In the 21 years since his death, Edwin Bradfield Liloa Chillingworth Jr. — known professionally as Sonny Chillingworth — has been remembered as one of the greatest slack-key guitarists of the 20th century. That he certainly was, but Chillingworth’s last student and protege says that slack key was actually only a part of Chillingworth’s repertoire. 

"You think of my records and how diverse they are — Hawaiian, folk, rock, classical, jazz, bluegrass — and I’m looking at some of Sonny’s recordings and he had the same disease I have: He loved too many kinds of music," Makana said, calling Sunday from Waimea, where he played a concert the night before. "On ‘Rainbow’ (Chillingworth’s 1976 album), he’s got borinque music, Mexican ballads, blues songs; he’s got Portuguese, he’s got Hawaiian, slack key, rock ‘n’ roll and Elvis-style love ballads. Aside from Willie K, I don’t know anyone else who does all that."

"I never knew that when I was 13 years old and learning slack key from him. He was very focused on making sure I learned the rudimentary elements of his approach to slack key. … No matter how much I stray or try to discover new things, I keep finding myself in his footsteps. It isn’t intentional. To look back and to realize that I truly, truly followed in his footsteps, it’s pretty funny."

Chillingworth’s larger musical legacy will be celebrated this weekend, with "Makana and Friends: A Tribute to Sonny Chillingworth" at the Hawaii Theatre. The "friends" include Makana’s veteran sideman, bassist Lono Kaumeheiwa; guest percussionist Lopaka Colon; and a list of special guests that includes Leabert Lindsey ("He’s got magic, he’s the real deal"), George Kuo ("To this day he can play note-for-note all of Gabby’s and Sonny’s music in perfection. It’s such an honor to work with him") and Danny Carvalho ("a blessing to all of us who love ki ho’alu"). 

"It’s easy to take the music of Hawaiian musicians for granted," Makana said, summing up. "What I’m trying to do (with this show) is give a view into the diversity, and the articulate musicianship and passion, that Sonny had." 

Makana has been known for almost two decades as a serious slack-key guitarist with an almost insatiable interest in other types of music. Growing up, however, he lived in a home where only two types of music were permitted — "religious" music and Hawaiian. The religious music didn’t take hold, so Hawaiian music became his outlet.

"I didn’t discover the radio until I was in the fourth grade at a friend’s house," he said. "A lot of kids today grow up on beat-driven music. I grew up on melodies and melodic music — Hui Ohana, Gabby (Pahinui). I was just so blown away by all the textures and the different notes, and the melodies were so amazing." 

His father "had a passion" for Hawaiian music and encouraged Makana’s interest in ukulele, but when Dad discovered that after 2 1/2 years Makana couldn’t play without a music book in front of him, the lessons came to an abrupt halt.

"Dad wanted me to do traditional Hawaiian music," Makana elaborated, explaining that there were no Hawaiian songs in his ukulele music book. "He was such a proponent of the culture, even though he was from Minnesota." 

Makana began studying slack key when his mother cornered Bobby Moderow Jr. at a slack-key festival and told Moderow that he was going to teach her son slack key. Moderow was only a few years older, and since he was a student and protege of Raymond Kane he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be anyone’s teacher — but Makana’s mother wouldn’t take "no" for an answer. 

Moderow, in turn, introduced Makana to Chillingworth at another festival. 

"We were at McCoy Pavilion (at Ala Moana Beach Park), and all of a sudden Sonny shows up on stage. He surprised everyone because, as you may remember, he was going through chemotherapy, and everybody freaks out. And we went backstage afterwards and Bobby introduced us." 

"Sonny looked down at me and said, ‘Young man, I’ve been looking for you.’ He had seen Bobby and I on ‘Super Kids,’ Jade Moon’s program, and so he had an interest in taking me on as a protege." 

To "make the exchange of energy more pono," Chillingworth and his wife, Kika, applied for a master/apprentice grant from the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. The grant was approved and Makana’s apprenticeship began. 

Chillingworth was a thorough teacher. 

"It wasn’t just songs," Makana explained. "A lot of the time there would be no songs; a lot of the time there were exercises like triple pull-offs and different things and tricks, and playing on the lap. These things that he would demystify for me. He’d say, ‘I want to teach you this next song, but you can’t learn the song until you learn this technique. As soon as you learn technique, you’ll learn the song.’" 

Makana confesses that he wasn’t always a dedicated student. At least once or twice his mother let Chillingworth know that he had spent the week playing Nintendo instead. 

"I’d come back (for a lesson) and try to BS my way, and I’m doing pretty good, and of course our favorite character, Mom, shows up and goes, ‘Sonny, you know this boy, he didn’t practice all week, he just played his video games and goofed around and rode his bicycle in the neighborhood.’" 

And as soon as his mother put him on the spot he’d get nervous, lose his ability to fake it, and be sent home. 

"At the time they pissed me off, but now I realize, thank goodness they were so strict with me because I literally could not cheat." 

Makana has become an avid record collector and has been working for years on a comprehensive collection of Chillingworth’s recordings. The easiest to find are recordings Chillingworth made for George Winston’s Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters series in the final decade of his life. Many of the others have not been reissued on CD, or were reissued but are currently out of print.

"I like to think of Sonny as (being) like the Jimmy Page of Hawaii," Makana said. "He was a rural music resurrectionist much like Ry Cooder. He had a passion for many styles (and) he wasn’t stuck in one genre. He was diverse, and he didn’t copy what anyone else was doing."

He added, "If I’m still learning (new) things about Sonny’s music, then I think our community, the public, would benefit from what I’m learning too."