This week we feature jazz guitarist Charlie Christian.

Charlie Christian is regarded as one of the originators of modern Jazz guitar and was an immense influence on those that followed in his footsteps. Tragically, he died young, so we will never know where his brilliant talent and towering innovations would have led.

I found a good online history of Charlie Christian and have supplied links to 2 additional websites that have his discography, plus a wealth of sound clips, transcriptions, photographs and other interesting information on Charlie Christian.

Charlie Christian's history (thanks to Alexis S. Rahal):

Charlie Christian had an immense influence on the development of BeBop and the transition from Swing to BeBop. He was the first to take advantage of the melodic potential of the electric guitar and, as a soloist, he introduced rhythmic and harmonic complexities that bridged traditional swing and modern jazz. He definitely influenced all jazz guitarists that followed him, as well as certain blues guitarists.

Charlie Christian was born on July 29, 1916 in Dallas Texas and was raised in Oklahoma City. All the members of Charlie's family were musically oriented. Mrs. Christian played the piano and Mr. Christian played the trumpet. Before moving to Oklahoma Mr. and Mrs. Christian provided most of the music in a silent movie theatre in Dalas. They moved to Oklahoma when Charlie was two years old. Charlie had two brothers: Clarence who played the violin and the mandolin, and Edward (the eldest) who played the string bass. Mr. Christian and his two sons formed a quartet--by this time Charlie had acquired a real guitar (his first one was made from a cigar box as a young boy of about twelve years old). By 1937 he was leading a jump band in Oklahoma City and he was playing the electric guitar. In Oklahoma City, Charlie was very much exposed to the riff-oriented blues of Kansas City--style jazz.

Although Charlie was mostly the pioneer when it came to his music, he was somewhat influenced by a mixture of country and jazz--quite an interesting combination that can be heard in such works as "Seven Come Eleven," with the Benny Goodman Sextet. In 1939, at the age of 23, Charlie was discovered by promoter John Hammond, who had stopped in Oklahoma city to attend Benny Goodman's first Columbia recording sessions. Hammond was able to persuade Goodman to audition Charlie. The writer Bill Simon described Christian arriving for that audition wearing "a ten-gallon hat, pinted yellow shoes, a bright green suit over a purple shirt and--for the final, elegant touch--a string bow-tie."

Goodman, who was actually quite reluctant at first, accepted Christian into the band. Within weeks, Charlie became a sensation--definitely the first great jazz soloist on the electric guitar. Charlie became fixed in Goodman's sextet for the next two years. He actually supplied many of the group's head arrangements and he inspired Goodman's solos with his riffs and rhythms. The amplified guitar gave Charlie the ability to produce single-note, lightly picked melodies which were based on riffs that had the easy swing feeling of the Kansas City--style jazzmen, like tenor saxophonist Lester Young. He was able to get sustain from the amplified sound making the guitar sound like a voice or a horn. His smooth, lyrical style was different from the virtuostic approach of Django Reinhardt who also played an important role in influencing BeBop guitarists.

Read on:

The Ultimate Charlie Christian Page
http://www.duke.edu/~asr2/charlie.html#History

Two other good sites on Charlie Christian:

Charlie Christian: Legend of the Jazz Guitar
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/hansen/Charlie/

Solo Flight
http://home.elp.rr.com/valdes/

Doc Dosco is a jazz guitarist, composer and audio consultant living in Los Angeles, CA. His website is located at http://www.docdosco.com, where you can find more information on the 'What's Hot in Jazz Guitar' columns, audio clips of Doc's playing, and many additional features. Doc plays Heritage guitars and endorses the new Pignose Valve Tube Amps -- great for jazz (and anything else!)