Gene Leis
Encyclopedia
Gene Leis was an American jazz guitarist, teacher, bandleader, composer, producer and entrepreneur. Known primarily for his influential publications and recorded guitar courses in the 1960s, Gene was also a popular performer and a mentor to a large number of musicians through his teaching studios in Manhattan Beach, California.
During the late 1930s Gene listened to the swing bands of Goodman and others and to guitarists Charlie Christian
and Django Reinhardt
. The introduction of the electric guitar changed the nature of the guitar player in dance bands, who could now play loud enough to be heard over the other instruments. Gene decided to focus on guitar.
, and was sent to Muroc Army Air Field, in the desert north of Lancaster, California. Later this airfield would become known as Edwards Air Force Base
, but in 1941 it was an airfield used to train bombing and gunnery maneuvers.
While at the base, Gene took lessons from Dave Saunders, a student of George M. Smith
, a studio and performing guitarist and author of “George M. Smith Modern Guitar Method”. These lessons formed the core of Gene’s later teaching system. Smith’s method focused on teaching players the chord techniques necessary for rhythm playing and improvising in contemporary jazz. His focus was on thoroughly knowing and using chords as the basis for rhythm and chord improvising. Gene would later say, “If you don’t know your chords you’ll never play enough guitar to be dangerous”.
Promoted to Staff Sergeant, Gene formed a band, “Gene and his Jive Bombers”, composed of GIs and civilians and toured the area for the next three years. Typically, Gene arranged, directed, produced and emceed at these appearances.
Later, Gene was sent to India to organize entertainment for various airbases in the China-Burma-India Theater of the war, playing in many different kinds of bands and at one time touring camps for several months with popular movie star and singer Tony Martin
. Discharged in December 1945, Technical Sergeant Leis moved to Lancaster, California
and started a dance band that played around the local area.
and taught him some guitar. Before his productive movie career, Foster had been a singer of some note, and is known musically for writing the song, “Got My Mojo Working
”.
Foster created a trio with himself, Gene and Foster’s wife, actress Sheila Darcy
. Gene arranged the songs, and they played on radio and in clubs, appearing with Orrin Tucker
, Peggy Ann Garner
and Rita Hayworth
. It was during these times that Gene learned a lot about performing from watching the professionals in action.
Eventually, Foster broke up the act to do television, starring in the mid-fifties series “Waterfront”. Gene, tired of touring, returned to a rapidly growing Lancaster and sold Real Estate.
Using records to teach and selling them via mail order was a new idea – the old 78’s were so brittle they would break when shipped, and they were heavy, which made shipping costly. The new vinyl records were much more forgiving, and the 12” version could hold a lot of play time. In 1955 CBS Records
created the Columbia Record Club, a new division of Columbia Records
whose purpose was to test the idea of marketing music through the mail. The public’s response proved that mail-order record distribution was an effective way to market music. By the end of 1955, the Columbia Record Club boasted 128,000 members who purchased 700,000 records. This proved to Gene that his idea, teaching guitar to students using recorded courses, could work.
As Gene began developing his recorded guitar course, he worked hard to develop certain skills in order to create the kind of quality course he knew students would need. He enrolled in a school of broadcasting to learn to develop his narration skills. He took courses in writing to improve his communication ability. He studied photography for two years. He learned print layout and composition, using a Varitype machine to create his printed text, and laying out all the pages himself.
Gene called his project the Nexsus course. Nexus meant, “a connecting link or a connected series”. Gene initially sold the course through mail order, taking out ads in magazines like Playboy, Esquire, downbeat, Diner’s Club Magazine and True.
The Complete Nexus Method Course included 10 records, a 132-page instruction book, a 36-page chord book and three Chord Maps. There was also a Primary Course and an Advanced Course, both based on these materials. In it, Gene taught you how to hold, tune and play the guitar from the basic rudiments to the more intricate chord patterns used in folk, blues, western, pops and ballads. His course centered on the song as the primary way to learning guitar and he often referred to this approach as learning recreational guitar.
Tom Scanlan, noted jazz critic for the Army Times and downbeat magazine gave the course a very favorable review, singling out the high quality of the privately-produced records and the clarity of Gene’s explanations and demonstrations.
, and in 1961 he opened Gene Leis Studio, Inc., where he built a recording studio, an office and used the remaining space to store and mail out his courses.
The courses proved to be popular; in the first several years, Gene sold over 7,000 courses. Gene received many requests for just the chord book, so he sold the Nexsus Chord Book separately as well.
The guitar’s popularity soared as it was featured in a variety of popular musical formats: rock’n’roll groups, folk music artists and the surf music/guitar groups of the late fifties and early sixties. In 1962, with the encouragement and assistance of Jessy Stidham, one of his students, Gene introduced two new albums aimed at a younger market, “Play Guitar: Sounds of Today”, designed to teach younger students how to play single string melody without going into a lot of complicated chords. Gene also recorded an album, ‘’Beautiful Guitar’’, playing all the parts himself using a multitrack approach that Les Paul had pioneered earlier. The album included an insert that featured the orchestrations of the 13 songs on the album, for “the guitar player who plays just enough guitar to be dangerous”.
In 1963 he got his first distributor, in Boston, Massachusetts. Within 10 years he had over 30 distributors and was distributing the books himself as well.
In 1964, Gene incorporated Gene Leis Distributing with the aim of offering a full range of accessories and instruments. He designed or created a line of guitar amplifiers (which appeared under the names Rodeo Music or Gene Leis), guitars and accessories which were distributed through White Front
, Montgomery Ward
and other retail stores. He sold over 8,000 amplifiers before leaving the crowded amp market.
In 1964 he revised the Chord Book, incorporating many more instructional elements, and called it the “Instructional Chord Book for Guitar”. He also created two new books, Teacher’s Pet Manuscript and Chord Diagram (Primary and Advanced) for students to write out their own arrangements. By 1965, the Instruction Chord Book had sold over 250,000 copies.
In 1966 Gene introduced Guitar for Two, featuring a book and a record that taught learners 16 songs, focusing on teaching single-string melody, and Guitar for Fun, the Guitar for Two package with the Instruction Chord Book.
To promote his courses, books and accessories, Gene toured the west coast, making personal appearances where he performed with his sons Larry on drums and Bill on guitar. Their repertoire ranged from rock’n’roll numbers that “resembled a small earthquake” to ballads like “Misty” or “Over the Rainbow”. After the mini-concert, while the boys signed autographs and gave out complimentary books, Gene conducted question and answer sessions. These sessions gave Gene valuable insight into what guitar students wanted, and he used these ideas when creating new courses. Gene considered the comments and letters he received from guitar students all over the world his greatest assets.
In 1965, Decca Records
started a division known as Decca Home Entertainment Products, which for several years imported Japanese acoustic and solid-body electric guitars aimed primarily at the beginner market. Gene acted as an advisor to Decca, who sold over 30,000 of his chord books a year. Similarly, Columbia Record Club, the mail order arm of Columbia Records, bought 50,000 of his courses to pair with a line of guitars that it offered.
In 1966, Gene collaborated on the book, A Guitar Manual, with Daniel Mari and Peter Huyn. Published by E&O Mari, the manufacturer of La Bella guitar strings, the book focused on the history, anatomy and use of the guitar. The wood veneer cover design, by George Macias, was unique, and represented the face of a guitar, with the title and author’s names visible through a round hole in the center.
In 1967, Gene produced two albums for Music Minus One
, a company that created recorded courses with one instrumental part missing – students could practice soloing against the recorded accompaniment. These two albums included “Let’s Duet” (MMO60) and “Learn to Play Guitar” (MMO4018).
Also in 1967, Gene became a contributing editor to Bud and Maxine Eastman’s fledgling Guitar Player Magazine, serving on the advisory board and contributing articles like Why Don’t You Read Music?”
By the mid 1970s, Gene had sold over 225,000 of his recorded courses and over 2 million copies of the Instruction Chord Book for Guitar.
Gene became a mentor to many in the small South Bay music community. Recognizing talent and passion in young guitarist Jeff Linsky
, Gene encouraged him and introduced him to important players who influenced his music; players like Ron Anthony
, Johnny deRose and Jimmy Stewart. .
In his studio, Gene recorded his own albums also recorded some local talent. In 1970 he recorded “Gene Leis Plays Beautiful Music”, also known as “Music to Iron By”, a collection of a number of beautiful ballads and standards done in Gene’s own style.
Gene wrote or supervised the arrangements included in a number of easy guitar songbooks for West Coast Publications, whose publications included a series of songbooks featuring current popular songs arranged for guitar, including “Country Guitar”, “Getting’ Together for Easy Guitar” and others. The studio teachers contributed the actual arrangements, which Gene edited.
, who had played with Frank Sinatra and George Shearing, and bassist Louis Kabok, who had played with guitarist Gabor Szabo
for many years, in a long-running engagement at the popular Beach Bum Burt’s in Redondo Beach, California
. Over the years other guitarists would play with Gene as well, guitarists like Jimmy Stewart, Johnny deRose and others. These club dates were very popular week in and week out. Occasionally the trio would add a vocalist such as teacher Caren Armstrong, and the joint would really be swinging!
, where he continued to sell his books, play at local clubs and record others.
Able to play his music until the very end, Gene died in Santa Maria, California
, California on March 15, 1993, at the age of 73.
Early life
Gene was born into a musical family in Sedgwick, Kansas, just outside Witchita. His parents had a family band and played at local dances, weddings and other events. At 9, Gene joined the family group on mandolin, an instrument whose neck was small enough for him to play comfortably. In his early teens he took up tenor guitar and began playing with other small groups. His father wanted him to play cello, and Gene negotiated a series of banjo lessons in exchange.During the late 1930s Gene listened to the swing bands of Goodman and others and to guitarists Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
and Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
. The introduction of the electric guitar changed the nature of the guitar player in dance bands, who could now play loud enough to be heard over the other instruments. Gene decided to focus on guitar.
War Years
In early 1941, this 21-year-old musician enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Galveston, TexasGalveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, and was sent to Muroc Army Air Field, in the desert north of Lancaster, California. Later this airfield would become known as Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
, but in 1941 it was an airfield used to train bombing and gunnery maneuvers.
While at the base, Gene took lessons from Dave Saunders, a student of George M. Smith
George M. Smith
George M. Smith was a Wisconsin politician. He was born in Montreal, Canada, in 1912 and attended college in Winnipeg. He emigrated to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States in 1941, and became an United States citizen in 1944...
, a studio and performing guitarist and author of “George M. Smith Modern Guitar Method”. These lessons formed the core of Gene’s later teaching system. Smith’s method focused on teaching players the chord techniques necessary for rhythm playing and improvising in contemporary jazz. His focus was on thoroughly knowing and using chords as the basis for rhythm and chord improvising. Gene would later say, “If you don’t know your chords you’ll never play enough guitar to be dangerous”.
Promoted to Staff Sergeant, Gene formed a band, “Gene and his Jive Bombers”, composed of GIs and civilians and toured the area for the next three years. Typically, Gene arranged, directed, produced and emceed at these appearances.
Later, Gene was sent to India to organize entertainment for various airbases in the China-Burma-India Theater of the war, playing in many different kinds of bands and at one time touring camps for several months with popular movie star and singer Tony Martin
Tony Martin (entertainer)
Tony Martin is an American actor and singer.-Career:Tony Martin was born on Christmas Day, 1913 as Alvin Morris in San Francisco, California to Jewish immigrant parents. He received a saxophone as a gift from his grandmother at the age of ten. In his grammar school glee club, he became an...
. Discharged in December 1945, Technical Sergeant Leis moved to Lancaster, California
Lancaster, California
Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the high desert, near the Kern County line. Lancaster currently ranks as the 30th largest city in California, and the 148th largest city in the United States. Lancaster is the principal city within the Antelope Valley...
and started a dance band that played around the local area.
Preston Foster
In 1948 he met actor/singer Preston FosterPreston Foster
Preston Foster was an American stage and film actor, and singer. Foster entered films in 1929 after appearing as a Broadway stage actor. He was appearing in Broadway plays as late as October 1931 when he acted in a play titled Two Seconds starring Edward J. Pawley...
and taught him some guitar. Before his productive movie career, Foster had been a singer of some note, and is known musically for writing the song, “Got My Mojo Working
Got My Mojo Working
"Got My Mojo Working" is a 1956 song written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole, but popularized by Muddy Waters in 1957. Waters' rendition of the song was featured on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #359 and was inducted in the Grammy Hall of...
”.
Foster created a trio with himself, Gene and Foster’s wife, actress Sheila Darcy
Sheila Darcy
Sheila Darcy, also known as Rebecca Wassem was an American film actress of the 1930s and the 1940s....
. Gene arranged the songs, and they played on radio and in clubs, appearing with Orrin Tucker
Orrin Tucker
Robert Orrin Tucker was an American bandleader born in St. Louis, Missouri, whose theme song was "Drifting and Dreaming". His biggest hit was "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" , sung by vocalist "Wee" Bonnie Baker....
, Peggy Ann Garner
Peggy Ann Garner
Peggy Ann Garner was an American actress.A successful child actor, Garner played her first film role in 1938 and won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...
and Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...
. It was during these times that Gene learned a lot about performing from watching the professionals in action.
Eventually, Foster broke up the act to do television, starring in the mid-fifties series “Waterfront”. Gene, tired of touring, returned to a rapidly growing Lancaster and sold Real Estate.
The Nexsus Recorded Course
At night he worked on a project – a teach-yourself guitar course on records.Using records to teach and selling them via mail order was a new idea – the old 78’s were so brittle they would break when shipped, and they were heavy, which made shipping costly. The new vinyl records were much more forgiving, and the 12” version could hold a lot of play time. In 1955 CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
created the Columbia Record Club, a new division of Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
whose purpose was to test the idea of marketing music through the mail. The public’s response proved that mail-order record distribution was an effective way to market music. By the end of 1955, the Columbia Record Club boasted 128,000 members who purchased 700,000 records. This proved to Gene that his idea, teaching guitar to students using recorded courses, could work.
As Gene began developing his recorded guitar course, he worked hard to develop certain skills in order to create the kind of quality course he knew students would need. He enrolled in a school of broadcasting to learn to develop his narration skills. He took courses in writing to improve his communication ability. He studied photography for two years. He learned print layout and composition, using a Varitype machine to create his printed text, and laying out all the pages himself.
Gene called his project the Nexsus course. Nexus meant, “a connecting link or a connected series”. Gene initially sold the course through mail order, taking out ads in magazines like Playboy, Esquire, downbeat, Diner’s Club Magazine and True.
The Complete Nexus Method Course included 10 records, a 132-page instruction book, a 36-page chord book and three Chord Maps. There was also a Primary Course and an Advanced Course, both based on these materials. In it, Gene taught you how to hold, tune and play the guitar from the basic rudiments to the more intricate chord patterns used in folk, blues, western, pops and ballads. His course centered on the song as the primary way to learning guitar and he often referred to this approach as learning recreational guitar.
Tom Scanlan, noted jazz critic for the Army Times and downbeat magazine gave the course a very favorable review, singling out the high quality of the privately-produced records and the clarity of Gene’s explanations and demonstrations.
More Courses, Publications and Albums
Gene quit real estate to work on selling the course full-time, moving to Manhattan Beach, CaliforniaManhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
, and in 1961 he opened Gene Leis Studio, Inc., where he built a recording studio, an office and used the remaining space to store and mail out his courses.
The courses proved to be popular; in the first several years, Gene sold over 7,000 courses. Gene received many requests for just the chord book, so he sold the Nexsus Chord Book separately as well.
The guitar’s popularity soared as it was featured in a variety of popular musical formats: rock’n’roll groups, folk music artists and the surf music/guitar groups of the late fifties and early sixties. In 1962, with the encouragement and assistance of Jessy Stidham, one of his students, Gene introduced two new albums aimed at a younger market, “Play Guitar: Sounds of Today”, designed to teach younger students how to play single string melody without going into a lot of complicated chords. Gene also recorded an album, ‘’Beautiful Guitar’’, playing all the parts himself using a multitrack approach that Les Paul had pioneered earlier. The album included an insert that featured the orchestrations of the 13 songs on the album, for “the guitar player who plays just enough guitar to be dangerous”.
In 1963 he got his first distributor, in Boston, Massachusetts. Within 10 years he had over 30 distributors and was distributing the books himself as well.
In 1964, Gene incorporated Gene Leis Distributing with the aim of offering a full range of accessories and instruments. He designed or created a line of guitar amplifiers (which appeared under the names Rodeo Music or Gene Leis), guitars and accessories which were distributed through White Front
White Front
White Front was a chain of discount stores in Southern California and the western United States from 1959 through the mid-1970s. They were noted for the architecture of their store fronts which was an enormous, sweeping archway with the store name spelled out in individual letters fanned across the...
, Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
and other retail stores. He sold over 8,000 amplifiers before leaving the crowded amp market.
In 1964 he revised the Chord Book, incorporating many more instructional elements, and called it the “Instructional Chord Book for Guitar”. He also created two new books, Teacher’s Pet Manuscript and Chord Diagram (Primary and Advanced) for students to write out their own arrangements. By 1965, the Instruction Chord Book had sold over 250,000 copies.
In 1966 Gene introduced Guitar for Two, featuring a book and a record that taught learners 16 songs, focusing on teaching single-string melody, and Guitar for Fun, the Guitar for Two package with the Instruction Chord Book.
To promote his courses, books and accessories, Gene toured the west coast, making personal appearances where he performed with his sons Larry on drums and Bill on guitar. Their repertoire ranged from rock’n’roll numbers that “resembled a small earthquake” to ballads like “Misty” or “Over the Rainbow”. After the mini-concert, while the boys signed autographs and gave out complimentary books, Gene conducted question and answer sessions. These sessions gave Gene valuable insight into what guitar students wanted, and he used these ideas when creating new courses. Gene considered the comments and letters he received from guitar students all over the world his greatest assets.
In 1965, Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
started a division known as Decca Home Entertainment Products, which for several years imported Japanese acoustic and solid-body electric guitars aimed primarily at the beginner market. Gene acted as an advisor to Decca, who sold over 30,000 of his chord books a year. Similarly, Columbia Record Club, the mail order arm of Columbia Records, bought 50,000 of his courses to pair with a line of guitars that it offered.
In 1966, Gene collaborated on the book, A Guitar Manual, with Daniel Mari and Peter Huyn. Published by E&O Mari, the manufacturer of La Bella guitar strings, the book focused on the history, anatomy and use of the guitar. The wood veneer cover design, by George Macias, was unique, and represented the face of a guitar, with the title and author’s names visible through a round hole in the center.
In 1967, Gene produced two albums for Music Minus One
Music Minus One
Music Minus One is a company that produces sheet music that comes with compact discs where the work is recorded without the soloist part . This can be used for practice. There is also a second version on the CD, where the tempo is 20% reduced...
, a company that created recorded courses with one instrumental part missing – students could practice soloing against the recorded accompaniment. These two albums included “Let’s Duet” (MMO60) and “Learn to Play Guitar” (MMO4018).
Also in 1967, Gene became a contributing editor to Bud and Maxine Eastman’s fledgling Guitar Player Magazine, serving on the advisory board and contributing articles like Why Don’t You Read Music?”
By the mid 1970s, Gene had sold over 225,000 of his recorded courses and over 2 million copies of the Instruction Chord Book for Guitar.
The Local Scene
Gene’s Studio in Manhattan Beach, which had served as his distribution center and recording studio, now boasted some retail space, and in the late 60s, Gene built a number of small teaching studios and brought in local guitar teachers such as Brian Hartzler, Tami Smith (now Tami Michelle), Craig Welch, Caren Armstrong and others. Within a short time the studio boasted 10 teachers and over 140 students each week – the store hummed with activity. Gene, with his colorful personality and great charm, presided over everything.Gene became a mentor to many in the small South Bay music community. Recognizing talent and passion in young guitarist Jeff Linsky
Jeff Linsky
Jeff Linsky is an American guitarist known for improvisational freedom on the solo guitar. He has lived and worked in Hawaii and the San Francisco area....
, Gene encouraged him and introduced him to important players who influenced his music; players like Ron Anthony
Ron Anthony
Ron Anthony is a renowned American jazz musician. He is also a music teacher.He studied guitar with Jerry Condorato becoming a musician. He was also the first teacher of Ron Affif his nephew. In 1955 I became a member of the 7th Army Jazz Band in Stuttgart, Germany...
, Johnny deRose and Jimmy Stewart. .
In his studio, Gene recorded his own albums also recorded some local talent. In 1970 he recorded “Gene Leis Plays Beautiful Music”, also known as “Music to Iron By”, a collection of a number of beautiful ballads and standards done in Gene’s own style.
Gene wrote or supervised the arrangements included in a number of easy guitar songbooks for West Coast Publications, whose publications included a series of songbooks featuring current popular songs arranged for guitar, including “Country Guitar”, “Getting’ Together for Easy Guitar” and others. The studio teachers contributed the actual arrangements, which Gene edited.
Performing
With the studio and his other enterprises running well, Gene was able to get out and play more. He teamed up with well-known guitarist Ron AnthonyRon Anthony
Ron Anthony is a renowned American jazz musician. He is also a music teacher.He studied guitar with Jerry Condorato becoming a musician. He was also the first teacher of Ron Affif his nephew. In 1955 I became a member of the 7th Army Jazz Band in Stuttgart, Germany...
, who had played with Frank Sinatra and George Shearing, and bassist Louis Kabok, who had played with guitarist Gabor Szabo
Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
for many years, in a long-running engagement at the popular Beach Bum Burt’s in Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area.Redondo Beach was originally part of...
. Over the years other guitarists would play with Gene as well, guitarists like Jimmy Stewart, Johnny deRose and others. These club dates were very popular week in and week out. Occasionally the trio would add a vocalist such as teacher Caren Armstrong, and the joint would really be swinging!
Retirement
Gene retired and sold the studio in the late 1970s, moving to Santa Maria, CaliforniaSanta Maria, California
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...
, where he continued to sell his books, play at local clubs and record others.
Able to play his music until the very end, Gene died in Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria, California
Santa Maria is a city in Santa Barbara County, on the Central Coast of California. The 2010 census population was 100,062, putting it ahead of Santa Barbara for the first time and making it the largest city in the county...
, California on March 15, 1993, at the age of 73.
Teaching Materials and Books
- Leis, Gene (1961). ‘’Nexsus Theory Instruction Book’’, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA - Cover illustration by noted artist David LigareDavid LigareDavid Ligare is an American contemporary realist painter. Since 1978, he has focused on painting still lifes, landscapes, and figures that are informed by Greco-Roman antiquity...
. - Leis, Gene (1961). “Chord Book; Nexsus Theory”, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1964, 1974). ‘’Instruction Chord Book for Guitar’’, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1964). ‘’Teacher’s Pet Manuscript with Diagrams for Guitar, Book 1, Primary’’, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1964). ‘’Teacher’s Pet Manuscript with Diagrams for Guitar, Book 2, Advanced’’, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1966). ‘’Guitar for Two’’, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA.
- Huyn, Peter; Leis, Gene; & Mari, Daniel (1966). ‘’A Guitar Manual’’. E. & O. Mari, Inc. Offset book with wood veneer covers; designed by George MaciunasGeorge MaciunasGeorge Maciunas was a Lithuanian-born American artist. He was a founding member of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers, and designers...
. - Leis, Gene (1967). ‘’Guitar for Fun’’, Gene Leis Studio, Inc., Manhattan Beach, CA.
Songbooks
- Hartzler, Brian; & Leis, Gene (1970). “Wine + Bread + Cheese, a Guitar and Thee”, West Coast Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1972). ‘’Makin' Tracks - Hit Songs for Easy Guitar’’, West Coast Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1972). ‘’Country Guitar ’72’’, West Coast Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1972). ‘’Getting’ Together for Easy Guitar (Collector’s Series #34)’’, West Coast Publications, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
- Leis, Gene (1972). “What’s Your Hangup?? A Guitar?? (Collector’s Series #86)”, West Coast Publications, Inc. Los Angeles, CA. – various songs arranged for easy guitar by Brian Hartzler, Jeff Linsky, Ed Thompson, Janet Welch and Cliff Woolley.
Teaching Courses
- ‘’Nexsus Course’’ (1961) - Complete Course; comprising Primary Course and Advanced Course.
- ‘’Play Guitar - Sounds of Today, Volume 1’’ (1962) – GL Vol.1 ST.
- ‘’Play Guitar - Sounds of Today, Volume 2’’ (1963) - GL Vol.2 ST.
- ‘’Guitar for Two’’ (1966) – GT–1R.
- ‘’Let Me Teach You to Play the Guitar’’ (1966) - Music Minus One MMO 60.
- ‘’Let’s Duet - Music Minus One Guitar’’ (1967) - Music Minus One MMO 4018.
Albums
- ‘’Beautiful Guitar by Gene Leis’’ (1962), GL-EXCR-1.
- ‘’Gene Leis Plays Beautiful Guitar’’ (1970), LPS570 – also known as “Music to Iron By”.
For Further Reading
- Ferris, Leonard (October, 1971). ‘’You know the name, now meet the man…Here’s Gene Leis’’. Guitar Player Magazine, pp. 31-33.
- “How to Learn with Records” (1963). “Country Song Roundup”.
- Leis, Gene (October, 1967). ‘’Why Can’t You Read Music?’’. Guitar Player Magazine.
- Leis, Gene (1974). ‘’Instruction Chord Book for Guitar’’. Manhattan Beach: Gene Leis Studio, inc., p.2.
- Linsky, Jeff; & Carlson, Lenny (2003). ‘’Jeff LinskyJeff LinskyJeff Linsky is an American guitarist known for improvisational freedom on the solo guitar. He has lived and worked in Hawaii and the San Francisco area....
Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos’’. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publishing. - Lord, Tom (2001). ‘’The Jazz Discography’’. Lord Music Reference. (Originally from University of Michigan). ISBN 1-881993-16-7, 9781991993162
- Marmorstein, Gary (2007). ‘’The Label: The Story of Columbia Records’’. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-707-5
- “Master Jazz Guitarist at Beachbums” (November 18, 1976). ‘’Long Beach Press-Telegram’’, p. A-29.
- “Red Cross Benefit Successful”, “Calling all Hep Cats”, “Halloween Dance” (October 30, 1942). ‘’Muroc News’’, vol. 1, No. 21, pp. 2-4 - newsletter for Muroc Army Air Field, later Edwards Air Force Base.
- Rodgers, Jeffrey Pepper (September, 2008). ‘’Have Guitar, Will Travel (interview with guitarist Jeff LinskyJeff LinskyJeff Linsky is an American guitarist known for improvisational freedom on the solo guitar. He has lived and worked in Hawaii and the San Francisco area....
)’’. Acoustic Guitar Magazine, pp.70-72. - Scanlan, Tom (1963). “Any Interest in Guitar?” In “Beautiful Guitar” [Album Insert]. Manhattan Beach: Gene Leis Studios, inc.
- Smith, George M. (1942–1962). ‘’Most Complete Modern Guitar Method for Rhythm and Chord Improvising’’. Santa Fe Springs, CA: Guitarists Publications.
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