Listed below are eighteen unissued recordings of airchecks
on which Charlie Christian participated. With the exception of two tunes, which remain unavailable,
sixteen are known to contain CC solos and are so annotated.
Seven tunes are on Bill
Savory’s treasured acetates (from 6 November 1939 through 19 April 1940). All
of these seven have CC solos. These recordings can only be heard at the
National Jazz Museum in Harlem, NYC.
Five titles are available only within the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, Newark.
Not included here are those recordings with CC known to be
exclusively on rhythm guitar.
JE indicates solo info obtained from Jan Evensmo’s solography The Guitar of
Charles Henry Christian “Charlie”
SEPTEMBER 16, 1939
Saturday
“CAMEL CARAVAN”
Shea’s Theater BUFFALO, NY
NBC Radio Network (WEAF)
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
OPUS LOCAL 802
* 12-bar solo
JE
Rutgers collection
SEPTEMBER 30, 1939
Saturday
“CAMEL CARAVAN”
CHICAGO NBC Radio
Network (WEAF)
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
STAR DUST
* 32-bar solo
JE
Rutgers collection
NOVEMBER 6, 1939
Monday
WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
NYC Mutual Broadcasting System (WOR)
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
SHIVERS
* 16, 8-bar solo (clt brk)
JE
Savory collection
NOVEMBER 22, 1939
Wednesday
WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
NYC CBS Radio Network
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
FLYING HOME
* 32-bar solo
JE
Savory collection
NOVEMBER 29, 1939
Wednesday
WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
NYC CBS Radio Network
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
OPUS
˝
* 12 + 12-bar solo
JE
Savory collection
DECEMBER 4, 1939
Monday
WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
NYC Radio Broadcast
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
HONEYSUCKLE ROSE
* 32-bar solo
JE
Savory collection
DECEMBER 6, 1939
Wednesday
WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
NYC Radio Broadcast
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
SEVEN COME ELEVEN
(ROAST TURKEY
STOMP)
* 32-bar solo
JE
Savory collection
DECEMBER 9, 1939
Saturday
“CAMEL CARAVAN”
Radio City Studios NYC NBC
Radio Network (WEAF)
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
FLETCHER HENDERSON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
PICK-A-RIB
DECEMBER 21, 1939
Thursday
WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL
NYC Radio Broadcast
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
JOHNNY GUARNIERI-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
HONEYSUCKLE ROSE
* 32-bar solo
JE
Savory collection
APRIL 5, 1940 Friday
“THE COCOANUT GROVE”
AMBASSADOR HOTEL LOS ANGELES NBC Radio Network
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
JOHNNY GUARNIERI-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
SOFT WINDS
APRIL 19, 1940 Friday
“THE COCOANUT GROVE”
AMBASSADOR HOTEL LOS ANGELES NBC Radio Network
Benny Goodman Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, LIONEL HAMPTON-vib,
JOHNNY GUARNIERI-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, NICK FATOOL-d.
Aircheck
I SURRENDER, DEAR
* 16-bar solo
JE
Savory collection
DECEMBER 10, 1940
Tuesday
“WE THE PEOPLE” NYC
CBS Radio Network
Benny Goodman and his Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, GEORGIE AULD-ts, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, COOTIE
WILLIAMS-tpt,
COUNT BASIE-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, HARRY JAEGER-d.
Aircheck
FLYING HOME
* 16, 8-bar solo (pno brk)
JE
Rutgers collection
DECEMBER 25, 1940
Tuesday
Radio Broadcast (location unknown)
Benny Goodman and his Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, GEORGIE AULD-ts, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, COOTIE
WILLIAMS-tpt,
BERNIE LEIGHTON-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, HARRY JAEGER-d.
Aircheck
WHOLLY CATS
* 12 + 12-bar solo
JE
Rutgers collection
FEBRUARY 19, 1941
Wednesday
“AMERICA IN SWINGTIME” 2nd
annual American Music Festival NYC
Municipal Broadcasting System (WNYC)
Benny Goodman and his Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, GEORGIE AULD-ts, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, COOTIE
WILLIAMS-tpt,
JOHNNY GUARNIERI-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, DAVE TOUGH-d.
Aircheck
ROSE ROOM
*
5-bars (partial) < end of 24-bar solo >
Aircheck
FLYING HOME
theme w/ ens – 16, 8 bars (clt brk),
* 32-bar solo,
chord accents – 16 bars (behind tpt)
riffs w/ ens – 8 bars (on bridge behind ts)
chord accents – 8 bars (behind tpt);
riffs w/ ens – 16 bars
chord accents – 8 bars (on bridge behind bass).
riffs w/ ens – 8 bars.
Aircheck
THE BLUES
* 12 + 12-bar
solo
Aircheck
STOMPIN’ AT THE SAVOY
Theme behind M.C.
• 8 bars – “Sa-voy”
chords (w/ ens),
• 8 bars – chord
riffs (behind ens),
* 8-bar
solo (over ens),
• 8 bars – riffs
(over ens),
• 3 bars – obbl
(behind ens) [ sign-off ]
These four tunes from this broadcast have
never been issued in any format, however, the program was re-broadcast on Oct 3, 2012 for the first time since the original broadcast.
Transcriptions of Charlie Christian’s solos on the latter two have been available in the “Transcriptions”
section on this site since the summer of 2002.
[ Update: The first two were uploaded December 2016 and March 2017 – those two were not available until the re-broadcast. ]
Two others from this date (Gone with “What” Wind and The Sheik of Araby) were issued for the first time
on the Encore label in November 2001.
MAY 1, 1941 Thursday
“SHENANDOAH APPLE BLOSSOM
FESTIVAL”
ALEXANDRIA, VA Mutual Radio Network
Benny Goodman and his Sextet:
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, GEORGIE AULD-ts, BENNY GOODMAN-clt, COOTIE
WILLIAMS-tpt,
JOHNNY GUARNIERI-p, ARTIE BERNSTEIN-b, DAVE TOUGH-d.
Aircheck
A SMO-O-O-OTH ONE
(MOPPIN’ IT
UP)
chord intro – 4 bars;
* 32-bar solo
JE
Rutgers collection
LeoValdes © December 2003 |
