Donald Christopher ‘Chris’ Barber was born 17 April 1930 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. He studied double bass and trombone at London’s Guildhall School of Music, and in 1948 put his first band together, the King Oliver-inspired Barber New Orleans band. In 1953, he co-founded Dixieland band The Jazzmen with cornetist and trumpeter Ken Colyer, but after Colyer left in ’54 the band became The Chris Barber Band. Barber and Lonnie Donegan are credited with starting the skiffle craze with their 1955 cover of Leadbelly’s ‘Rock Island Line’, the first ever debut single to go Gold in the UK, which made the US Top 10.
Bernard Stanley ‘Acker’ Bilk was born 29 January 1929 in Pensford, Somerset. He was more interested in athletics than music as a boy, losing two front teeth in a fight and part of a finger sledging, which he maintained affected his clarinet playing style. He first acquired a clarinet, for which he had to fashion a reed out of scrap wood, when serving with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone.
Kenneth Daniel ‘Kenny’ Ball was born 22 May 1930 in Ilford, Essex. Ball played the trumpet as a sideman in the bands led by Charlie Galbraith, Sid Phillips and others before forming his own Dixieland combo in 1958. Their recording of Cole Porter’s ‘Samantha’ was a UK hit in 1961, but their biggest hit was the Transatlantic smash ‘Midnight in Moscow’, which made it to #2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles charts .
Bernard Stanley ‘Acker’ Bilk was born 29 January 1929 in Pensford, Somerset. He was more interested in athletics than music as a boy, losing two front teeth in a fight and part of a finger sledging, which he maintained affected his clarinet playing style. He first acquired a clarinet, for which he had to fashion a reed out of scrap wood, when serving with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone.
Kenneth Daniel ‘Kenny’ Ball was born 22 May 1930 in Ilford, Essex. Ball played the trumpet as a sideman in the bands led by Charlie Galbraith, Sid Phillips and others before forming his own Dixieland combo in 1958. Their recording of Cole Porter’s ‘Samantha’ was a UK hit in 1961, but their biggest hit was the Transatlantic smash ‘Midnight in Moscow’, which made it to #2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles charts .
Trombonist Chris Barber, clarinettist Acker Bilk and trumpeter Kenny Ball were the acknowledged masters of British trad (traditional) jazz. Barber Bilk and Ball features 45 original recordings digitally remastered and is available from Delta 27-02-2012
A great companion piece to Delta’s 2011 3 CD set ‘It’s Trad Man!’
Now available on iTunes & Amazon MP3
Now available on iTunes & Amazon MP3
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