PAUL
VERNON CHESTER
Manouche Maestro
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Leonard Williams Guitarist - Journalist - Zoo Keeper and father of John Williams.
Django, who was used to a level of adulation normally afforded a Prince, noticed that certain audience members were leaving the theatre before he had left the stage, becoming incensed! How dare they! He was not amused and took this ‘insult’ very personally indeed. Our two intrepid reporters, Len and Louis Gallo, having noticed this from their seats eagerly but nervously made their way to the master’s dressing room, aware to some extent of Django’s displeasure. Len as magazine editor went on ahead. Django was in no mood to be interviewed, full stop. The tantalizing piece here though is that Louis could closely see his hero through the open dressing room door, almost within touching distance, but would never meet him! A memory of tantalizing proportions!
Leonard
Williams, had emigrated to Australia from London in the late 1930s, where he
met his wife, Malaan, through a common love of jazz music and political
activism. Len was a respected jazz guitarist whose interests had slowly turned
towards the classical repertoire, and when his son John was four years old, he received
his first guitar from his father, although John insists that proper
tuition did not start for another two or three years. Because of his new-found
love for classical technique, Len refused to allow John to dabble in more
free-form styles of playing, a fact often regretted by the virtuoso in later
life.
The Spanish Guitar Centre was founded by Len Williams, father of the virtuoso guitarist John Williams. The original conception of the Centre was as a teaching institution, and it later developed into a successful retail shop, as the need for classical guitars quickly increased during the 1950s and 60s. It is the oldest classical guitar centre in the world, and has been a major influence on the guitar movement in Britain. Harald Petersen, the guitar maker was closely involved with the Centre, and was encouraged by Len Williams to create and experiment with building guitars. In many ways he was a founding father of what was later to become the English school of guitar making. Len, and later his pupil, Alan Gubbay arranged much of the teaching material used at the Centre during the 60s and 70s - some of this repertoire is still available in a publication by Schott and Co. In 1998 the Centre was taken over by the well-known guitarist and teacher Barry Mason, who has created a centre of excellence for guitarists, with high standards of tuition and a vast array of quality instruments and accessories. Today the Centre continues to develop under his guidance, he summed it up in an article in Classical Guitar Magazine when asked the question: "In this, the 50th year of the Spanish Guitar Centre, how do you see the future of the guitar in the UK developing?" The words of Terry Usher who said "with the opening of the Spanish Guitar Centre in 1952, Len Williams established not only a legitimate school for classic guitar tuition, but a Mecca for all London and visiting guitarists as well". and so it proves to be - there is always something going on at the Centre - guitar enthusiasts from around the world dropping in on their way through London. Players like David Russell, Hucky Eichelmann, Ben Verdery and John Mills are often to be seen. It is a great tribute to Len Williams whose foresight in creating the Centre fifty years ago has been thoroughly justified; Len William's
connections with the jazz community meant that his son John Williams maintained many
friendships outside classical circles, and in 1969 John became the first classical
musician to appear at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.
Norman Burns Quintet - April
12th, 1952 (Esquire) Cab Kaye acc. by the Norman Burns Quintet - 17
May 1952 (Esquire 5-079) - Johnnie Ashcombe (vib), Basil Tait (p), Len
Williams (g), Bert Daniels (b) and Norman Burns (d).
Pennies From Heaven Oh Lady Be Good Night And Day More Than You Know
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In the 1950s
Leonard Williams (father of Guitarist John), who had for some time been a
keen visitor to zoos, had his first meeting with a woolly monkey, which left a
deep and lasting impression on him. Some years later, in the midst of a busy
life as a musician and head of the Spanish Guitar School in London, Len
and his wife, June, began to keep woolly monkeys as pets in their home in
Chislehurst, after being bequeathed one in a will. As a musician his approach to
understanding the monkeys was instinctive and artistic and he immediately
realised that the key to the monkeys’ welfare was to allow them the space and
freedom to develop their natural social behaviour. He watched and related to
them with sensitivity and respect, learned their language and gestures, and
treated each one as an individual. The original five monkeys (Liz, Samba, Lulu,
Jimmy and Pepi) lived in large outdoor enclosures connected to an indoor monkey
room. They had human stimulation and care but most importantly, they had the
social life of a group. Len Williams died in 1987 
