Charlie Christian Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian

When he began playing melodic single-string solos on an amplified guitar, Charlie Christian caused a guitar revolution, elevating the instrument front-and-center from its traditionally background position, and charting a new musical course from which jazz is still flowing. Solo Flight traces the life and music of one of the great sculptors of jazz. Along the way we gather precious recollections from the musicians and the communities that witnessed Christian's prodigious beginnings.

In the span of his short lifetime, which ended tragically at the age of 25, Charlie Christian managed to change the face of electric jazz guitar, taking it out of the rhythm section and into the forefront. He began his career with the Benny Goodman Sextet, and played regularly with Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie "Bird" Parker, giving late-night performances in Harlem's famed nightclub, Minton's. In SOLO FLIGHT the musicians and community members who witnessed Christian's amazing playing are given the opportunity to reminisce for the camera, relaying the auspicious, though brief, career of a musician whose burgeoning genius is evident in his short musical career.