last would seem to be
informed with a Nautical Flavour; Mr Bilk proving himself in the former
(if the Conceit be allowed) a true Swell. The remaining Duo comprise a
Variety of Folksong deriving from the Southern among the United States
of America, and a Novelty from the Pen of the late Parisian Master,
Monsieur Sidney Bechet.
The
Numidian Princess Sophonisba (in the Tragedy written in 1762 by Mr
James Thomson), despite the fact that ‘Soon
the remorseless Soldier comes, more fierce
‘From
recent Blood, and ‘fore her very Soul, ‘Lays
raging his rude sanguinary grasp’ was
able to console herself for the Fall of Carthage by ‘burying her
Sorrows in the Mufick of the Fpheres’. Who can doubt that the Musick of
the Spheres, along with the Syrynx Pipes of the God Pan, the Melodies
of the Immortals even on Olympus itself, all sound in their ineffable,
reeded Harmony akin to the Clarionet of Mr Acker Bilk?
Sleeve
Design: Ian Bradbery
Sleeve
Photography: Patrick G Gwynn-Jones
Recording
Balance: Joe Meek Supervision: Denis Preston
During my youth I
collected anything and everything I
could to do with Acker Bilk – it was the era when “trad jazz” ruled the
Hit Parade, and Acker Bilk had recently transferred from the Pye Jazz
label to EMI Records, and a new photographer, Patrick Gwynn-Jones had
been appointed, along with a publicist, Peter Leslie, who came up with
the idea of dressing the Paramount Jazz Band in smart, fancy waistcoats
and bowler hats. Overnight, the sleeve notes became something quite
extraordinary – while most EPs and LPs simply carried the track listing
– two tracks on side A, two on side B of an EP, for example, now
Acker’s EPS and LPs carried long, beautifully written essays. I have
searched the web for many years trying to find examples of Peter
Leslie’s writing, and the only pertinent reference that I can find is
my own review of The Book of Bilk, a collection of essays by Leslie
featuring various characters from history, like Johann Sebastian Bilk,
Pithecus Ackerectus etc., etc. It is a work of genius, the work of a
genius, and it is important that these sleeve notes should be available
to read on the web, which is why I have started to collect Acker’s EPs
and LPs, the first of which you see above. I don’t have a record player
to play them on, but they are things of beauty, and of great joy, as
you will discover. Below are the sleeve notes for Acker Volume One, the
track listing of which is as follows:
Side
One
Snake
Rag (Oliver)(a)
Fandy
(sic) Pants (Bilk and Berkwood)(b) [Should be “fancy” pants]
Side
Two
Original
Dixieland One Step (La Rocca)(b)
Good
Night, Sweet Prince (b)
Personnel
Mr
Acker Bilk (Clarionet and Master Mind). Mr Kenneth Sims (Trumpet). Mr
Jonathan Mortimer (Trombone). Mr Ronald McKay (Tambours, Traps and
Effects). Mr Ernest Price (Double Bass). Mr Roy James (Tenor Banjo).
(a) Recorded 7:4:60; (b) Recorded 13:4:60.
Sleeve
notes:
MR
ACKER BILK, in expressing the fond and pious Hope that the Listener has
enjoyed, read, marked, learned, inwardly digested and, indeed, profited
from the gentle Ballads performed hereon, begs leave to draw the
Attention of the Same to others of his Works obtainable under the same
distinguished Trade Mark, viz.:-
Discs
designed to revolve at a Speed of Thirty-three and One-Third
Revolutions the Minute and of One Dozen Inches Diameter:
The
Seven Ages of Acker (33SX 3321 stereo), A Golden Treasury of Bilk (33SX
1304 Mono); SCX 3366 stereo), Clarinet Jamboree (part only)(33SX 1204).
The
Same, restricted to a Diameter of but Ten Inches:
The
Noble Art of Mr Acker Bilk (33S 1141)
Discs
to revolve at no less than 45 Revolutions the Minute, yet possessing a
Diameter of no more than Seven Inches:
Acker’s
Away ! (SEG 7904), The Seven Ages of Acker – Volume One (SEG 8029), The
Seven Ages of Acker – Volume Two (SEG 8076).
The Book of Bilk
This
is a must for Acker Bilk fans. It was published in 1961 and written by
Peter Leslie with photography by Patrick Gwynne-Jones, the photos
showing Acker dressed as each of the 41 characters created by Leslie,
including John Osbilk, the Ackery Young Man, Kemal Ackerturk,
Ackerangelo etc., etc. Peter Leslie's Regency style is there on every
page, and this book is now a collectors' item. There are no decent
photographs available of it on the web, so I've taken one of my copy on
my phone and it's shown here, on the right, in all its glory. The book
coincided with the
release of Acker's album The Seven Ages of Acker, which includes some
of the characters from the Book of Bilk. Like all of Peter's sleeve
notes this is a work of utter genius, and copies, being hard to come
by, should be treasured. The whole publicity machine surrounding Acker
and his music was something quite unique and very entertaining, which,
to be fair, the vast majority of vinyl albums weren't then, until ELO's
Out of the Blue, and certainly aren't now!
The
small print: Books
Monthly, now well into its 24th
year on the web,
is published on or slightly before the first day of each month by Paul
Norman. You can contact me here.
If you wish to submit something for publication in the magazine, let me
remind you there is no payment as I don't make any money from this
publication. If you want to send me something to review, contact me via
email at paulenorman1@gmail.com and I'll let you know where to send it.
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