Transcription Page:     Flying Home  —  6 October 1939

C&A:

Two months earlier Charlie Christian had just auditioned for a spot with the Goodman band and was still playing with his own combo regularly at Ruby’s Grill in Oklahoma City.  He had been there a couple of months billed as “Charles Christian & His Electric Guitar – One of the Southwest’s Most Popular Swing Bands.”  Then in mid-August he was hired and he began his big-time career with his first gig at a very impressive venue, The Hollywood Bowl.

Now less than two months later he is at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City.  Not bad, Charles – some would call it a meteoric rise, some would say it’s about time.  (Actually, closeness to his family was a significant consideration for his not venturing much out of his hometown any sooner.)  Whatever, “Charlie” now had the recognition he well deserved and he made the most of the opportunity.  He had become the brightest shooting star in the jazz world.  He was literally the ‘talk of the town’ – every musician in the country was scrambling to listen to him in person.

The sextet was allocated two tunes for the concert, both featuring Charles.  Flying Home was first, shared with a chorus by vibist Hampton, followed by Star Dust which the guitarist had all to himself.  Both tunes had already become standard fare on the sextet’s agenda.

CC starts off his Flying Home solo with that four-note figure that he used on several other recorded versions of the tune but instead of repeating the phrase as on the other occasions he immediately veers off into repeated notes played on alternate strings which he tops off with a nifty little turn.

He must have become fond of the run he introduced on the previous recording of the tune for it’s here again on mm 10 and 11 – I like it too and it’s fun to play but difficult to do so at his tempo.  On the bridge, note the use of D♭m to transition (much belatedly) from E♭7 to A♭Maj followed 3½ beats later by an early segue into the F7.  Another oft-used Flying Home lick, which I hear as an E♭dim7 (aka E♭m7♭5) sequence, is found at bar 25.

Ya gotta love Fletcher’s archaic piano comping – so bewitchingly prominent here.