THE CHARLIE  CHRISTIAN  BIOGRAPHY

Charles Henry Christian

(July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942)

Prelude

Charlie Christian was the African-American jazz guitarist who transformed the music world with his innovative electric guitar techniques and masterful improvisations. His dazzling single-note style unshackled the instrument from the rhythm section, and his feats of melodic daring blazed early trails into bebop. In a short life of just twenty-five years, Charles forever changed the world of music.

Charles burst into the jazz scene when he gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra and in less than two years, from August 1939 to June 1941, indelibly impacted the history of music. For a scant 22 months, Charlie Christian occupied center stage of the jazz world, and then he was gone, as suddenly as he had appeared. Charlie Christian was like a supernova – a sudden flash of brilliant light, here and gone in the blink of an eye.

He was among the first electric guitarists and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz and transformed the guitar from a rhythm instrument into a leading solo voice in jazz. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. Charles is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in jazz and popular music ensembles and bands. Producer John Hammond and jazz writer George T. Simon called Christian the best improvisational talent of the swing era.
 

Early Life

Charles Henry Christian was born in Bonham, Texas, a small town (population 5,000 at the time) about 70 miles NE of Dallas, best known as the hometown of Sam Rayburn, a 24-term congressman and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for over 17 years. Charles’ paternal grandmother, Callie, had worked in the Rayburn residence. Charles was born into a musically talented and supportive family. Both of his parents were musicians. He had two older brothers: Edward, born in 1906, and Clarence, born in 1911. Edward, Clarence, and Charlie were all taught music by their father, Clarence James Christian (ca. 1872-December 12, 1926), who was proficient on most instruments. Clarence James played baseball in local black leagues, preferred sacred music, and worked as a waiter at the Hotel Alexander. Charles’ mother, Willie Mae Christian (March 29, 1890-March 6, 1958), a distinctly beautiful woman, was a pianist in the local silent-movie theater. In Bonham, the Christians lived at 511 West Johnson Street. They were a very close-knit, loving family, but Charles was everyone’s favorite because of his effervescence.

Charles Christian in Bonham

Before Charles’ second birthday his father was struck blind by an inexplicable malady, and in order to support the family he and the boys worked as buskers on what the Christians called “busts” (if one didn’t get paid it was a “bust”). He would have them lead him into the better neighborhoods, where they would perform for cash or goods. Clarence Sr would play various instruments, Edward played a mandolin, Clarence Jr (nicknamed “It”) would be on a violin. When Charles was old enough to go along, he first entertained by dancing if he wasn’t accompanying his family as a boardbeater. Later he learned to play the guitar, inheriting his father’s instruments upon his death when Charles was ten. By the time Charles was a teenager he was already very proficient on the guitar.

Two days after Armistice Day, 1918, his family moved (via Paris, Texas where they had some relatives) to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where his maternal grandmother, Ella Georgia, was already living. Clarence Sr found work with the railroad and the Christians continued with their busts. After Clarence James’ passing the Christians lived on 20 South Geary Avenue and in 1933 moved to 813 NE First Street

Charles attended Douglass High School in Oklahoma City, where he was further encouraged in music by the musical director for all grade levels in the Black public schools, Zelia N. Breaux, a woman written about in heroic terms by Ralph Ellison, who also studied under her. At one time Ms Breaux also co-owned the Ira Aldridge Theater on Second Street in partnership with Fred Whitlow. As Ellison wrote in his 1958 essay The Charlie Christian Story, “there were also a concert band and orchestra, but Christian – an exceptionally gifted teenager… – shunned them.” Charles wanted to play tenor saxophone in the school band, but Ms Breaux insisted he play trumpet instead. As he believed playing the trumpet would disfigure his lip, he quit to pursue his interest in baseball, at which he excelled as pitcher and, occasionally, infielder. In a few short years Charles would take up his father’s favorite instrument.

Aldridge Theater (white building), Deep Deuce

Whenever Charles did something, he would put all his energies into it. And so it was when he turned seriously from baseball to music – several years after his father died when Charles was ten years old – he started to hang with musicians, particularly guitarist Ralph ‘Big-Foot Chuck’ Hamilton and trumpeter James Simpson. Charles' brother Clarence claimed Charles was fascinated with the music of Duke Ellington. Also that wearing fine clothes was an obsession to Charlie Christian. Duke Ellington told Clarence Christian in 1942, “People will be listening to your brother’s music 20 years from now.” As Clarence would put it, “That boy was somethin’!”

In an interview with biographer Craig McKinney, Clarence Christian said that in the 1920s and 1930s, Edward Christian led a band in Oklahoma City as a pianist and had a shaky relationship with the trumpeter Simpson. Around 1930, Simpson had instructed guitarist Hamilton to secretly school the younger Charles in jazz. Hamilton taught him to solo on at least three songs, “Rose Room,” “Tea for Two” and “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Also Christian introduced his boyhood friend, T-Bone Walker, the now-prominent blues singer/guitarist, to Hamilton, who virtually taught them together. Hamilton was a chord player, nonetheless the two young guitarists took that and developed their own revolutionary solo styles.
 

First Public Appearance

When the time was right, Clarence (‘It’) took Charles to one of the many after-hours jam sessions at Honey’s along “Deep Deuce,” where their older brother was playing piano with the Don Redmond band. Hamilton was also there jamming with the band on guitar. “Let me play one,” Charles beseeched Edward. “Charles, nobody wants to hear them old blues,” Edward replied. Edward didn't know Charles had learned to play. After some convincing from Hamilton, he allowed Charles to join in. “What do you want to play?” he was asked. He chose a tune that most of the crowd knew and was popular with the people. He selected "Sweet Georgia Brown." The choice was a surprise to Edward, but the band began to play with Edward setting the pace at piano. The song began with soloists each putting in their part. Then it was Charles’ turn.

“And Chuck told him, ‘Come on, Charlie, you can do it’. Charles set there, and they encored him back for sixteen choruses, and every one of those choruses was different. And my oldest brother like to went through the ceiling. ‘Hey, hey man! This is my brother! This is my brother! Take another one, Charles. Take another one!’ You know he was going out, you know...”

His impromptu debut that evening was a surprise to many people. Charles’ sixteen choruses were single note solos and this was “way before he started playin’ professionally.” Charles’ brother, Edward, was very surprised, to say the least. Edward was unaware that Charles had been studying music and the guitar under Simpson and Hamilton. The simple reason for his ignorance was a difference that had come up between Simpson and himself. Both Edward and James Simpson were pursuing the same young lady. Because of this, very little was said between the two.

After this first number at Honey’s, everyone was quite excited and wanted to hear more of Charles on guitar. Charles was asked to choose another number. He politely and shrewdly explained he was not the leader of this session, he was just “sittin’ in” with the rest of the musicians. Actually Charles had only three songs he knew well, and wanted to play in front of others. He finally suggested they play “Tea for Two” and everyone agreed. Charles again electrified the awaiting crowd with his music. He exploded into his music, and the crowd reciprocated in appreciation.

After “Tea for Two” Charles thanked the rest of the guys for letting him play, telling them he felt better now. But everyone wanted to hear more. Charles was very aware he had only one more tune he felt secure playing with this group of musicians. The others begged him to play once more. He consented to one more number, and he chose “Rose Room.” The crowd was genuinely amazed by what it had heard that night, performed by a young, local musician. This was Charlie Christian’s first public appearance on guitar. It was the talk of the neighborhood, and word spread fast. When Clarence and Charles, who were the closest of brothers, arrived back home, their mother already knew all about what had happened. And the effect of the incident on Charles’ eldest brother’s opinion of his baby brother' talent was permanently altered. Charlie Christian went on from there to become what some have called, “the world’s greatest jazz guitarist.”

Cadastral Map of “Deep Deuce” as it was in the 1930s
Byers Avenue was renamed Charlie Christian Avenue on December 5, 2006

“Deep Deuce” was only one block long, on the 300 block of Northeast Second Street between North Central Avenue and North Stiles Avenue, the heart of the city’s Black community. This was the place to go to with restaurants, hotels, tailor, billiard halls, doctors, two barber shops, music store, hardware store, lawyers, funeral home, The Black Dispatch newspaper, the Aldridge Theater which served as a movie house as well as a venue for blues and jazz concerts and for traveling minstrel and vaudeville shows, and for silent movies with the music provided by the Blue Devils band. This was like a Mecca drawing in business by day and entertainment by night. Then there was Slaughter’s Dance Hall, third floor above Randolph’s Drug Store, where one could dance to the music of the best of the “territory bands” including the bands of Count Basie, Don Redman, Bennie Moten, Andy Kirk – all of them. Charlie Christian’s favorite purlieu was in Ruby’s Grill at 322½ NE 2nd St where he could jam with the local musicians and members of the territory bands. All-night sessions were the norm. He had his own swing band “Charles Christian & His Electric Guitar” there at Ruby’s.

Slaughter’s Hall is the three-story bldg on the right
Ruby’s Grill is across the street, middle of the block
 

Margretta and Billie

Charles fathered a lovely daughter, Billie Jean Christian (December 23, 1932 – July 19, 2004) by the charming Margretta Lorraine Christian (November 30, 1917 – November 16, 2011) originally from Paris, Texas. Margretta had moved to Oklahoma City with her mother in 1928 where she attended elementary school, then entered Douglass High School two years later. Their families knew each other and introduced them at the school grounds where he was playing baseball. Margretta had been one year behind Charles in school and as she recalled, “Charlie left school probably in the ninth going into the tenth grade…he left more or less because of he and I had a child together, and he left school after that.” Margretta and Charles continued a close relationship – when Charles was away they corresponded familiarly by mail. Billie was Charlie Christian’s only child.
 

Inception

Deep Deuce in Early 1930s
Calvary Baptist Church can clearly be seen just left of center

Charles was soon performing locally, especially jamming at trumpeter James Simpson’s new outdoor joint, The Rhythm Club. There was now another place in Deep Second to rival Ruby’s Grill just across Second Street. And there was yet another joint “The Hole,” almost next door, in a basement – above it, on the first floor, was the Band Box which had been a pool hall. Next door to Ruby’s Grill was the office of Roscoe Dunjee, the noted civil-rights advocate and editor of The Black Dispatch, the local weekly newspaper. It was around this time that Charles’ eldest brother, James, had a regular weekly column in The Black Dispatch covering the local music scene.

Calvary Baptist Church on Walnut Street.
Second Street runs along the right side on photo.

There was another place where Charles would go to jam – a ballroom called Salathiel’s Barn in the south part of OKC owned by the father of two white brothers that Charles was acquainted with, fiddle player Merle and his younger brother, guitar player Doyle Salathiel. Charles would get together with them and their Western swing friends at their remodeled barn and jam the night away. The Salathiels and their friends would reciprocate and venture over to Deep Second, most often to “The Hole” which was run by Big Bridges, to pass the bottle around and play jazz and, presumably, Western swing. Merle later formed his own big band, Merl Lindsay and his Oklahoma Night Riders, a well-known troupe that included Doyle and their nephew, guitarist Max Salathiel.

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture:
“This cultural confluence of different genres of American music allowed Oklahomans to experiment, innovate, and improvise, all necessary traits in the formulation of jazz. Within this cultural mosaic, music knew no color. In multiethnic, multiracial Oklahoma cross-cultural experiences and free exchange of repertoires and musical styles favored the development of jazz.

“Oklahoma's major cities, such as Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Muskogee, served as training grounds for Oklahoma jazz artists. “Deep Deuce,” or Northeast Second Street, was the core for Oklahoma City jazz. Institutions such as the Aldridge Theater, Ruby’s Grill, Richardson’s Shoe Shine Parlor, and Rushing’s Café catered to jazz musicians and enthusiasts. Uptown ballrooms, such as the Ritz, were also important outlets. In addition, in the 1920s and 1930s numerous bands, including the Jolly Harmony Boys, Pails of Rhythm, and Ideal Jazz Orchestra, worked out of Oklahoma City. The city produced many notable jazz artists, including Jimmy Rushing, Henry Bridges, Charlie Christian, and Don Cherry. Tulsa's Greenwood District also offered a number of jazz outlets, such as The Rhythm Club, Casa Dell, Rialto Theater, and The Hole and developed bands led by Ernie Fields, Al Dennie, and Clarence Love. Tulsa also produced numerous jazz luminaries, including Howard McGhee, Earl Bostic, and Cecil McBee. Second Street in Muskogee likewise was an active center for jazz with outlets such as Stem Beach and the Yale Theater. Musical productivity per capita was highest among cities in Oklahoma, rather than rural areas, and generated such jazz legends as Jay McShann, Claude Williams, Barney Kessel, Don Byas, and Aaron Bell.

“Finally, local musicians were influential in the early development of Oklahoma’s artists. Music educators such as Zelia N. Page Breaux, Evelyn Sheffield, and Cornelius Pittman at Oklahoma City’s Frederick Douglass High School provided sound formal training for aspiring musicians. For example, among Breaux’s former students who cited her as an inspiration in their jazz careers were Buddy Anderson, Jimmy Rushing, and Lemuel Johnson. Local bandleaders, such as Ernie Fields, Eddie Christian, Clarence Love, and Al Dennie, offered opportunities for singing and playing instruments in their respective ensembles.

Ritz Ballroom, OKC
Walter Page’s Blue Devils

“Oklahoma and surrounding states were blessed with a number of “territorial bands,” or those that traveled a circuit, such as the Oklahoma City Blue Devils. Several of these blossomed into major forces in the development of jazz in the Southwest and Midwest. The Blue Devils at various times included native Oklahomans Jimmy Rushing, Abe Bolar, Don Byas, and Lemuel C. Johnson. Additional territorial bands to employ Oklahomans were Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy (Don Byas, Howard McGhee, and Claude Williams), Bennie Moten Orchestra (Jimmy Rushing, Ed Lewis, and Earl Bostic), Terrence Holder Orchestra (Bostic and Williams), and George E. Lee Orchestra (Ted Donnelly and Elmer Crumbley). A vast majority of Oklahoman musicians migrated from the state and were tapped to perform in the big bands and bebop combos in major American cities. For example, Jay McShann, Ed Lewis, and Claude Williams succeeded in Kansas City. Los Angeles provided opportunity for Wardell Gray, Barney Kessel, and Chet Baker. Oscar Pettiford, Don Cherry, and Don Byas went to New York City. In those venues jazz was more readily accepted than in the South, and more professional facilities existed for recording as well as radio work.

“Because of its rural orientation, sparse population, and lack of a metropolitan center Oklahoma failed to retain most of its noteworthy professional jazz musicians. The allure of major recording studios, more and better quality performance arenas, and larger markets for jazz affected the Oklahomans' decisions to leave the state in order to seek and achieve fame and fortune. Unfortunately, few came home to exercise their talents on a permanent basis before home-state audiences. Fortunately, jazz music scholars now recognize that Oklahoma's contributions to American jazz were underemphasized in the genre’s history.”

In the spring and summer of 1935 Charles was with Leonard Chadwick and His Rhythmaires; in summer and fall of that year he was with Leslie Sheffield and his Rhythmaires (Sheffield had taken over the band). When they were in OKC the band had engagements at the Ritz Ballroom on 15½ Walker Boulevard. Charles was playing acoustic guitar with, on solos, a mike held between his knees. The bands would be on the road throughout the Midwest, including states as far away as North Dakota and Minnesota.

In 1936 Christian and T-Bone Walker played in Dallas during the Texas Centennial. Walker and Christian occasionally played shows as a duo, alternating on bass and guitar. At times, Charles’ brother, Edward, would play piano with them.

Reportedly Charles purchased his first electric guitar, a Gibson, in 1937 and had, by then, become a regional attraction. According to record producer John Hammond, Christian jammed with many of the big-name performers traveling through Oklahoma City, including Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, and Mary Lou Williams, the pianist and arranger for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy. Christian had established a local following and was heralded for his unique single-note soloing style and masterful improvisation.

Mary Osborne on guitar

Around 1936-1937 he toured with Alphonso Trent and his orchestra for about a year where a talented young guitarist heard him in September 1938 at The Dome in Bismarck, North Dakota. Mary Osborn described Charles as “very nice, exceptionally nice.” At times Charles played bass with Trent to protect his guitar from rough and rowdy miners in the Midwest. He went back home for a while before he traveled north again with Anna Mae Winburn and her all-male orchestra. This tour didn’t end well. The band went broke and lost their touring bus when it was seized and returned to the receivers. The band was stranded. Charles’ family had to rescue him and bring him home.

After this, during the spring of 1939, Christian returned to his home in Oklahoma City where he alternated playing (and getting plenty of solo time) with Leslie Sheffield and his Rhythmaires or Edward Christian and his Blue Devils, sometimes known as Edward Christian and his Harlem Devils; then in the summer with his own band, billed as “Charles Christian & His Electric Guitar – One of the Southwest’s Most Popular Swing Bands.”

True anecdote: July 10, 1939. Andy Kirk and his Cloud of Joy had an engagement at the Ritz Ballroom in OKC. Kirk had some of Charles’ friends in his band including tenor saxophonists Dick Wilson and Don Bias, and pianist Mary Lou Williams. Also in the band was steel guitarist Floyd Smith who was a recognized luminary due to having a recent hit with “Floyd’s Guitar Blues” featuring him with the Kirk band. After the show at the Ritz, members of the band encouraged Smith, who was a bit haughty at the time, to accompany them to the jam at Ruby’s Grill. Smith took his guitar with the intention of cutting Christian in a match of improvisation. It’s not known for sure if after listening to the less-experienced guitarist he just sat there or if he actually played a solo before Charles took his turn. In either case, the abashed Smith packed up his ax and left to the amusement of his bandmates who continued to tease him mercilessly for some time. They had known something Smith did not: nobody ever challenged Charlie Christian – trying to cut him was utterly futile.
 

“Discovery” and Audition

It was in July 1939 when Mary Lou Williams, arranger and pianist for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, heard Christian play and pronounced him the “greatest electric guitar player” she’d ever heard. She was instrumental in persuading New York music producer John Hammond to give Christian an audition.

Mary Lou Williams
“The Lady Who Swings the Band”

Here are Mary Lou Williams’ recollections:
“I think I was the one really got him to join Benny Goodman. I used to jam with Charlie in a little club in Oklahoma City when we passed through town with Andy Kirk’s band, and one night in 1939 I asked him if he was going to take the Goodman job. I don’t think he wanted to leave Oklahoma City, and I don’t think his family wanted him to leave, either—maybe because they already knew about his sickness. All he said was ‘Mary, I’ll join if you’ll join, too.’ There was some talk about my going with Goodman, but I told him go ahead anyway, and he did.
Later, whenever I was in New York with Kirk, I’d look Charlie up and we’d go to a basement room in the Dewey Square Hotel, usually around ten in the morning, and sometimes we’d jam, just the two of us, until eleven at night. It smelled down there and the rats ran over our feet and only ten keys on the piano played, but we didn’t pay any attention. All those little figures that later became the famous riff numbers that Goodman recorded would come out [Christian rarely received credit for them], and after we’d played a couple of hours he’d put down his pick and play classical guitar and things like ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’ It was beautiful.
He wasn’t a swellheaded person at all. He was very sweet and easygoing—a sweet, thin, easygoing person. Fact, I only saw him mad once. At one of our sessions, he said, ‘Mary, can’t you call Benny and tell him to stay out of my solos? He keeps coming in in the middle of them, and I think if he doesn’t quit I’m going back to Oklahoma.’ Of course, he never did. The last time we played together, he must already have been quite sickly, because the only thing he wanted to eat was ice cream.”

On his way to Los Angeles to set up plans for the recording of Benny Goodman’s band under their brand new contract with Columbia Records, John Hammond stopped in Oklahoma City on August 3rd to hear Charles for himself. He met with Charles at the Lyons Den in Ruby’s Grill where Charles was working and it was decided to hold the audition the following evening at the Hucksins Hotel where his mother worked and where Hammond happened to be staying.

John Hammond, Columbia Records producer

Although he didn’t think much of the other players, Hammond was immediately impressed with Charles and noted that Christian was “endlessly inventive” and was very surprised that such a great guitarist had not been “discovered” before. He immediately set forth to convince Goodman that “Charlie Christian belonged in the Goodman small group.” Benny was disinclined and Hammond continued “you won’t believe him until you hear him.”

Hammond, who happened to be Benny Goodman’s brother-in-law, finally convinced Goodman when he pointed out that he could hire Charles with some of the funds provided by the sponsor of the “Camel Caravan” radio show. After Hammond left Oklahoma, Charles was left with no idea of what Hammond thought of him. Finally, about ten days later Charles received telegram “Come at once. Have position with Benny Goodman.” Clarence recalls that “Charles set down and laughed ‘how am I going to make it to Los Angeles if I ain’t got cab fare down town’.” While family and friends went about getting some money for the trip, Charles wired Hammond of the situation. Hammond promptly sent Charles $300 for train fare, followed by another telegram “If this is not enough, will wire more. See you.” John Hammond then orchestrated a surprise audition of Christian with bandleader Benny Goodman in California. A going-away party was organized for August 13 at Ruby’s Grill on Deep Second. The next afternoon Charles was on the train headed for his audition.

Boarding the Super Chief on his way to fame and glory

National Fame

When Benny Goodman brought in Teddy Wilson on the piano in 1935 and Lionel Hampton on vibraphone in 1936, he became only the fourth white bandleader to feature Black musicians in his live band.

Hampton – Goodman – Wilson

Goodman was initially uninterested in hiring Christian because the electric guitar was a relatively new instrument to him. 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’s contract from Andy Kirk.

  Floyd Smith                Leonard Ware

There are multiple accounts of Christian and Goodman’s first meeting on August 16, 1939. The encounter that afternoon at the recording studio had not gone well. According to his brother, Charles had said “I was so nervous with him sitting there looking at me. I could hardly play.” It was a hasty affair where Charles was not even given enough time to plug in his amplifier; he auditioned acoustically. 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, on opening night for the band, at The Victor Hugo restaurant in Beverly Hills.

The  Victor Hugo  

When Charles walked in, Benny stopped the set and walked off the bandstand leaving Charles just standing there.  Empathetically lending Charles a hand, Artie Bernstein welcomed him to sit with the rhythm section. Displeased at the surprise, Goodman called “Rose Room,” a tune he assumed Christian would not be familiar with. However, Christian was well acquainted with the tune and took an unprecedented twenty choruses of improvisation, all of them different, and all, unlike anything Goodman had heard before. That version of “Rose Room” lasted forty-seven minutes, according to the bloviating Hammond. By its end, Christian was in the band. Hammond later verily said “I had never seen anyone blown away like Benny was that night.” “Benny went crazy when he heard him,” said Jerry Jerome, a Goodman band member. “He’d never heard a guitar player that could sound like a tenor saxophone. . . . The solo work was wonderful.” Goodman hired him on the spot as a member of the band. Actually, not the full band yet – Christian had joined the nascent Goodman Sextet which included Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Bernstein and Nick Fatool.

Henderson     Bernstein      Fatool

In the course of a few days, Christian went from making $2.50 a night to $150 a week. His family back home received a large part of every paycheck he drew. Charles had recently bought a new Gibson to replace his Epiphone guitar and had just started paying off the debt. Now he could get his Gibson bill paid off by the Goodman organization with some of the train fare Hammond had sent him. Due to his meteoric rise in fame, it wasn’t long before the Gibson company was periodically providing Charles new Gibsons.

Charles’ first gig with the sextet must have been quite a sublime experience for the young guitarist from Oklahoma. He had traveled extensively throughout the Mid-West but never to the West Coast. He now found himself suddenly playing his guitar within the bandshell of the stunningly impressive Hollywood Bowl, the internationally known amphitheater in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

  The Hollywood Bowl

This was Charles’ first time in the national spotlight and it was with the most popular band in the country. His composition, “Flying Home,” which he had brought with him from the Leslie Sheffield band, was chosen as the piece to be played (and recorded) at this August 19th concert.

The band toured to Kansas and Toronto, then to Detroit where the sextet played the guitar feature, “Star Dust.” Goodman’s introduction was “You've all heard ‘Star Dust’ played by the trio, the quartet, and the band. The other night while the new group in the band, the sextet, were jamming, Charlie Christian, our new guitar player, fell out in a chorus of ‘Star Dust’ that no one ever heard before – nearly broke up the session. So, tonight we thought you’d like to hear this: the sextet playing ‘Star Dust’.” Benny insisted that Charles play the same solo every time he played that song with the sextet. The only time Charles was recorded with a different solo on this song was on an Eddy Howard pop session and that one was only eight bars long. When his mother had asked him to dedicate a song to her, Charles had replied that every time he played “Star Dust” it would be dedicated especially to her. Incidentally, when Charles was first hired, Willie Mae had made Goodman promise her that he would take good care of her son. Goodman did just that, treating Charlie better and, recognizing and appreciating his musical talents, showing him more respect and much more tolerance than he did the others in the band.

Michigan State Fair 1939 poster

That “Star Dust” was recorded at the Michigan State Fair, on the air, on September 2, 1939, and then another aircheck of “Flying Home” was recorded a week later with the sextet from the “Camel Caravan” show before Charles was invited to record on his first studio session. The band was at the New York World’s Fair from September 6 through 11 but did not get recorded.

New York World’s Fair 1939

Jerry Newhouse

Informal recordings made on September 24, 1939 by Jerry Newhouse, a young man of 23 years who was in the printing-paper business in Minneapolis and a Goodman and Roy Eldridge aficionado, captured the newly hired Christian while on the road with the sextet. Dick Richmond (a musician who knew Goodman’s tenor sax player Jerry Jerome) and Jerry Newhouse (who had a Rek-O-Kut 12-inch turntable with Audax and Presto cutting heads at 78rpm) drove Christian and Jerome from the Orpheum Theater, after a Goodman engagement, to the Harlem Breakfast Club, a private house converted into an after-hour joint. The club was located on a street that now longer exists, where the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market and a freeway overpass now reside. This small district hosted at least two other clubs, all of which attracted the late night crowd and regular raids by the “morals” squad. After one such raid, Oscar Pettiford was quoted in the paper as saying that all he ever saw being served there were ham sandwiches.

Jerry Jerome          Oscar Pettiford

This impromptu session featured Charles, Jerry Jerome, pianist Frankie Hines and then-local bassist Oscar Pettiford. Since there was no drummer, Charles was tapping out the rhythm with his foot. Newhouse had to set up the acetate disc recorder about twenty feet away in the adjoining room to keep the stylus on track. Finally, they had to put a big, thick pillow under Charles’ foot. A hand-held mike was pointed at each soloist in turn. Taking multiple solos, Christian showed much the same improvisational skills later captured on the Minton’s and Monroe’s recordings in 1941, suggesting that he had already matured as a musician. The Minneapolis recordings (with the pillow in place during the entire recorded session) include “Star Dust,” “Tea for Two,” and two takes of “I Got Rhythm,” the latter a favorite of bop composers and jammers.

Newhouse’s Star Dust acetate disc label

Pettiford, who may have met Charles earlier at a place called Musician’s Rest, recalled “We had a wonderful time blowing with Charlie. I never heard anybody like that, who could play like that, who could play with so much love – that’s what it was, pure love of jazz, and great happiness just to be a part of this thing called music.”

 Jerry Newhouse’s bill to Columbia Records’ John Hammond
Jerry Newhouse

Jerry Jerome, a fan of Lester Young, later said “Charles literally wrote music when he played solos…he was a very sweet, friendly, extremely creative musician largely affected by Lester Young.” “Nothing fazed him musically,” Jerome recalls, pointing out that, aside from his fantastic soloing, “Charlie was a hell of a rhythm guitarist – boy, could he make you play.” Craig McKinney says “Jerome believed, as some others claim, that Lester Young was an important influence on Christian.” Craig states, “It should be remembered that Lester and Charles were part of the same regional culture,” but, Craig believes, “the saxophone that Charles was hearing was the one in his head, not a copy of Lester’s.” A most astute observation that should be put up in neon lights in Times Square.

Charles recorded his first studio session with the Goodman sextet on October 2nd – three tunes were recorded: “Flying Home” (the master and an alternate take later released as “Homeward Bound”), “Rose Room” and “Star Dust.”

As a member of the improvisational combo, the Benny Goodman Sextet, Christian immediately became known among professional jazzmen for his new sounds and new ideas. Only one other electric guitar had been recorded on jazz records when the first Christian-Goodman records were issued. After that, his large creative contribution to modern jazz was widely recognized. Christian featured a down-stroke technique almost exclusively and usually used only two fingers of the left hand on solos. His single-string solos, with altered chords, new melodic lines, rows of even beats, and contrasting dramatic aspects became the base from which musicians constructed an entirely new approach to jazz. By the time of his passing, Charlie Christian had transported the music into another dimension.

Carnegie Hall

On October 6, 1939, Charles and the sextet played played and recorded “Flying Home” and “Star Dust” at a Swing Concert for Mayor’s Music Week in Carnegie Hall to celebrate ASCAP’s 25th Anniversary.

 Hampton RCA session # 2 (Oct 12, 1939)

That was followed by another studio session with Hampton and his band on October 12th where he’s finally allowed some good solo time instead of just obbligati.

Ida Cox AM recording session took place at Liederkranz Hall

Columbia studios on Fifth Avenue, site of Ida Cox PM recording session.

“Swingin’ the Dream”

         
Johnny Guarnieri

Also about this time, Charles was already jamming at after-hours sessions…everywhere on any given night.

Then came the famed “From Spirituals to Swing” Concert at Carnegie Hall on Christmas Eve. A memorable event – Charles played three tunes (all with plenty of solo time) with the Kansas City Six which included Lester Young and Freddie Green and, inexplicably, Christian solos on only three of five tunes by the Goodman Sextet (with Fletcher Henderson temporarily back in the piano chair) – but those three solos are gems. Charles is in top form this lovely evening.

Carnegie Hall    

The finale of the 1939 “From Spirituals to Swing” concert was a wild affair with soloists from the Count Basie band and Benny Goodman sextet plus –six– piano soloists on Oh, Lady Be Good which was taken at an almost frantic clip. At intervals, the full Basie band also joined in to provide orchestral fanfare. Charles is favored with considerable solo space on “Oh, Lady Be Good,” far more than are any of the other plentiful contributors, on this 10½-minute romp. Each pianist gets a one-chorus solo, Lester Young, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, and the bassist(!) Walter Page each get two choruses; Charlie Christian gets three wonderful choruses plus the eight-bar bridge of the out chorus. The gods smiled upon us this day (beware: unfortunately, all LP releases and most CDs omit the third chorus of Charles’ solo).

During all this time, until the end of 1939, the band was broadcasting on the “Camel Caravan” show every Saturday evening on the NBC Radio Network and also playing at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel’s “Empire Room” three times a week.

          The Empire Room
       Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (Mutual, CBS)

Many of these broadcasts had been recorded at the time by Jerry Newhouse (Camel Caravan) and Bill Savory (Empire Room); they both continued recording other airchecks well into 1940.

The Camel Caravan Show (NBC)

Metronome All Stars recording session

By February 1940, Christian dominated the jazz and swing guitar polls and was elected to the Metronome All Stars. Colombia Records recorded two tunes by the All Stars on February 7, 1940 then later on the same day, two tunes by the Goodman Sextet.

The band then had engagements in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and in Chicago where Charles fell ill and was hospitalized for exhaustion at Michael Reese Hospital where doctors discovered tuberculosis scars on his lungs. It was not foreseen as anything fatal at the time.

Michael Reese Hospital

Just as Charles got out of the hospital, a two-week break was taken by the band due to various ailments of several band members.

                                             
                    “The Cocoanut Grove”                                 “The Peacock Room”
                           Ambassador Hotel                                     Mark Hopkins Hotel

Mid-March the band was back on the West Coast with broadcasts from engagements at “The Cocoanut Grove” Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles (March 19 through April 30 on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays) and “The Peacock Room” Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco (May 28 for a week or two). Between those two engagements there were excursions to Phoenix and Tucson, to Seattle, Portland, Eugene, then to Vancouver in Canada.

Hotel Adams, Phoenix

Around this time Charles took over the guitar chair from Arnold Covey in the band as well as remaining in the sextet.

The band’s stay on the West Coast gave Charles plenty of time (about four months) to jam all along L.A.’s Central Avenue making a great impact on the top talent in the area. Central Avenue was the new heart of African-American Los Angeles. During the 1930s the African-American population of Los Angeles continued to climb, with most newcomers settling in the Central Avenue vicinity. The 1940s was a watershed decade for Central Avenue with the tremendous influx of African American migrants during and after World War II – during the war years, 50,000 newcomers settled in and around the Avenue, with more arriving after the war. Central Avenue became famous for its role in the development of West Coast Jazz. During the 1940s, gospel trios and quartets gained popularity and had a major influence in the development of Rhythm & Blues vocal groups.

Jazz clubs abounded on Central Avenue, from Little Tokyo to Watts, and became the physical manifestation of jazz music. The Club Alabam, the Apex Club, the Downbeat, the Flame and the Casablanca are the names of some of these clubs. The origin of jazz in Los Angeles has been attributed to a number of musicians who moved there. Charlie Christian, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie brought a new form of jazz – Bebop – from New York to Los Angeles. Saunders King’s bass player Vernon Alley, later employed by Lionel Hampton and Count Basie, recalls that Charles “was a giant – a genius. People were astounded by him…no one could swing like Charlie Christian did…Hampton thought he himself was the greatest thing that ever happened, then here comes Charlie Christian.”

The band settled in at Saint Catherine’s Hotel on Santa Catalina Island for what resulted in a curtailed month-long stay (June 15 through July 14). Jerry Jerome recollected, “Charlie was quite a baseball player. The bands would have softball games with other bands, whoever was in the vicinity. We’d play them and the loser would buy the beer…Having him in our team was immensely helpful and we rarely paid for the beer. We played the games around Catalina Island…Charlie was kinda slender, very wiry – always smiling…everyone liked him, the wives kidded around with him. He was kinda shy, that kind of personality.”

While on the West Coast, the World Broadcasting System recorded the band for Columbia Records but the resulting recordings were not assigned their matrices until about a week later thereby causing, for a time, some confusion in dating the tunes.

In the summer of 1940, Goodman had to have back surgery for sciatica and had to lay off most of his band, but he retained Charles and bassist Artie Bernstein. Ziggy Elman and Kay Kaiser fronted the band for the last four nights on Catalina Island. Johnny Guarnieri, Jerry Jerome, and Nick Fatool, among some other band members, went over to Artie Shaw’s band. Most unfortunate was that a motion picture with the band and the sextet was to have taken place right after the Catalina Island engagement. That never happened.

Charlie Christian was kept on salary and he returned to Oklahoma City in his 1940 Buick driven by his chauffer, Hillman ‘Little Pitt’ Pittman and accompanied by his secretary-valet-friend, Leslie ‘Spooks’ Sheffield, former bandleader and Charles’ former employer.
 

The Summer Break of 1940

According to his brother, ‘It,’ Charles usually visited with members of his OKC community the first days of his vacations – upper-class, middle-class, lower-, rich or poor, everyone he knew in the neighborhood. “…regardless of his fame, he didn’t have the time to look down on nobody…he was very unselfish.” After that self-ordained task was accomplished, Charles spent most of his time with his close-knit family. At times, he could be found in his room with the lights turned down playing his guitar, often along with records of himself with the sextet. He would play continuingly different variations over the music. He always critiqued himself and experimented with new ideas. Clarence Christian said that when Charles was home on a break from touring with Goodman, he listened to his own records and said, “I should have played this,” and showed his brother the revised line on his guitar.

Jammin’ at Ruby’s Grill, OKC
September 7, 1940

News of his return to OKC preceded Charles, and various parties, dances, and jam sessions were set up for his welcome home. There was a lot of excitement and activity going on in the town in anticipation. Charles participated in jams and, with his brother, Edward, gave a concert at Douglass High School. But there was more time spent with his family and more leisure on this sojourn.

Barney Kessel

 A widely circulated published account of meetings between Charles and guitarist Barney Kessel when the 17-year-old Kessel came to an Oklahoma Club in the white part of town occurred around this time.

Sittin' in with Harlan Leonard's band, Kansas City

On his way back to New York City Charles was photographed on September 22nd sittin’ in with Harland Leonard’s band in Kansas City. He also went to a photo studio in Kansas City to get professional pictures taken of himself while he was on leave.

Eddy Howard session, October 4, 1940

Back in NYC, Charles recorded at a October 4, 1940 session directed by Teddy Wilson backing pop singer Eddy Howard before he was recalled by Goodman.

Goodman had planned to return in August or September with Charlie Christian on guitar, Lester Young on tenor sax, Teddy Wilson on piano, Artie Bernstein on bass but that was not to be. When he organized a sextet on his return, only Christian and Bernstein, both of whom he had kept on salary, were available. One of the first events with his new bands was at a college prom on October 18 in Virginia and another a week later at Lehigh University.

Backstage at the Apollo Theater on the 24th of October 1940

Interestingly, Charles and Benny sat in with Count Basie and his orchestra at the Apollo Theater on the 24th of October.

Charles and Benny sittin’ in with Count Basie and his orchestra
at the Apollo Theater on the 24th of October 1940

There was a session held at Columbia’s recording studio on October 28, 1940 that included a stellar lineup including Charles, Lester Young, Goodman, trumpeter Buck Clayton, Basie, Freddie Green, Walter Page, and drummer Jo Jones.

October 28, 1940

Four tunes were recorded but none were released at the time. They were finally released by producer Jerry Valburn in 1973 on the Jazz Archives label, JA-6, “Charlie Christian / Lester Young – Together, 1940.”

        
first five tracks are Charles & Lester at rehearsal, the remainder are Charles on Columbia studio dates

Goodman may have organized this as a rehearsal for a new sextet he may have hoped to recruit. Whatever the case, Goodman was only able to get Charles, who was already committed, Count Basie and himself. Young may have slipped away from the new sextet but Goodman did put together one almost as good.

So in the fall of that year Goodman led a septet with Christian, Count Basie, longtime Duke Ellington trumpeter Cootie Williams, former Artie Shaw tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and, in early 1941, drummer Dave Tough joined up. Johnny Guarnieri, who replaced Henderson in the first sextet, filled the piano chair in Basie’s absence. The sextet was now a septet – they went from the “Benny Goodman Sextet” to “Benny Goodman and his Sextet.”

November 7, 1940 Columbia recording session
Charles, Cootie, rare EH-275 amp;  two were made by Gibson, one of which was given to Charles

The septet and band continued with engagements throughout north-east US and continued to record prolifically for Columbia Records the rest of 1940. This all-star band dominated the jazz polls in 1941, including another election to the Metronome All Stars for Christian. He won both the Down Beat and the Metronome polls for Best Jazz Guitarist from 1939 through 1941.

As boys, Charles and his brother ‘It’ went to the movies when they could find the money. Their favorite actors included George Raft, Bette Davis, and Edward G. Robinson. As ‘It’ recollected to his interviewer McKinney that Charles had told his brother that he was sitting up front next to the footlights, the band started playing and as the curtain went up he said, “I like to fell out of the chair…George Raft was standing right there in front of me with his arm around Betty Davis. I like to swallow my tongue. I shut my eyes just as quick as I could and I played the whole rest of the show with my eyes shut. I got to thinking how hard we used to scuffle to get 15 cents to see them in the movies, and there they was paying a hundred dollars a plate to come and hear me play!” Charles and Bette Davis later became friends and mutual admirers.

Mary Lou Williams

Charles and Mary Lou Williams would meet in the basement of Harlem’s Dewey Square Hotel to work on music – playing, composing, writing or just jamming together during this imprecise period of December 1940.

Then came the infamous recording session of December 19, 1940 which produced five takes of “Breakfast Feud” three of which were subsequently spliced with other takes including those from the session of January 15, 1941. The splicing practice was initiated by Columbia producer Chris Albertson when he spiced together tracks of Charles’ solos for the April 1955 release of the first CC 12" record album, Columbia CL 652, Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra.

The session on January 15, 1941 produced two more “Breakfast Feud” takes that were spliced with other takes in the CL 652 album. The session also produced another tune “Good Enough to Keep” that contributed tracks from alternate takes for the Albertson album. The practice of splicing Charles’ solos tracks together continued well into the CD era. The mysteries weren’t completely solved until 1981 with the transcription of the tunes.

The Charioteers:
Edward Jackson (second tenor), Ira Williams (baritone), Billy Williams (lead tenor), Howard Daniel (bass), Jimmy Sherman (piano)

On January 16, 1941 during a break in the septet’s long Columbia recording session Charles and Jo Jones joined pianist James Sherman and bassist Walter Page to provide accompaniment for The Charioteers vocal group at the same studio.

Metronome All Stars - January 16, 1941

Later the same day, as one of Metronome’s 1941 poll-winning All Stars, Charles and four others from his septet recorded two tunes, this time for Victor Records. Charles had won both Metronome’s and Down Beat’s “Best Guitarist” of the year, overwhelmingly...again.  Two weeks later at the “President’s Birthday Ball” in Washington, DC, Charlie Christian met and shook hands with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Charles with Gibson L5N acoustic guitar
February 5, 1941

The celebrated “Profoundly Blue” recording session with the Edmond Hall Celeste Quartet for Blue Note Records took place on February 5, 1941 at Reeves Sound in Manhattan. It was one of the very first releases on the Blue Note label.

“Profoundly Blue” recording session - February 5, 1941
Charles on Gibson L5N acoustic guitar

The personnel on this date were Charles on acoustic guitar; Edmond Hall, clarinet; Meade Lux Lewis, celeste; Israel Crosby, bass. In spite of the extremely annoying celeste, Charles’ solos were near perfect, especially on the “title” tune. His interaction with Crosby was excitingly excellent. His rhythm on the boogie riffs was extraordinary – perfect coordination.

The Goodman band started a new broadcasting contract for yet another cigarette company on February 18, 1941. “What’s New? – The Old Gold Show” went on the air every Monday on NBC Radio Network (local New York City jazz radio station WJZ) for 13 weeks lasting until May 5, 1941.

The band was on the “Fitch Bandwagon” radio show again, on NBC, Sunday, February 16 and appeared on “America in Swingtime” where the sextet recorded six numbers at the second annual American Music Festival, February 19, 1941 broadcast on radio station WNYC for the Municipal Broadcasting System. The entire aircheck was re-broadcast on October 3, 2012 for the first time since the original broadcast.

“America in Swingtime” - February 19, 1941

The Charlie Christian/Jimmy Mundy composition and future big hit “Solo Flight ” by Charles and the full orchestra was broadcast on the Old Gold Show on March 3rd and the next day recorded at the Columbia studio. One can only imagine Charles’ thoughts and emotions hearing his own creation backed by a full-sounding orchestra. This guitar concerto was finally released on 78-rpm in December 1943 rising all the way to # 1 on Billboard’s Harlem Hit Parade in March 1944, two years after Charlie Christian had passed. The alternate take was released on LP in 1955.

Solo Flight
recorded March 4, 1941
released December 10, 1943
# 1 on Billboard’s Harlem Hit Parade in March 1944

A routine Columbia recording session scheduled for March 13, 1941 turned out to be one of the most extraordinary and fortunate events in the annals of jazz. Goodman and Bernstein were late for the session and Charles, Georgie Auld, Cootie Williams, Johnny Guarnieri, Dave Tough were in the studio warming up. The engineers were testing and calibrating their recording equipment. Charles, as usual, was improvising and noodling around with one tune or another with the other musicians joining in and dropping out of Charles inventive waves of music. It quickly turned into a jam that the insightful engineers were resourceful and quick-witted enough to capture on their sound recorders.

Charlie Christian was experimenting and inventing the most heavenly sounds that no one could ever imagine. This went on for over 21 minutes almost uninterrupted with Charles only meandering off for a moment or two, or briefly accompanying the others on rhythm guitar. These precious recordings give the fortunate listener an insight into Charles’ genius that even the Minton’s/Monroe’s jams don’t quite provide. Blessed be those Columbia sound engineers. The captured jam session started with 7:08 minutes of free improvisation that was appropriately titled “Waitin’ for Benny” when it was partially released on LP in 1955; the last tune in the pre-rehearsal jam was played in the key of B and issued on the same LP entitled “Blues in B.” The sequence of the entire recorded jam was free improvisation titled Waitin’ for Benny/I Can’t Believe…/Rose Room/I Hadn’t Anyone…/Blues in B.

Charlie, Charlie, Let’s play the Blues…in B

Later, after Benny and Artie arrived and the actual recording session officially started, the last half of the Waitin’ improvisation was worked on to become a proper tune. It was named “Moppin’ It Up” later re-titled “A Smo-o-o-oth One” for release on the same 78rpm record as the only other commercial recording that day “Good Enough to Keep” – on the second pressing of the latter the title was changed to “Airmail Special” and reissued with the same catalog number.

Armory in Alexandria, Virginia
“Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival”

“A Smo-o-o-oth One” was still called “Moppin’ It Up” when the septet played the tune at the 18th Annual “Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival” at the Armory in Alexandria, Virginia on May 1, 1941 (it was recoded but was never released – it remains ensconced at the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark). The commercial version that had been recorded earlier was released on Columbia Records two days after the festival with its new and official name.

All during this time, the band continued appearing on the Old Gold Show, until the final show on May 5, emanating from Manhattan Center and recorded at the studio at Columbia Records, also in Manhattan.

Charlie Christian was captured on acetate jamming at Minton’s and Monroe’s in Harlem during May. (see below)

On May 18, 1941 took a one-week break before returning to begin a new series of radio shows called the “Monte Proser Dance Carnival” broadcasting from Madison Square Garden and sharing the stage with the bands of Charlie Barnett and Larry Clinton. This affair was carried on the Mutual Broadcasting System well through most of June during which time there was a lot of goings on with personnel in and out of the band.

“Monte Proser Dance Carnival” broadcasting from Madison Square Garden

Guitarist Al Viola recalls, “Most of the time I saw Charlie he had that small ES-150 with the small amp. The only time I saw him with the piggy-back, was at Madison Square Garden, the Monte Proser thing. He used a blonde ES-250 …his amplifier was a piggy-back, an EH-275. The tuner was detached from the speaker. His sols were clean and the greatest jazz lines I have ever heard, by anyone, even today. A genius! Charlie left me spellbound.”

         
Cedar Point Ballroom

It was around June 15th during at an engagement at the Cedar Point Ballroom on Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio that Charles fell ill and was rushed to the hospital. He would never return. Tommy Morganelli replaced him on the band’s rhythm guitar chair. The sextet was no more.

Charles’ work on the Goodman sextet sides “Soft Winds,” “Till Tom Special” and “A Smo-o-o-oth One” show his use of well-placed melodic notes. His work on the Sextet’s recordings of the ballads “Star Dust,” “Memories of You,” “Poor Butterfly,” “I Surrender Dear” and “On the Alamo” and his work on “Profoundly Blue” with the Edmond Hall Celeste Quartet in1941 show hints of what was later called cool jazz.

Outstanding recordings made by Christian with Goodman sextets and septets include “Air Mail Special,” “Seven Come Eleven,” “AC-DC Current,” and “Shivers,” all of which were written by Christian. Other compositions by Christian were “Breakfast Feud,” “Flying Home,” “Gone with What ‘Wind’,” “Gone with What Draft,” “Six Appeal,” “Soft Winds,” “Till Tom Special,” “Wholly Cats” and “A Smo-o-o-oth One.” Charles also co-wrote, with arranger Jimmy Mundy, the big-band guitar feature “Solo Flight” which was a national hit in 1943.

Although credited for very few, Charlie Christian composed most of the original tunes recorded by the Benny Goodman Sextet.
 

Bebop and Minton’s Playhouse

Christian was an essential fountainhead and bountiful contributor to the music that became known as bebop. Some of the participants in early after-hours affairs at Minton’s Playhouse, an after-hours club located in the Hotel Cecil at 210 West 118th Street in Harlem where bebop was born, credit Christian with the name bebop, citing his humming of phrases as the onomatopoetic origin of the term. Hammond described that time: “when the Goodman band was in New York, Charlie would go to jam sessions at Minton’s Playhouse on the ground floor of the Hotel Cecil…There he was King of Harlem.”

Many of the great players in the area went to Minton’s and Monroe’s to interact to create the latest sounds in jazz. The owner Henry Minton opened Minton’s Playhouse in October 1941 and put former bandleader Teddy Hill in charge. Hill made the club favorable to musicians encouraging them to jam with the house band that included pianist Thelonious Monk, trumpeter Joe Guy, bassist Nick Fenton, and drummer Kenny Clarke who was in charge of musical direction. Hill provided free supper for members of the bands playing at the finer nightclubs, especially at the nearby Savoy and Apollo in Harlem. Charles had taken New York by storm and was highly respected due to his nonpareil talent. Teddy Hill brought in an amplifier specifically for Charles’ use. As far as the management at Minton’s was concerned Charlie Christian owned the place.

Guitarist John Collins said, “When you went into Minton’s, there was a bar first and then you’d go further back so it was two rooms…he was a nice individual, he dressed just nice…Charlie was the greatest”

Lt Jerry Newman

Charlie Christian’s bebop playing can be heard in a series of recordings made at Minton’s Playhouse by Jerry Newman, a student at Columbia University, on his portable disc recorder in 1941, in which Christian was often accompanied by Joe Guy on trumpet, Kenny Kersey on piano, Nick Fenton on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums. On the recordings, Christian can be heard taking multiple choruses on a single tune, playing long stretches of melodic ideas with ease. Charlie Christian’s solos on “Topsy,” released as “Swing to Bop” on almost all issues, are absolutely phenomenal – an unparalleled achievement that’s beyond words. Christian’s use of tension and release, a technique employed by Lester Young, Count Basie and later bop musicians, is also present on Newman’s recording of “Stompin’ at the Savoy.”

 Vox VSP 302

Newman’s most important achievement was capturing Charlie Christian live at Minton’s in 1941. Christian, already a star from his work with Benny Goodman, was pushing the electric guitar into new territory, stretching the instrument into bebop. His pioneering approach laid the foundation for generations of jazz guitarists. Barney Kessel cited Christian as his “sole influence,” and Wes Montgomery transcribed Christian's solos note-for-note early in his career.

Tragically, Christian’s health was failing due to tuberculosis. He would pass away less than a year later, in March 1942. Newman's lacquers are among the few documents we have of Christian breaking free in a small-group setting. Without Newman, that pivotal chapter in both jazz history and guitar innovation would have been lost forever.

Adding even more weight to Newman’s work: in 1942, a nationwide recording ban led by the American Federation of Musicians brought commercial studio recording to a halt. The strike, which lasted into 1944, froze documentation just as bebop was beginning to flower. With no labels capturing this moment, Newman’s homemade discs became an accidental historical record. Further recordings were made in 1941, shortly before Christian’s worsening illness and hospitalization, at Clark Monroe’s Uptown House, another late-night jazz haunt in Harlem, with Oran “Hot Lips” Page and tenor sax player Don Byas. Beboppers Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker were regulars at the jam sessions but were never recorded with Charles at the Harlem venues.

Jerry Newman, Esoteric Records founder and owner

In his “Music in the Making” column in the November 1, 1952 issue of Melody Maker, journalist Mike Nevard recounted Jerry Newman’s recollections,
“I was in on the earliest days at Minton’s. It started in January 1941 at the Hotel Cecil on 118th Street. They turned the dining room into a club and built in a stage for seven, and a bar. Henry Minton ran the sessions. He was the first Negro delegate to the AF of M and called the place Minton's Playhouse. I just went down there for kicks. I was a kid with a recording machine. I used to do an act...For that, Minton let me make any records I liked. Mostly, the band down there was based on four guys – Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, Nick Fenton and Joe Guy. Nick’s first violin with the Philadelphia Orchestra now, but he played bass then. Joe was trying to do a Roy, but he couldn't keep his mind on the trumpet. Monk and Kenny were the boys, though. They started it with their odd beats. Kloop-mop they called it. Then rebop. Then bebop.

“It got around. Soon a lot of guys were coming along nights. Youngsters...Sometimes there were fourteen of them up there. Then Christian came along. He was playing with Goodman then, but he was still a shy country boy.  The mob blew in on his solos; they saw my record gear and they wanted to be in on it.  Charlie wasn’t happy. Just sat there playing rhythm. But occasionally he’d let out. And I got some good stuff...I didn't know much about music then. But I knew something was happening. Christian started learning from Monk and Kenny. Then you could see them learning things from him. And when Minton’s shut down at four in the morning, we’d take the recording machine out to Monroe’s Uptown Housed and jam till seven or eight. Of course, we would have to pay off the police so we could keep on drinking.”

         
Kenny Kersey, piano                            Nick Fenton, bass                   Kenny Clarke, drums

Vernon Alley says, “every morning after he got through at Minton’s…Charlie would never eat so I would try to get him to eat because he’d been playing all night and I was already in bed. He wouldn’t eat but he’d get out his guitar and start playing some more. When he came to my room he had that blonde fancy guitar but when he was in San Francisco he had that dark one…”

bandstand at Minton’s

Kenny Clarke claimed that “Epistrophy” and “Rhythm-a-Ning,” which Christian played with Clarke and Thelonious Monk at Minton’s jam sessions, were compositions by Christian. 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’s “Walkin’ and Swingin’.” Clarke further commented that Christian first showed him the chords to “Epistrophy” on a ukulele.

Mural behind bandstand

This from Morgan and Horricks book Modern Jazz: A survey of Developments Since 1939:
“…In New York…1940… guitarist Charlie Christian led the whole progressive movement out into the open…a core of steadfast supporters gathered about Christian… Christian at this stage was way ahead of his contemporaries in many ways; in harmony, in the reshaping of melody, in the elevation of new instruments and in the basing of improvisation upon a more technical source. He actually had the rhythm section into a unit of fresh conception and approach…working in coordination with modern front line soloists…His passing left musicians groping…to replace Christian’s steadily mounting tower of creation…even for a giant like Charlie Parker…shows the considerable spread and success germinated by Christian’s concept, a concept which saw the promise in a series of jam sessions…”

    
Minton’s Interior Today

Allen Tinney, house pianist at Monroe’s recalled, “He never hung out, he just came to the jam sessions. He was a very nice person. Charlie was a serious guy and he was a dapper type dresser, he was just nice all the time. Charlie was just great.”

The Minton’s and Uptown House recordings have been packaged under a number of different titles, such as After Hours, The Harlem Jazz Scene, and The Immortal Charlie Christian.

Hospitalization and Demise

         
          Seaview Hospital

In June 1941 Charles Christian was admitted to Seaview Hospital, a tuberculosis sanatorium on Staten Island, a suburb of 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. But he eventually contracted pneumonia. Friends and band members paid visits but since the Verrazano Bridge had yet to be constructed, the trip was a bit difficult and he had fewer visitors than hoped for.

Dr Sam McKinney came from Harlem to check on him. Teddy Hill, Minton Playhouse manager, went to see him every Sunday. Charles had expected to get a visit from Goodman but he never showed. It had been reported that Charles was “much improved” and “progressing rapidly toward complete recovery.”

There had been a story circulating around that may have some truth to it, at least in part, that after a visit to the hospital that same month by a tap dancing, sporadic drummer with marijuana and such, and maybe some young lady friends and the like, Charles declined in health.

Charlie Christian died on March 2, 1942, at the age of 25.

Four funerals were held for Charles Christian, the main one in Oklahoma City at the Calvary Baptist Church; simultaneous services were held in New York and Chicago.

Calvary Baptist Church
March 9, 1942  

The final services, which are still remembered by many residents who knew Charles or his family, were held at his burial in Bonham, Texas. Charles’ body had been sent home from New York in the cheapest coffin available. Back in Oklahoma, his family felt this to be below his dignity and provided a top-of-line casket in which he was buried.

Oklahoma City’s The Black Dispatch, the newspaper operated by Roscoe Dunjee, described the funeral: “the flower-banked casket of Charles Henry Christian, thousands from all walks of life, paid tribute to the memory of the 25-year old musician” The funeral was one of the largest, perhaps the largest black funeral in the history of the state. A large spray of flowers was sent by the Goodman band an arrangement of flowers from local musicians in the shape of a guitar was near the casket. “…perhaps the most elaborate funeral seen in Oklahoma City in a number of years.”

He was buried in an unmarked grave in Bonham in the Black cemetery south of town. A Texas State Historical Commission Marker and headstone were placed in Gates Hill Cemetery in 1994 where the grave was thought to be. The location of the historical marker and headstone had been disputed, and in March 2013, Fannin County, Texas, recognized that the marker was in the wrong spot and that Christian is buried under a concrete slab, as claimed by his brother Clarence.

concrete slab
Gates Hill Cemetery
 

Style and Influences

Christian is widely regarded as one of the most influential pioneers of jazz guitar. His solos are frequently described as “horn-like,” and in that sense, he was more influenced by horn players in his regional territory, such as Lester Young and Herschel Evans, 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 instrument. Christian stated he wanted his guitar to sound like a tenor saxophone. As Craig McKinney has so correctly said “the saxophone that Charles was hearing was the one in his head, not a copy of Lester’s”

Although French gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt had little influence on him, Christian was obviously familiar with some of his recordings. The guitarist Mary Osborne recalled hearing him play Django’s solo on “St. Louis Blues” note for note, but then following it with his own ideas. Interestingly, Charles had a definite influence on Django – readily heard on Reinhardt’s later recordings, especially when he had switched from acoustic to electric guitar almost a decade after Charles’ passing.

By 1939 there had already been electric guitar soloists – Leonard Ware, George Barnes; Eddie Durham who had recorded with Count Basie; Floyd Smith, who recorded “Floyd’s Guitar Blues” with Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy in March 1939, using an amplified lap steel guitar; and the Western Swing pioneer Eldon Shamblin, who was playing with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.

Not only did he revolutionize the world of jazz, Charlie Christian made a definitively strong impact on Rhythm & Blues, especially in the Jump Blues genre. R&B/Jump guitarists such as Saunders King, Tiny Webb (aka Herman Mitchell), Gene Phillips (& The Rhythm Aces), Bernardo Dennis (with Willie Dixon’s Big Three Trio), Ted Summitt (with Sonny Boy Williamson, et al), Steve Gibson (Red Caps) were significantly influenced by Charles. And in Jazz/Blues, there’s Slim Gaillard (of Slim & Slam), Teddy Walters (with Cozy Cole All Stars), Tiny Grimes (& His Rocking Highlanders), Oscar Moore (of the Nat Cole Trio). They all praised Christian and acknowledged their obvious debt to him. Christian phrasing and phrases are repeatedly noticeable in all of these guitarists’ solos.

Christian paved the way for the modern electric guitar sound that was followed by others, including T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Cliff Gallup (rockabilly), Scotty Moore (Blue Moon Boys, Elvis Presley's backing band), Franny Beecher (with Bill Haley & the Comets), Chuck Berry, Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix. Consequently, Christian was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

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, Thelonious Monk and Don Byas can be heard on their early bop recordings “Blue ’n’ Boogie” and “Salt Peanuts.” Other musicians, such as the trumpeter Miles Davis, cited Christian as an early influence. Indeed, Christian’s “new” sound influenced jazz as a whole. He reigned supreme in the jazz guitar polls many years after his death.

Much of the incredible jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery’s early improvisation came from imitating Charlie Christian’s guitar solos note-for- note. Early on, tenor sax great John Coltrane showed significant influence by Charles, particularly on blues.

During his time and way beyond Charlie Christian was a musical prodigy far and away more sophisticated and advanced than any other musician in any genre – much like Mozart in his day.

Whitney Balliett offers this excellent exposition in his record review in the May 13, 1972 issue of The New Yorker
“Christian was not the first great jazz guitarist, although it now appears that he will be the last. He was preceded, in the mid-thirties, by the masterly Belgian eccentric Django Reinhardt, whose graceful melodic calligraphy remains permanently fresh. Christian knew Reinhardt’s work, and, the legend goes, could play some of his solos note for note, but that is as far as the admiration went. He applauded vigorously, then went his own way. (One wonders what Reinhardt thought of Christian’s recordings, if, indeed, he knew them at all. He never heard Christian in the flesh, for he visited this country only once, in 1947, and Christian never got to Europe. What a marvel they would have been in a duet —Washington and Lincoln breaking bread!) Reinhardt was mainly an acoustical guitarist, and Christian was the father of the electric guitar. He never indulged himself by playing too loud or by hiding under the shimmering surface of his instrument. Instead, he used it as it was meant to be used— as an electronic catapult for what is basically a soft and secret instrument. At the same time, he was the first guitarist to transcend the guitar; that is to say that, in the manner of all great jazz musicians, what he played—the curves and blocks and lines of melody—became more important than the instrument itself. (Lesser musicians never quite reach this threshold but remain at the mercy of their instruments.) His style was a model of clarity and design and order. It had the wastelessness and purpose of geometry, the liquidity and logic of Albers. But the laconic exterior was frequently ruffled, for Christian freely transmitted the emotions that drove him—those unfathomable, nameless emotions that compel all first-rate music—and he did it without ever disturbing the master plan each solo seemed to follow. He was an astonishing technician, and at the age of twenty he had already learned a seminal secret about jazz improvisation that few players twice his age know— the value of silence. He rounded his phrases, which ran anywhere from one to ten or more bars, with little rests— some of them a beat in length, some a whole measure. They had a pleasant shock effect, and they allowed the listener to catch up with what had gone before and to ready himself for what was to come. (One of the strangest things about Christian’s legion of imitators is that almost to a man they have completely ignored this brilliant aspect of his style. Indeed, they play thousands and thousands of notes non-stop, as if sheer musical poundage would raise them to Christian’s stature.)

Musical Legacy

Charlie Christian has inspired countless players during his lifetime and in the years following his death, and the guitarist has been given numerous accolades. Much of the inspiration has come from Charles’ perfect rhythmic swing that had tremendous drive and an easy fluidity of phrasing in every thing that he played – solos, riffing, rhythm whether chords or single-string accompaniment. Most of that rhythm was providentially innate; the drive from that same rhythmic zest, enthusiasm and love of the music. It was always elegantly presented – wonderfully uplifting and inspiring to his audience. The creativity in Charles’ playing could be discerned by his fellow musicians and those with any aptitude for music. All were elevated by his genius.

His composition “Solo Flight,” a hit featuring Christian with the full band, arranged by Jimmy Mundy, made the top of Billboard’s Harlem Hit Parade in 1943.

In 1966, 24 years after his death, Christian was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

In the liner notes to the album Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian (Columbia, 1972), Gene Lees wrote that “Many critics and musicians consider that Christian was one of the founding fathers of bebop…”

In a 1985 interview with Frets magazine, Jerry Garcia named Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt as the two guitarists who most inspired his awe and emulation.

The first annual Charlie Christian Jazz Festival was held in the spring of 1985. It continues to this day.

In 1989 the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame created its first seven inductions, which included Christian.

Christian’s influence reached beyond jazz and swing. In 1990, Christian was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the “Early Influence” category.

The official CC website, Solo Flight: The Charlie Christian Legacy went online in the autumn of 1998 causing a flurry of publications of numerous Charlie Christian books and recordings, and a significant amount of chatter and interest in online message boards and forums for a decade or two.

In 2006, Oklahoma City, where Christian was raised, renamed a street in its Bricktown entertainment district after the guitarist: Charlie Christian Avenue.

In 2012, Bonham, Texas, where Charlie Christian was born, renamed South First Street after him: Charlie Christian Street.

The Fannin County Museum in Bonham maintains a permanent exhibit on the life and music of Charlie Christian.
 

Quotes

“The world doesn’t know how fantastic he was,” notes a quote by jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams.

In a 1966 blindfold test, pianist Thelonious Monk was asked by Leonard Feather what he thought of the playing of a well-known contemporary jazz guitarist. Monk answered “Charlie Christian spoiled me for everyone else.”

Guitarist Wes Montgomery: “That cat tore everybody’s heads up. I never saw him in my life, but he said so much on records. I don’t care what instrument a cat played, if he didn’t understand and feel the things that Charlie Christian was doing, he was a pretty poor musician.”

Benny Goodman on being asked on the Johnny Carson Show what one player he would like to go back in time and play with. It was Charlie.

Jazz guitarist John Scofield: “Miles Davis told me that he thought Charlie Christian was the original instigator of the bebop movement, Bird and Diz's main influence. When you listen to his playing today, it's still inspiring, fresh, harmonically and rhythmically advanced. I loved the fact that the modern jazz movement seems to have been started by an electric guitarist!”

Guitarist Tal Farlow: “I didn’t know whether it was the sound or the music that he was playing that fascinated me…I learned all of Charles solos…I got all of his records as soon as they came out.”

As Tiny Grimes, among the first guitarists to fall under Charlie’s spell, put it: “After I heard Charlie Christian, I had no use for anyone else.”

Saxophonist Buddy Collette: “I tried to get the sound of Charlie Christian, tried to get his sound on the saxophone…I was influenced by Lester Young and Charlie Christian.

Guitarist Barney Kessel: “the music Charlie made changed the guitar world. Anyone who studies him can see where all of the guitar players that came afterwards evolved from his fountainhead”

Trumpeter Miles Davis cited, in more than one interview, that Charlie Christian was a major early influence on his playing. In his self-titled autobiography Miles admits he modeled himself after Christian.

Guitarist John Scofield stated that Miles Davis told him Gillespie and Parker “got that stuff from Charlie Christian.”

Guitarist Jimmy Gourley: “The Minton’s recordings came out and they really knocked me out! Charlie was really tearing up the guitar, making it a marvelous linear voice.”

As one of his disciples, fellow Texan Herb Ellis, put it: “If Charlie were alive today, we’d still be taking lessons from him.”

Basie’s rhythm guitarist extraordinaire Freddie Green: “Well, he was the greatest I ever heard…Everything he played was so pleasing, there was no effort, though a great deal of it was very dexterous – those chords and things weren't easy.”

Mary Lou Williams, arranger and pianist for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, heard Christian play and pronounced him the “greatest electric guitar player” she’d ever heard and went on to recommend Charles to producer John Hammond.

Bassist Oscar Pettiford: “I never heard anybody like that, who could play with do much love – that’s what it was, pure love of jazz, and great happiness just to be part of thing called music.”

Jazz guitarist Steve Khan says, “If you haven’t taken the time to go back, and to listen to Charlie Christian, you will truly be amazed at how much of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green and others you will hear in his very futuristic playing. He was so far ahead of his time. A great, great pity that he passed away at such a young age.”

Guitarist/trombonist/arranger Eddie Durham remarked “I've never saw anyone learn so fast, nor rise to the top so quickly.”

Jeff McCord in a CD review for the American-Statesman: “Everywhere, there are moments – a melodic twist, a stray note placed in exactly the right place – that dazzle…Christian is always off in a new direction…In eighteen months, Charlie Christian showed us the way ahead. If the proof wasn't right here, you never would have believed it was possible.”

Jazz critic Gary Giddins has said, Christian was “the guy who really put the instrument on the map.”

Allan Kozinn and coauthors in The Guitar, “Christian… has been jazz guitar’s only authentic figure of genius, responsible for synthesizing the best elements of the instrument’s previous history into a seamless, totally original approach of such great melodic-harmonic resourcefulness that it has served as the basis for literally all subsequent developments in the instrument’s usage in jazz.”
 

Instruments and approximate dates of possession
(this instrument section was taken virtually verbatim from the late Peter Broadbent’s book on Charles)

 ∙ Epiphone Deluxe guitar (an acoustic arch-top guitar), 1934 – 1939

 ∙ Gibson ES-150 guitar (sunburst finish, with dot inlays on the fingerboard), and EH-150 amplifier, 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.
A Gibson Company instrument record sheet shows that an ES-250 (serial number 96060) was shipped, along with an EH-150 amplifier (serial number 12706), to Chas Christian on April 19, 1940. This instrument was re-discovered in 2002 and is currently, scrupulously displayed at museums and guitar shows across the country.

 ∙ 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 guitar (custom built by Gibson with a “Charlie Christian pickup” instead of a P-90).
This guitar was delivered to Charles just prior to his death in March 1942. It was later owned by Tony Mottola.

Early amplifier Christian used was a 15-watt EH-150 model with 10-inch speaker.
Later amplifier Christian used was an 18-watt EH-185 model with 12-inch speaker.

ES stands for Electric Spanish
EH stands for Electric Hawaiian
L stands for Lloyd Loar, a Gibson master luthier

The bar-style pickups used on the ES-150 and ES-250 Gibson guitars became known as the “Charlie Christian pickup.”
 

Also see the Chronology for many additional details
and a relatively concise timeline for an overview of the life and music of Charlie Christian.