DB Hall of Fame

SOLO  FLIGHT

THE  CHARLIE  CHRISTIAN  LEGACY

DB Hall of Fame


 

 

HONEYSUCKLE ROSE
 
Aircheck
 
JUNE  22,  1940     Saturday “CATALINA CASINO”
SANTA CATALINA ISLAND,  California
Radio Broadcast
 

 
  32 BARS    (AABA) Key of   D Quarter Note =   210 Time:   2:40
 
 
  12-Bar Intro  +   4  CHORUSES     (Incomplete Broadcast):
 
    4 bars  –  CC (Intro riffs)
    4 bars  –  CC,  clt (Intro riffs)
    4 bars  –  CC,  clt,  vib (Intro riffs)
 
      1 chor  –  clarinet (Melody)   (over vib obbl)
 
    1 chor  –  CC
 
      1 chor  –  vibes
 
      1 chor  –  clarinet
 
[ cut off by broadcast station ]
 
a Jerry Newhouse recording 

 
Personnel:
 
  Benny Goodman Sextet
  CHARLIE CHRISTIAN Guitar
  BENNY GOODMAN clarinet
  LIONEL HAMPTON vibes
  JOHNNY GUARNIERI piano
  ARTIE BERNSTEIN bass
  NICK FATOOL drums
 
 

Composed by: Fats Waller  (lyrics by Andy Razaf)
 
©   VALDÉS   1/5/06


 

First Page:         Intro

Second Page:   Guitar Solo

 



C&A:

On this Catalina Casino broadcast of Honeysuckle Rose, Charlie Christian begins his solo with the same line he uses for his intros on AC-DC Current albeit with different timing.  This solo also has pedal tones with descending notes—at mm 5 thru 7—but quite different from the other versions of the tune.  There’s an uncommon four-note figure at bar 8 that begins a common CC lick on the next two measures.  The isolated figure at bar 16 is also unusual.

On the bridge, the two lines on mm 17-19 and 20-22 are very closely related to the one at mm 8-10.  Charles begins the second one with a five-fret ascending slide (the second note is not struck), anticipating the actual chord change by a full measure.   Both lines end with similar triplets—unusual for CC who likes to vary his improvisations.  At bar 23 there’s a descending finger-drag (the second note is also struck) to start the phrase that closes the bridge.  He finishes the solo with well-known phrases that begin with an unexpected four-fret swoop at the beginning of bar 29.

Although this an incomplete recording of very poor quality, Charles’ solo is intact.  It is the least known of the five versions of this tune—it wasn’t publicly released until 1993 by France’s Media7 on their Masters of Jazz label and has only appeared on two other CDs since then.



 
Issued Recordings:
 
  [ CD ] Definitive DRCD11177 (disc 3, track 4)
    JSP JSP909 (disc 3, track 4)
    Masters of Jazz MJCD 44 (track 4)
    Masters of Jazz MJCD 9004 (disc 4, track 4)
 

 



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