Transcription Page:     Flying Home  —  2 October 1939

Homeward Bound     (alternate take)

C&A:

A few years after the release of the master take on the customary Columbia label, this alternate take of Flying Home from the same studio date was released as Homeward Bound on the V-Disc label intended for distribution exclusively to the members of the military overseas.  As expected, Charlie Christian’s solo is decidedly different.

Charles begins the solo with a repeated riff used on quite a few other versions but, except for the ubiquitous E♭dim7 idiom inserted in bars 11 and 12, the rest is rather unique.  Remarkable how he can so vary the simple E♭ harmony on two-thirds of a chorus.  Measures 29-31 are especially imaginative and unexpected – fantastic coordination.

Then, of course, there’s the bridge.  The E♭7 (mm 17-18) and F7 (mm 21-22) sequences are virtually identical, the second just transposed a couple of semitones up.  But the rhythm on the second – prefaced by a long slide up the fretboard – is turned upside down and the fingering/highlighting is so completely divergent he makes it seem an altogether different run.  Ingenious.

A lot of brinkmanship by Charles on this for a studio date.  Although the master is always listed first, there’s no definite affirmation as to which take was recorded first.  I have a hunch this was the first take of the day and he may have expected this to be a throw-away so he was very relaxed – and creative.

It is a marvelous solo.