January 28, 1929 – November 2, 2014

This piece was filmed in 1973: Acker Bilk, Rod Mason, John Mortimer.

This tune “South Rampart Street Parade” was composed as a march by Ray Bauduc and Bob Haggart in 1937.

You probably know Bilk’s tune “Stranger on the Shore” (if not, you’ll recognize it the second you hear it.) It was the biggest selling single in the UK in 1962, the first UK record to top the Billboard charts and the last one that wasn’t rock and roll.

Speaking of rock and roll, Bilk was a leader of Britain’s “trad jazz'” scene which flourished in the 1950s – and guess what four young lads were swept up into it?

The Beatles never played jazz, but John Lennon’s first band was a “skiffle” band. Skiffle was inspired by the music that made its way to Liverpool via New Orleans seamen and US servicemen, the British take on jazz, blues, folks and roots music.

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