Born Andrew Dewey Kirk in Newport, Kentucky on May 28th 1898, Andy Kirk led one of the most consistently popular, if not most famous and fabled big bands of the swing era. Having studied music under Wilberforce Whiteman, father of the legendary bandleader Paul, he began his career playing in Denver with George Morrison's band, before joining Terrence Holders Dark Clouds of Joy. In 1929 Holder left the outfit and Kirk was elected leader of the now re-named Twelve Clouds of Joy. They located themselves in Kansas, then a hotbed of the emerging music, and started making records for the Brunswick label. In 1936 the band moved to New York, and immediately enjoyed greater success with their record releases, and over the next dozen years had a string of hits, especially after the introduction of the Harlem Hit Parade, later the Billboard R&B chart, catering for the 'race records market, in 1942. Indeed, Kirk's band had the first No. 1 when the chart was introduced with "Take it and git". Over the years, Kirk kept a fairly stable line-up, although some major names played with him as they moved through to greater things, including Mary Lou Williams, Buddy Tate, Don Byas, Fats Navarro, Ben Thigpen, Joe Williams and, for a short while, Charlie Parker. Kirk's music was noted for its exuberant energy, with a more raucous flavour than the smoother swing ensembles. As the decade progressed, Kirk's band suffered, like all the big bands, from the post-war austerity, and although enjoying hits in the growing R&B market, Kirk folded the band in 1948, eventually leaving the business as a full-time venture to get involved in real estate. Acrobat has on catalogue a collection of his hits from 1936-48 - for details click here.