"IT'S TRAD DAD"
Before the Beatles burst onto the scene in 1962, Jazz - especially "Trad" had dominated the popular musical landscape. Artists like Ken Colyer, Humphrey Lyttleton and Kenny Ball were among the pop stars of the day. Acker (Stranger On the Shore) Bilk was a good friend of my father's, and I remember him coming for dinner and staying the night at our house. He had a strange (certainly to me as a small child) West Country accent, and when he asked for the butter he pronounced it as "batter". My mother dines out on the fact that Acker slept in her bed - but not, she hastens to point out, while she was still in it.
Post Script: my Mother declares she liked Ken Colyer best of all, because after dinner, he'd always do the washing up.
Post Script: my Mother declares she liked Ken Colyer best of all, because after dinner, he'd always do the washing up.
Article form the Leicester Mercury newspaper circa 1956
Sleeve notes form Esquire EP 170 - "Brian Woolley's Jazzmen"