MASTER jazz clarinettist Acker Bilk and The Paramount Jazz Band are set to take audiences by storm when they perform at the Palace Theatre next week.

Bernard Bilk was born in Somerset, learned to play the clarinet to 'pass the time away' during National Service and while he was still known as plain Bernard joined Ken Colyer's Jazzmen.

After a year or so he formed his own band, adopting the nickname Acker, a West Country alternative to the cockney 'mate', and after a short tour in Germany the band gained a recording contract with the PYE label.

Their first LP, Mr Acker Bilk Requests, was a jazz bestseller and further chart albums followed, such as Seven Ages of Acker, Acker Bilk's Omnibus and Stranger on the Shore in 1961.

The tune, first written for his daughter as 'Jenny', was renamed for a BBC TV series and the album that followed under the same title spent 28 weeks in the LP charts of 1962.

The jazz albums kept coming with The Paramount Jazz Band but have been interspersed with the now legendary 'with strings' LP's featuring hits such as A Taste of Honey, Aria and Evergreen.

The Paramount Jazz Band is made up of Colin Smith on trumpet, Micky Cooke on trombone, Colin Wood on piano, Tucker Finlayson on bass and Ritchie Bryant on drums.

The show takes place from 7.30pm on Saturday, October 26 and tickets cost £13.50 or £12 (with Reddicard) from the Tourist Information Centre, Alcester Street or box office on 65203.