[Dixielandjazz] Acker Bilk in Poland

[Marek Boym]

Hi,
While trying to ascertain the year of Acker's first visit to Poland, the
only reference I could find was the correspondence at the end of this
message,
When I spoke to Bilk in 1992, he told me what the year was.  I thought it
was '54, but I believe he made it a year later (it could have been '53 and
'54 - I don't recall).
The references to later visits were correct - Bilk played there a few times
afterwards, already as "Mr." Acker Bilk.  In the early days his band did
not wear the ridiculous waistcoats it later adopted.In my search I found
one the notice of which referred to him as "Mr. Stranger on the Shore
himself."
He played several festivals there, including the Poznan Old Jazz Meeting
towards the end of his career.
Cheers, Marek


Dear Glen, Bill,
1958 - certainly not!  By then I was already in Israel, having left
Poland in March 1957!
While the band we heard was called "Paramount Jazz Band," the media
emphasised that Bilk was an avocational musician.
Gerard Bielderman's Bilk Discography lists some '55 and '55 recordings
as "Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band" (as it was labelled in
Poland), while recordings made in 1957 are already labelled "Mr. Acker
Bilk..."
Cheers

On 17/09/2007, Bill Haesler <bhaesler at bigpond.net.au
<http://ml.islandnet.com/mailman/listinfo/dixielandjazz>> wrote:
>*  Glen Page wrote[in part]:
*>* > I do not have any other references available at the moment but have
*>* > read
*>* > Bilk's biography/ autobiography, I forget which.
*>>* Dear Glen,
*>* That book would probably have been 'Book Of Bilk' by P Leslie and P
*>* Gwynn-Jones (London: MacGibbon and Kee 1961. Republished in 1963 by
*>* Jazz Book Club: London).
*>* Not only have I never seen it, I didn't know existed until I received
*>* your email this morning.
*>* So far as the Polish date is concerned it gets later the more I
*>* research it.
*>* A little 1962 book I have: 'Trad. A Who's Who of Traditional Jazz' by
*>* Ivan Berg and Ian Yeomans says 4 years after the event:
*>* "The present Paramount Jazz Band was formed in 1958 and played several
*>* dates in and around the West Country before attending a 16-day
*>* international jazz festival in Poland. Back in Britain jobs were few
*>* and far between so the band decided to try its luck in London. Shortly
*>* after it was back on the Continent - at the Jazz Beer Bar in
*>* Dusseldorf."
*>* Kind regards,
*>
* Bill* >>* _______________________________________________
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