Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American
swing and
jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarists are guitarists who play jazz using an approach to chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist ( rhythm guitar) and soloist in small and large ...
.
Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of
bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
and
cool jazz
Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements an ...
. He gained national exposure as a member of the
Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the
lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...
role in musical ensembles and bands.
John Hammond and
George T. Simon called Christian the best improvisational talent of the
swing era. In the liner notes to the album ''
Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian'' (Columbia, 1972),
Gene Lees
Frederick Eugene John Lees (February 8, 1928 – April 22, 2010) was a Canadian music critic, biographer, lyricist, and journalist. Lees worked as a newspaper journalist in his native Canada before moving to the United States, where he was a music ...
wrote that "Many critics and musicians consider that Christian was one of the founding fathers of bebop, or if not that, at least a precursor to it."
[Liner notes. ''Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian''. Columbia G 30779.]
Christian's influence reached beyond jazz and swing. In 1990, he was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category Early Influence. In a 1985 interview with ''Frets'' magazine
Jerry Garcia named Christian and
Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...
as the two guitarists who most inspired his awe and emulation.
In 2006 Oklahoma City renamed a street in its
Bricktown entertainment district "Charlie Christian Avenue" (Christian was raised in Oklahoma City and was one of many musicians who jammed along the city's "
Deep Deuce" section on N.E. Second Street).
Early life
Christian was born in
Bonham, Texas
Bonham is a city and the county seat of Fannin County, Texas. The population was 10,408 at the 2020 census. James Bonham (the city's namesake) sought the aid of James Fannin (the county's namesake) at the Battle of the Alamo. Bonham is part of t ...
. His family moved to
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
, when he was a small child. His parents were musicians. He had two brothers, Edward, born in 1906, and Clarence, born in 1911. All three sons were taught music by their father, Clarence Henry Christian. Clarence Henry was struck blind by fever, and in order to support the family he and the boys worked as
buskers
Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pra ...
, on what the Christians called "busts." He would have them lead him into the better neighborhoods, where they would perform for cash or goods. When Charles was old enough to go along, he first entertained by dancing. Later he learned to play the guitar, inheriting his father's instruments upon his death when Charles was 12.
[Lee, Amy (1940). "Charlie Christian Tried to Play Hot Tenor!" ''Metronome''.]
He attended Douglass School in Oklahoma City, where he was further encouraged in music by an instructor,
Zelia N. Breaux. Charles wanted to play
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
in the school band, but she insisted he try
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
instead.
As he believed playing the trumpet would disfigure his lip, he quit to pursue his interest in baseball, at which he excelled.
In a 1978 interview with Charlie Christian biographer Craig McKinney, Clarence Christian said that in the 1920s and '30s Edward Christian led a band in Oklahoma City as a pianist and had a shaky relationship with the trumpeter James Simpson. Around 1931, he took the guitarist "Bigfoot" Ralph Hamilton and began secretly schooling the younger Charles in jazz. They taught him to solo on three songs, "
Rose Room
"Rose Room", also known as "In Sunny Roseland", is a 1917 jazz standard, music by Art Hickman, lyrics by Harry Williams. It is almost always performed as an instrumental. Composed at a time when the popularity of ragtime was fading in favor of t ...
", "
Tea for Two", and "
Sweet Georgia Brown
"Sweet Georgia Brown" is a jazz standard composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey.
History
Reportedly, Ben Bernie came up with the concept for the song's lyrics – although he is not the credited lyricis ...
". When the time was right they took him out to one of the many after-hours jam sessions along "
Deep Deuce", Northeast Second Street, in Oklahoma City.
"Let Charles play one," they told Edward. "Ah, nobody wants to hear them old blues," Edward replied. After some encouragement, he allowed Charles to play. "What do you want to play?" he asked. All three songs were big in the early 1930s, and Edward was surprised that Charles knew them. After two encores, Charles had played all three, and Deep Deuce was in an uproar. He coolly dismissed himself from the jam session, and his mother had heard about it before he got home.
[Goins, Wayne; McKinney, Craig. ''A Biography of Charlie Christian: Jazz Guitar's King of Swing''. pp. 18–20, 137, 399.]
Charles fathered a daughter, Billie Jean Christian (December 23, 1932 – July 19, 2004) by Margretta Lorraine Downey of Oklahoma City.
Charles soon was performing locally and on the road throughout the Midwest, as far away as
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
and
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
. By 1936 he was playing electric guitar and had become a regional attraction. He jammed with many of the big-name performers traveling through Oklahoma City, including
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of many ...
and
Art Tatum
Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...
.
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, an ...
, the pianist for
Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, told the record producer
John Hammond.
National fame
![Benny Goodman and Charlie Christian (1941-04 photo at Carl Fischer studio)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Benny_Goodman_and_Charlie_Christian_%281941-04_photo_at_Carl_Fischer_studio%29.jpg)
In 1939, Christian auditioned for John Hammond, who recommended him to the bandleader
Benny Goodman. Goodman was the fourth white bandleader to feature black musicians in his live band: the first was
Jimmy Durante, for whom the clarinetist
Achille Baquet
Achille Joseph Baquet (November 15, 1885 – November 20, 1955/1956) was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. He was an early musician on the New Orleans jazz scene.
Baquet was raised in a musical family. His father, Théogène Baque ...
played and recorded in Durante's Original New Orleans Jazz Band (1918–1920); the second was the violinist Arthur Hand, who led
The California Ramblers
The California Ramblers were an American jazz group that recorded hundreds of songs for many different record labels throughout the 1920s. Four members of the band – Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Adrian Rollini – went on ...
, which, from 1922 to 1925, included the trumpeter Bill Moore, who was billed as the Hot Hawaiian; the third was
Ben Bernie
Benjamin Anzelwitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 23, 1943),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. ...
, whose band from 1925 to 1928 also featured Moore. Goodman became the fourth by bringing in
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of many ...
on piano in 1935 and
Lionel Hampton on
vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist ...
in 1936. Goodman hired Christian to play with the newly formed Goodman Sextet in September 1939.
Feather, Leonard
Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.
Biography
Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...
: (1960). ''The Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Horizon Press.
It has been claimed that Goodman was initially uninterested in hiring Christian because the electric guitar was a relatively new instrument. Goodman had been exposed to the instrument with Floyd Smith and
Leonard Ware, among others, none of whom had the ability of Christian. There is a report that Goodman unsuccessfully tried to buy out
Floyd Smith
Floyd Robert Donald Smith (born May 16, 1935, in Perth, Ontario) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and coach.
Biography
Smith grew up in Galt, Ontario, playing junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks. He made his National Ho ...
's contract from
Andy Kirk. However, Goodman was so impressed by Christian's playing that he hired him instead.
There are several versions of the first meeting of Christian and Goodman on August 16, 1939. The encounter that afternoon at the recording studio had not gone well. Christian recalled in a 1940 article in
''Metronome'' magazine, "I guess neither one of us liked what I played," but Hammond decided to try again—without consulting Goodman. (Christian says Goodman invited him to the show that evening.)
He installed Christian on the bandstand for that night's set at the Victor Hugo restaurant in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. Displeased at the surprise, Goodman called “Rose Room”, a tune he assumed Christian would be unfamiliar with. Unknown to Goodman, Christian had been reared on the tune, and he came in with his first chorus of about twenty, all of them different, all unlike anything Goodman had heard before. That version of "Rose Room" lasted forty minutes. By its end, Christian was in the band. In the course of a few days, Christian went from making $2.50 a night to $150 a week.
Christian was placed in Goodman's new sextet, which included
Lionel Hampton,
Fletcher Henderson,
Artie Bernstein
Arthur Bernstein (February 4, 1909 – January 4, 1964) was an American jazz double bassist.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, he started his musical career playing cello on board cruise ships to South America, and also studied law at New York Univers ...
and
Nick Fatool. By February 1940 Christian dominated the jazz and swing guitar polls and was elected to the
Metronome All Stars
The Metronome All-Stars were a collection of jazz musicians assembled for studio recordings by ''Metronome Magazine'', based on its readers' polls. The studio sessions were held in the years 1939-42, 1946–53, and 1956, and typically consisted of ...
. In the spring of 1940 Goodman let most of his entourage go in a reorganization. He retained Christian, and in the fall of that year Goodman led a sextet with Christian,
Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
, longtime
Duke Ellington trumpeter
Cootie Williams, former
Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction.
Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...
tenor saxophonist
Georgie Auld
Georgie Auld (May 19, 1919 – January 8, 1990) was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.
Early years
Auld was born John Altwerger in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. Before the family left Canada, Au ...
and later drummer
Dave Tough
Dave Tough (April 26, 1907 – December 9, 1948) was an American jazz drummer associated with Dixieland and swing jazz in the 1930s and 1940s.
Biography
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, United States, Tough was a friend of Bud Freeman, who was p ...
. This all-star band dominated the jazz polls in 1941, including another election to the Metronome All Stars for Christian.
Johnny Guarnieri
John Albert Guarnieri (March 23, 1917 – January 7, 1985) was an American jazz and stride pianist, born in New York City.
Career
Guarnieri joined the George Hall orchestra in 1937. He is possibly best known for his big band stints with Be ...
, who replaced Henderson in the first sextet, filled the piano chair in Basie's absence.
In 1966, 24 years after his death, Christian was inducted into the ''
Down Beat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
''
Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1989 the
Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization that honors jazz, blues and gospel music, gospel musicians in the state of Oklahoma. Housed in the former Union Depot (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Tulsa Union Depot, wh ...
created its first seven inductions, which included Christian.
Style and influences
Christian's solos are frequently described as "horn-like", and in that sense he was more influenced by horn players such as
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...
and
Herschel Evans
Herschel "Tex" Evans (9 March 1909 – 9 February 1939) was an American tenor saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra. He also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton. He is also known for starting his cousin Joe McQueen's i ...
than by early arch-top guitarists like
Eddie Lang and the jazz- and bluesman
Lonnie Johnson, although they both had contributed to the expansion of the guitar's role from the rhythm section to a
solo
Solo or SOLO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Comics
* ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series
* Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics
Characters
* Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character
* Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...
instrument. Christian stated he wanted his guitar to sound like a
tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
. The French gypsy jazz guitarist
Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...
had little influence on him, but Christian was obviously familiar with some of his recordings.
[Feather, Leonard. "Inside Jazz".] The guitarist
Mary Osborne
Mary Osborne (July 17, 1921 – March 4, 1992) was an American jazz guitarist and guitar manufacturer. She began performing at a young age and was featured on a radio program in North Dakota, where she grew up. In New York City during the 1940s, ...
recalled hearing him play Django's solo on "
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...
" note for note, but then following it with his own ideas.
[
By 1939 there had already been electric guitar soloists— Leonard Ware; George Barnes; ]Eddie Durham
Edward Durham (August 19, 1906 – March 6, 1987) was an American jazz guitarist, trombonist, composer, and arranger. He was one of the pioneers of the electric guitar in jazz. The orchestras of Bennie Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie ...
, who had recorded with Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
; Floyd Smith
Floyd Robert Donald Smith (born May 16, 1935, in Perth, Ontario) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and coach.
Biography
Smith grew up in Galt, Ontario, playing junior hockey with the Galt Black Hawks. He made his National Ho ...
, who recorded "Floyd's Guitar Blues" with Andy Kirk in March 1939, using an amplified lap steel guitar; and the Western Swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance ...
pioneer Eldon Shamblin, who was playing with Bob Wills
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although ...
.
Christian paved the way for the modern electric guitar sound that was followed by other pioneers, including T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...
, Eddie Cochran
Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as " Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", " C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desir ...
, Cliff Gallup
Clifton E. Gallup (June 17, 1930 – October 9, 1988) was an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for the rockabilly group Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps throughout the 1950s.
Biography
In February 1956, local radio DJ Sheriff Tex Davi ...
, Scotty Moore
Winfield Scott Moore III (December 27, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American guitarist who formed The Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968.
Rock critic ...
, Franny Beecher
Francis Eugene Beecher (September 29, 1921 – February 24, 2014) was the lead guitarist for Bill Haley & His Comets from 1954 to 1962, and is best remembered for his innovative guitar solos combining elements of country music and jazz. He co ...
, B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
, Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
, Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix. For this reason Christian was inducted in 1990 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Christian's exposure was so great in the brief period he played with Goodman that he influenced not only guitarists but other musicians as well. The influence he had on "Dizzy" Gillespie, Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...
and Don Byas
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also led ...
can be heard on their early bop recordings "Blue 'n' Boogie Blue 'n' Boogie is a 1944 jazz standard. It was written by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli. It can be found on Gillespie's 1955 compilation album ''Groovin' High'', and was notably performed by trumpeter Miles Davis on ''Miles Davis All-Star ...
" and "Salt Peanuts
"Salt Peanuts" is a bebop tune reportedly composed by Dizzy Gillespie in 1942, credited "with the collaboration of" drummer Kenny Clarke. It is also cited as Charlie Parker's. The original lyrics have no exophoric meaning. Instead, they are a skat ...
". Other musicians, such as the trumpeter Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
, cited Christian as an early influence. Indeed, Christian's "new" sound influenced jazz as a whole. He reigned supreme in the jazz guitar polls up to two years after his death. Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
's first manager Jim Simpson describes the band's first song, "A Song for Jim" as an “absolute Charlie Christian takeoff.”
Bebop and Minton's Playhouse
Christian was an important contributor to the music that became known as bop, or bebop
Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
. Some of the participants in those early after-hours affairs at Minton's Playhouse, where bebop was born, credit Christian with the name ''bebop'', citing his humming of phrases as the onomatopoetic origin of the term.
Private recordings made in September 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Jerry Newhouse, a Goodman aficionado, capture the newly hired Christian while on the road with Goodman and feature Goodman's tenor sax player Jerry Jerome and then-local bassist Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom.
Biography
Pettiford was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United ...
. Taking multiple solos, Christian shows much the same improvisational skills later captured on the Minton's
Minton's Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It is a registered trademark of Housing and Services, Inc. a New York City nonprofit provider ...
and Monroe's recordings in 1941, suggesting that he had already matured as a musician. The Minneapolis recordings include " Stardust", " Tea for Two", and "I've Got Rhythm
"I Got Rhythm" is a piece composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and published in 1930, which became a jazz standard. Its chord progression, known as the " rhythm changes", is the foundation for many other popular jazz tunes suc ...
", the latter a favorite of bop composers and jammers.
Further examples of Christian's bebop playing can be heard in a series of recordings made at Minton's Playhouse
Minton's Playhouse is a jazz club and bar located on the first floor of the Cecil Hotel at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. It is a registered trademark of Housing and Services, Inc. a New York City nonprofit provider ...
, an after-hours club located in the Hotel Cecil, at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
, by Jerry Newman, a student at Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, on a portable disk recorder in 1941, in which Christian was accompanied by Joe Guy on trumpet, Kenny Kersey on piano and Kenny Clarke
Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-ha ...
on drums.
Christian's use of tension and release, a technique employed by Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist.
Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...
, Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
and later bop musicians, is also present on "Stompin' at the Savoy
"Stompin' at the Savoy" is a 1933 jazz standard composed by Edgar Sampson. It is named after the famed Harlem nightspot the Savoy Ballroom in New York City.
History and composition
Although the song is credited to Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar ...
", included among the Newman recordings. The collection also includes recordings made in 1941 at Clark Monroe's Uptown House, another late-night jazz haunt in Harlem, with Oran "Hot Lips" Page
Oran Thaddeus "Hot Lips" Page (January 27, 1908 – November 5, 1954) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and bandleader. He was known as a scorching soloist and powerful vocalist.
Page was a member of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Artie Sha ...
. Other recordings include the tenor sax player Don Byas
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also led ...
. The Minton's recordings were long rumored to feature "Dizzy" Gillespie and Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...
, but that has since been proved untrue, although both were regulars at the jam sessions, with Monk a regular in the Minton's house band.
Kenny Clarke claimed that " Epistrophy" and "Rhythm-a-Ning
This is a list of compositions by jazz musician Thelonious Monk.
0-9 52nd Street Theme
A contrafact based loosely on rhythm changes in C, and was copyrighted by Monk under the title "Nameless" in April 1944. The tune was also called "Bip Bop" b ...
" were compositions by Christian, which Christian played with Clarke and Thelonious Monk at Minton's jam sessions. The "Rhythm-a-Ning" line is heard on "Down on Teddy's Hill" and behind the introduction on "Guy's Got to Go" from the Newman recordings. It is also a line from Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, an ...
's "Walkin' and Swingin'".
Clarke said Christian first showed him the chords to "Epistrophy" on a ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
.[Broadbent, Peter. ''Charlie Christian, Solo Flight: The Story of the Seminal Electric Guitarist''.] These recordings have been packaged under a number of different titles, including ''After Hours'' and ''The Immortal Charlie Christian''. While the recording quality of many of these sessions is poor, they show Christian stretching out much longer than he could on the Benny Goodman sides. On the Minton's and Monroe's recordings, Christian can be heard taking multiple choruses on a single tune, playing long stretches of melodic ideas with ease.
Christian was just as adept with understatement as well. His work on the Goodman sextet sides "Soft Winds", "Till Tom Special", and "A Smo-o-o-oth One" show his use of few well-placed melodic notes. His work on the Sextet's recordings of the ballads " Stardust", "Memories of You
"Memories of You" is a popular song about nostalgia with lyrics written by Andy Razaf and music composed by Eubie Blake and published in 1930.
Song history
The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadway show '' Lew Leslie's Blackbi ...
", "Poor Butterfly
"Poor Butterfly" is a popular song. It was inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera '' Madame Butterfly'' and contains a brief musical quote from the Act two duet ''Tutti i fior'' in the verse.
The music was written by Raymond Hubbell, the lyrics ...
", "I Surrender Dear
"I Surrender Dear" (sometimes written as "I Surrender, Dear") is a song composed by Harry Barris with lyrics by Gordon Clifford, first performed by Gus Arnheim and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra with Bing Crosby in 1931, which became his first s ...
" and "On the Alamo" and his work on "Profoundly Blue" with the Edmond Hall
Edmond Hall (May 15, 1901 – February 11, 1967) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. Over his career, Hall worked extensively with many leading performers as both a sideman and bandleader and is possibly best known for the 1941 ch ...
Celeste Quartet (1941) show hints of what was later called cool jazz
Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz often employs formal arrangements an ...
. Although credited for very few, Christian composed many of the original tunes recorded by the Benny Goodman Sextet.
Health and death
In the late 1930s Christian contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
, and in early 1940 he was hospitalized for a short period in which the Goodman group was on hiatus because of Goodman's back trouble. Goodman was hospitalized in the summer of 1940 after a brief stay at Santa Catalina Island, California, where the band stayed when they were on the West Coast.
Christian returned home to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
in late July 1940 and returned to New York City in September 1940. In early 1941, Christian resumed his hectic lifestyle, heading to Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
for late-night jam sessions after finishing gigs with the Goodman Sextet and Orchestra in New York City. In June 1941 he was admitted to Seaview, a sanitarium on Staten Island in New York City. He was reported to be making progress, and '' DownBeat'' magazine reported in February 1942 that he and Cootie Williams were starting a band.
After a visit to the hospital that same month by the tap dancer and drummer Marion Joseph "Taps" Miller, Christian declined in health. He died March 2, 1942, at the age of 25. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Bonham, Texas
Bonham is a city and the county seat of Fannin County, Texas. The population was 10,408 at the 2020 census. James Bonham (the city's namesake) sought the aid of James Fannin (the county's namesake) at the Battle of the Alamo. Bonham is part of t ...
. A Texas State Historical Commission Marker and headstone were placed in Gates Hill Cemetery in 1994. The location of the historical marker and headstone was disputed, and in March 2013, Fannin County, Texas
Fannin County is a county in the far northeast of the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, its population was 35,662. The county seat is Bonham.
The county was named for James Fannin, who commanded the grou ...
, recognized that the marker was in the wrong spot and that Christian is buried under the concrete slab.
Instruments
* Epiphone
Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his f ...
Deluxe guitar (an acoustic archtop guitar), 1934–1937
* Gibson ES-150
The Gibson Guitar Corporation's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and Gibson designated it "150" because they priced it (in an in ...
guitar (sunburst finish, with dot inlays on the fingerboard), and EH-150 amplifier, 1937 or 1939 – April 1940
* Gibson ES-250 guitar (custom built by Gibson with a natural finish, a Super 400 tailpiece, and bowtie inlays on the fingerboard), April 1940 – February 1941. This instrument was re-discovered in 2002.
* Gibson ES-250 guitar (custom built by Gibson with a natural finish, an L-7 style neck, and custom inlays on the fingerboard), February 1941 – March 1942
* Gibson L-5
The Gibson L-5 guitar was first produced in 1923 by the Gibson Guitar Corporation, then of Kalamazoo, Michigan, under the direction of acoustical engineer and designer Lloyd Loar, and has been in production ever since. It was considered the pr ...
guitar (custom built by Gibson with a "Charlie Christian pickup
The Gibson Guitar Corporation's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and Gibson designated it "150" because they priced it (in an ins ...
" instead of a P-90
The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Gibson is still producing P-90s, and there are outside companies that manufacture replacement versions. Compared to other single coil desi ...
). This guitar was delivered to Christian just prior to his death in March 1942. It was later owned by Tony Mottola
Anthony C. Mottola (April 18, 1918 – August 9, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville, New Jersey, Denville.
Career
Like ...
.
The bar-style pickup used on the ES-150 and ES-250 became known as the "Charlie Christian pickup."
Discography
Christian never recorded as a leader. Compilations have been released of his sessions as a sideman in which he is a featured soloist, of practice and warm-up recordings for these sessions, and some lower-quality recordings of Christian's own groups performing in nightclubs, by amateur technicians.
With Benny Goodman
* ''Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra'' ( Columbia)
* '' Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian'' (Columbia, 1972)
* ''The Genius of the Electric Guitar'' (Columbia, 1939–1941 recordings)
* ''Solo Flight'', with the Benny Goodman Sextet (Vintage Jazz Classics, 2003)
* ''Electric'', with the Benny Goodman Sextet and the Charlie Christian Quartet ( Uptown, 2011)
With Lionel Hampton
* ''The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
''The Complete RCA Victor Recordings'' is a 1995 compilation 2-CD set of sessions led by Jazz trumpeter and composer Dizzy Gillespie recorded for the RCA Victor label between 1937 and 1949.
Reception
Writing for Allmusic, Richard S. Ginell stat ...
'', 1937–1949 (Bluebird
The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas.
...
, 1995)
With others
* ''Guitar Wizard'' (LeJazz, 1993)
Filmography
* 2005 ''Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian''
* 2007 ''Charlie Christian- The Life & Music of the Legendary Jazz Guitarist'' (Grossman Guitar Workshop)
Notes
References
* Broadbent, Peter (2002). ''Charlie Christian, Solo Flight: The Story of the Seminal Electric Guitarist''. Hal Leonard. .
* Centlivre, Kevin (1994)
"Interview with Jerry Jerome"
* Centlivre, Kevin (1999)
"Revisiting Charlie Christian"
* Feather, Leonard (reprint, 1977). ''Inside Jazz''. Da Capo. .
* Goins, Wayne E.; McKinney, Craig (2005). ''A Biography of Charlie Christian, Jazz Guitar's King of Swing''. .
* Lee, Amy (1940
"Charlie Christian Tried to Play Hot Tenor!"
''Metronome''.
* Marshall, Wolf (2002). "The Best of Charlie Christian" signature licks. Hal Leonard. .
* McKinney, Craig. ''Charles Christian: Musician''.
* Savage, William W., Jr. (1983). ''Singing Cowboys and All That Jazz: A Short History of Popular Music in Oklahoma''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pp. 48–51. .
* Spring, Howard (1980). ''The Improvisational Style of Charlie Christian''. York University.
* Valdes, Leo (1997)
''Solo Flight: The Charlie Christian Newsletter''
Leo Valdes.
External links
*
Charlie Christian, Style Analysis and Solo Examples
Charlie Christian, a biography by C.J Shearn
Gates Hill Cemetery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Charlie
1916 births
1942 deaths
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
20th-century American guitarists
African-American male guitarists
African-American jazz guitarists
American jazz guitarists
Bebop guitarists
Blue Note Records artists
Columbia Records artists
Tuberculosis deaths in New York (state)
Musicians from Oklahoma City
Swing guitarists
Guitarists from Oklahoma
Jazz musicians from Oklahoma
20th-century American male musicians
American male jazz musicians
20th-century African-American musicians