[Dixielandjazz] Old f***ts memory & Acker Bilk

[Andy.Ling at Quantel.Com]

Graham Martin said :-

> 
> I am pleased to hear that Acker is still blowing so well. 
> 
> The last time I heard him play was in Melbourne quite a few years 
> back and I think that was the tour where the New Melbourne Jazz Band
> were the supporting act. Ross Anderson reminded me it only a couple 
> of days back when we were corresponding about a topic I put on this 
List.
> 

He has been ill, suffering from the big C, but he seems to have pulled
through. He has slowed down a lot, but his fingers can still move
and the energy from the rest of the band more than compensate.

> I followed Ackers thump, thump band during the 50s and 60s in the UK
> and I used to love his corny announcing style and jokes:
> 
> "Good night folks, and remember - if it was not for Venetian blinds 
> it would be curtains for the lot of us!"
> 
> And the ongoing gag:
> 
> "Someone has just found and handed in a bunch of keys. We think this
> one is the key of A Flat" 
> 
> Ouch! But you really had to be there.
> 
> Ah, wheel out the Tardis and take this OF back.
> 

You don't need a Tardis, he's still trotting out the same old stuff.

They did a song for a welsh man called "My Blue Evan". He was a welsh
miner that got hit on the head with a piano, so the song was in
A flat minor.

As you say, you had to be there.

Talking of loud (from another thread). We were near the back, but in
the firing line of Enrico Tomaso's trumpet. Boy was he loud when he
wanted to be. My ears were ringing. He's one mean trumpet player.

Andy Ling