Jazz Preview: Trad legend is no stranger at Grassington festival

Bach to Bilk sums up Yorkshire's jazz week – the former via the inventive hands of bassist Jenni Molloy, the latter in a rare visit by the indestructible Acker with his Paramount Jazz Band.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Jun 2010, 14:46 BST
Updated 11th Jun 2010, 14:47 BST

Jenni's trio, Bach ReLoaded, which plays in the cellar at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield tonight, reworks Bach themes in a way which is absorbing but never boring and always respectful to its source.

Acker Bilk and his men play at the Town Hall in Grassington next Thursday as part of the annual festival.

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He is 81 but still gives 60 shows a year, despite a brush with throat cancer 10 years ago from which he is, happily, recovered.

"I still find it hard to believe I am getting paid for doing what I love most in the world," says this wonderful survivor of the Trad boom of the Sixties.

And no performance would be complete without Stranger on the Shore, the 1961 recording which was a simultaneous number one in the British and US charts.

Bilk retains a warm and personal clarinet tone. At Grassington, the line-up will be completed by Enrico Tomasso (trumpet), Ian Bateman (trombone), Colin Wood (piano), John Day (bass) and Richie Bryant (drums).

Related topics:YorkshireTown Hall