C&A:
We meet pianist Kenny Kersey for the first time at this session – an
excellent pianist who provides some very pleasurable moments on the three
tunes recorded on this date. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
would be the only one to be released by Columbia. The other two tunes would
be redone the following month. We will hear a lot more from Kenny again five
months later at Minton’s.
Charlie Christian gets the first 16 bars (A/B sections) on all three takes
of this A/B/C/D tune.
In order recorded:
mx CO 29260-3 I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE
Excellent solo that Charles begins two full beats before the start of the
chorus. The phrase spanning mm 2-3 is a bit unusual.
There’s about four bars
of triplets on the first four bars. When he gets to the last four bars it’s
all sixteenths with a great slide at the midpoint transition. Those last four
bars begin with three 3-note
Bb13/9/b7
clusters; the slide conveys CC to the Eb7 measures.
[ mx CO 29260-x breakdown – no solo ]
mx CO 29260-2 I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE
Love this solo. It is so beautifully melodic. One can hear the meaning of
the words in the song, even better stated than the actual words.
Charles enhances the melody, surpassing what the lyricist herself did (personal
opinion, obviously). The second four bars get blues phrasing, the third four
bars get blues notes.
As in the first take the last four bars are
sixteenths; the first six notes are the same but then he is goes on a
divergent course – same traversing slide at the juncture, but on a different
string – and closing with different phrases but with a similar flavor as the first
take.
mx CO 29260-1 I CAN’T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE
It’s usually difficult to pick a best CC solo among different takes. This
last take, the released master, is everyone’s favorite. Not that there’s
anything amiss in the other two takes (well, maybe four final bars of
double-timing was a bit much) but, simply, this one is perfect.
Splendidly paced, sublimely melodic; on the last four bars of this solo,
mm 13-14 are triplets, mm 15-16 sixteenths – typical CC phrases, ideally
situated. Seems like Charles sensed that the first two choruses had
gone better than on the other takes and that this would be the sanctioned one.
It was released as I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.
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