Charlie Christian Biography

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The Original Guitar Genius

Genius Of Electric Guitar [Import]

The Original Guitar Hero

Radio Broadcasts 1939-1941

29 July 1916, Dallas, Texas, USA, d. 2 March 1942, New York City, New York, USA. Much of Christian's early life is shadowy but he grew up in Oklahoma City where, thanks to the research of eminent writer Ralph Ellison, something of his deprived background has emerged. His father, who was blind, was an itinerant guitarist-singer and Christian's two brothers were also musically inclined. Too poor to buy an instrument of his own, Christian made a guitar out of cigar boxes and soon developed an impressive if localized reputation among musicians. In the early 30s he worked professionally with territory bands led by Anna Mae Winburn, who later led the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm, Nat Towles, Alphonso Trent, with whom he played bass, and others. As early as 1937 he was experimenting with electrical amplification and had built upon his early reputation. In 1939, at the urging of Mary Lou Williams, he was heard at the Ritz Cafe in Oklahoma City by entrepreneur and jazz enthusiast John Hammond, who tried to persuade Benny Goodman to hire him for a Los Angeles recording date. (Goodman denied this well-documented event, however). Goodman was not convinced about the concept of an electric guitar and Christian's appearance - he favoured vividly coloured clothes. Hammond persisted and that evening he helped Christian to haul his cumbersome amplifiers onto the stage at the Victor Hugo Restaurant in Beverly Hills, where Goodman was appearing. When Goodman returned to the stand after the interval he was dismayed and angry but was too professional to create a scene and instead counted off "Rose Room", a tune he did not expect the newcomer to know. When it was Christian's turn to solo, he played 25 brilliant choruses that had the audience, the other musicians, and Goodman, yelling for more. This performance of "Rose Room", unfortunately not recorded that night, lasted 45 minutes and, not surprisingly, Christian was thereafter a member of the Goodman entourage. Goodman's small groups had been steadily increasing in size and Christian was featured in the Sextet. Being with Goodman gave him maximum exposure to the public and enormous fame. However, Christian was more interested in new musical developments and became an important member of the underground movement which eventually flowered into bebop.

Sadly, Christian was unable to adjust to the fame and fortune that had come his way. Apart from playing music whenever and wherever he could, he indulged in alcohol and promiscuous behaviour, rarely slept and by the middle of 1941 was seriously ill with tuberculosis. In hospital his friends decided to continue their numerous parties at his bedside. It was all too much for Christian's wasted constitution and he died on 2 March 1942. It is difficult to overstate the importance of Charlie Christian in the history of jazz and popular music. His after-hours sessions at Minton's Playhouse in New York, some of which were recorded by a fan, show him to have been an important fellow-architect of bebop with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. A brilliantly inventive soloist, his deceptively simple, single-line solos radicalized thinking not only among fellow guitarists but also among front-line soloists. Although he was not the first guitarist to electrically amplify his instrument, he was one of a tiny number to achieve widespread attention and, thanks to his recordings with Goodman, this concept attained a level of popularity that it has never lost. Any of his records stands as an example of an early genius of jazz sadly cut off before his full potential had been realized.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.