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Leonard Williams
Guitarist -
Journalist -
Zoo Keeper
and father of
John Williams.
Len Williams (father of classical guitar giant, John) were set to interview the
great gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt backstage after the Hot Club’s
performance at the Wood Green Empire, London in the 1940s for a review. Len was
editor of the guitar periodical Modern Guitar and later Fretted Harmony
magazine. However, as was the tendency in those days, whilst the performers were
receiving their tumultuous applause at the end of a fantastic display of
virtuosity, audience members would start to leave the Theatre in order to ensure
they caught the bus home! Transport was very different in those Days.
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.
In 1952, the family returned to England. Len wanted to set up
a guitar school (which he did, with great success: The
Spanish Guitar
Centre continues his work today, under the guidance of Barry Mason). It's
worth noting that Len Williams' later years were devoted to setting up the
Looe Monkey Sanctuary
in Cornwall: depending on whom you speak to, Len Williams is most famous for:
being the father of a famous guitarist, establishing the London Guitar Centre,
or his work with Woolly Monkeys. Few people can manage being famous for one
thing in one lifetime, but for three? He also had an ulterior motive:
recognising his young son's talent, he wanted him to study with the only the
best teachers. This was not an option in Australia, and through a friendship
with Terry Usher, they met
Andres Segovia during a visit to London. The "creator of the modern
classical guitar" was impressed with the 11-year-old and arranged for him to
attend his summer school at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena in Italy.
The young prodigy John returned annually until 1959.

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.
His appearances there
during the summer season were to continue for several years until the late
1970s, and one of the concerts in 1971 was filmed for television.
He had
approached Patrick Gowers and André Previn to write or develop jazz material for
his own style of playing, but this idea was eventually abandoned, and the music
remained the classical repertoire, including Albeniz, Tarrega and Villa-Lobos.
Norman Burns Quintet - April
12th, 1952 (Esquire)
Johnnie Ashcombe (vib), Basil Tait (p), Len
Williams (g), Bert Daniels (b), Norman Burns (d).
1066*/I May Be Wrong/Lily Of The Leguna/Dance Little
Lady*/Star Eyes.
(*Charly/Esquire 4 CD box set - bebop IN BRITAIN - issued
in 1991 currently only available second hand...)
Norman Burns Quintet - October
25th, 1952 (Esquire)
Eric Greengrass (vib), Basil Tait (p), Len
Williams (g), Charlie Short (b), Norman Burns (d).
Brahms Lullaby/Bye Bye Blackbird*/It Could Happen To
You/I'll See You In My Dreams.
(*Charly/Esquire 4 CD box set - bebop IN BRITAIN - issued
in 1991 currently only available second hand...)
Norman Burns Quintet - March
6th, 1953 (Esquire)
Eric Greengrass (vib), Conn Bernard (p), Len
Williams (g), Charlie Short (b), Norman Burns (d).
Without A Song/Should I?/Don't Dilly Dally On The
Way/Everything I Have Is Yours.
Norman Burns Quintet -
September 23rd, 1953 (Esquire)
John Scott (vib), Harry Smith (p), Len Williams
(g), George Davis (b), Norman Burns (d).
I'll Get By/Let Yourself Go/Black Magic/Ooh.
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
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
Murrayton Monkey Sanctuary
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