Anyone heard of Len Fillis?

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 9 Oct 2022 5:18 am

I was looking through this guys discography and noticed he had some songs with hawaiian guitar. I just listened to this about 5 times and I am quite enchanted!! If I ever get the skills I would love to transcribe this. I am guessing high bass A tuning. He has some other recordings I will try to hunt down. He is one of the lesser known early jazz guitar pioneers, apparently he was a pioneer on the Hawaiian guitar in jazz as well! Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_gL9aHQaW0

Joe A. Roberts · Post by **Joe A. Roberts** » 9 Oct 2022 5:51 am

His superb playing can be heard on a lot of early Al Bowly records.
I'm sure there is a lot I haven't heard, but here are two of my favorites:

By The Old Oak Tree (switches between hawaiian and plectrum, showcasing his beautiful accompanying style)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXkwwPCZK0

In The Moonlight (Perhaps my favorite, a great record. Love the clarinet too.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rILZzt8Vd5s

Feel free to post any discoveries!

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 9 Oct 2022 6:02 am

His phrasing really reminds me of Eddie Lang! Thanks!!

Joe A. Roberts · Post by **Joe A. Roberts** » 9 Oct 2022 6:11 am

Lang's influence was certainly felt!

Another underrated player in that vein was Tommy Felline. I wonder if he played any hawaiian guitar?
Some of my favorite plectrum guitar playing on record, just mind blowing accompaniment. Just gorgeous:

Bert Lown - Bye Bye Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2msDpCzANc

edit: Actually, just remembered another great version of that tune, with a great guitar solo from Allan Reuss. Not to mention Benny Carter's sax playing...

Benny Carter - Bye Bye Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5DThDH2RaQ

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 9 Oct 2022 12:22 pm

I believe Len Fillis was a South African who spent some time here in Australia, where he recorded "Solitude" before going to London.

Scott Thomas · Post by **Scott Thomas** » 9 Oct 2022 4:24 pm

Nice to see Len Fillis mentioned.

I have an anthology CD with 25 tracks of old Hawaiian music and related tunes. One of my favorites is "For You" with Len Fillis and Sid Bright (piano). There is just something I find really evocative and nostalgic about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEBkDGnujrw

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 10 Oct 2022 5:29 am

Another underrated player in that vein was Tommy Felline. I wonder if he played any hawaiian guitar?
Some of my favorite plectrum guitar playing on record, just mind blowing accompaniment. Just gorgeous:

Bert Lown - Bye Bye Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2msDpCzANc

Wow! Mind blowing for sure. it blends so well yet it is amazingly complex. Never heard of him. Thanks for that. Couldn't find much at all with a google search. Just another amazing genius lost to history I suppose. Allen Reuss is just dazzling on that other one for sure. This link has a transcription of that solo if you are brave http://www.richjazz.com/allan-reuss-bye ... scription/

I have an anthology CD with 25 tracks of old Hawaiian music and related tunes. One of my favorites is "For You" with Len Fillis and Sid Bright (piano). There is just something I find really evocative and nostalgic about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEBkDGnujrw

It says video unavailable. I will be looking for that anthology.

Scott Thomas · Post by **Scott Thomas** » 10 Oct 2022 2:39 pm

Tim Toberer wrote: It says video unavailable. I will be looking for that anthology.

Oh, that's too bad. This is the anthology cd. I see it's gotten expensive even for used. Maybe you can keep an eye out for a cheaper one.

https://www.discogs.com/release/5269569 ... -1926-1942

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 11 Oct 2022 5:49 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXke-z1Q1M0 Sittin by the River is one of my favorite things to do!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PlskT9_nQw Cool minor sounds here, not sure of the tuning??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMYYPKrukAM This one sounds very classical at times

https://archive.org/details/78_moonligh ... len-fillis This guy loved rivers as much as I do!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEF7SInA3oM. This one is a little boring. Sorry Danny Boy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp3UrZZWe74 Nice single string jazz tones and some altered chords, completely baffling!!!! I don't think this is steel guitar?? at times sounds like it maybe?? Says Hawajskiej Gitarze sounds like polish for Hawaiian guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxRWeprLV_Q. This guy can play Spanish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oZ_HkzL7do. On electric guitar in 1936!!! Move over Charlie Christian

Shit move over George Benson! I am in awwwww! Can't believe I have never heard of this guy![/quote]

David Matzenik · Post by **David Matzenik** » 11 Oct 2022 8:57 pm

Accompanied on the "Pianoforte" no less! Well, its about time someone stopped all this abbreviation folderol, its undignified!

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 12 Oct 2022 5:45 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7foj_2lFaLg The guitar is so vocal in this one "Anita ! Anita!" It's almost like a conversation. Cool intro as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Mr0r8ie-M Hey what about Anita?... Some nice flat picking here as well, not Len Fillis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfemEQucJV8. Len was a master accompanists!

Anthony Lis · Post by **Anthony Lis** » 15 Oct 2022 5:39 pm

Well, let me throw this out there, for what it's worth . . . perhaps ten years ago or so, I was researching the ten lap steel guitarists who backed country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers, for an article series for Basil Henriques's "Aloha Dream" magazine. I came across a Len Fillis connection (and yes, as I recall, he was originally from South Africa) in researching Rodgers's early February 1932 recording of "Roll Along Kentucky Moon." It turns out that about eleven months after Rodgers recorded the tune, Fillis recorded a cover, in London, as I recall (as Decca F-3389, says the internet), with a pianist.

On Rodgers's original Victor recording, Dick Bunyard (then a Dallas radio musician, I believe) played lap steel guitar. (The recording was made in Dallas.) I remember wondering, was Fillis prompted to record a cover after hearing Rodgers and his backing quartet with Bunyard's steel guitar, or did he discover the tune independently from Rodgers? Victor did release Rodgers's recording in England on affiliated Regal Zonophone, says Rodgers's biographer Nolan Porterfield.

"Roll Along Kentucky Moon" is a great waltz-tune, FWIW; both the verse and chorus just essentially move up and down the major scale, but some dotted rhythms help make for a catchy melody; I don't know why the tune didn't become better known. The composer was the early 20th Century songwriter Bill Halley (spelled with two L's; no relation to later Bill Haley, as I discovered!).

Wanting to hear Fillis's cover, I somehow learned of a library in north London that held a copy; I e-mailed them, and—very promptly—they kindly dubbed me off a sound file; regrettably, I don't know where it is at the moment. No posting of the recording on the internet that I can see, unfortunately.

Lloyd Graves · Post by **Lloyd Graves** » 15 Oct 2022 5:47 pm

I'm a huge Jimmie Rodgers fan and love the steel work on his recordings. Any chance you have a link to your article? Or can you email it to me?

Also, if never heard of Len Fillis before this thread and am really digging his stuff. The piano backed steel is a real treat for me.

Anthony Lis · Post by **Anthony Lis** » 15 Oct 2022 6:00 pm

Lloyd, thanks for your interest. Let me try to find the "Aloha Dream" issue with my Dick Bunyard "installment"; I will then have the article scanned and e-mail it to you.

Yeah, Rodgers made I think 33 or so recordings with a steel guitarist; some personal favorites for me are John Cali playing on "Old Love Letters" (Rodgers's last recording with steel), Cliff Carlisle's mid-song solo on "When the Cactus is in Bloom (Rodgers doing a cowboy-themed number), and John Westbrook performing constant catchy little fills on "My Carolina Sunshine Girl" and "California Blues."

Stefan Robertson · Post by **Stefan Robertson** » 16 Oct 2022 1:50 am

Hey Tim

I think at the moment the Hawaiian style of vibrato is really calling you.

If that is the case you should check out their site hsga or contact john Ely or Basil Henriques here in the UK as they can help connect what you hear to your bar plus Basil is extremely knowledgeable about music and history in relation to steel guitar and tunings.

An absolute wealth of information.

Tim Toberer · Post by **Tim Toberer** » 16 Oct 2022 6:33 am

Glad to see this has generated some interest! When I started this post I really had no idea where it would lead and then found all that stuff on YouTube. This guy has really flown under the radar! Even most of the folks here seem to be unaware of him. I wonder what else is out there? His skill as a jazz guitarist really adds to the depth of his lines. His recordings are limited by the style of the time and short recordings mandated by the phonograph technology. In the recordings of Mood Ruby and Dipsomania, you can hear him stretch his legs a bit! One thing I find interesting about his steel laying is how unhawaiian it sounds at times! He is really channeling Eddie Lang and early jazz sensibility. This is 1936 !%$#4!! Simply mind blowing.! This stuff really tickles me good if you can't tell! For someone who drinks from the well of early jazz guitar, this guy is a real find. Here is a transcription of Rosetta from a cool site I found.

https://www.soundslice.com/slices/XdBMc/?from=community To further confuse this I just realized this transcription most likely is not Len Fillis, unless he is simultaneously playing steel guitar

This actually sounds like Carmen Mastren or Dick Mcdonough possibly. There is a mystery here!