Jazz Guitar Music Legend Charlie Christian Started It All!

By Steve M Herron 

Charlie-Christian

Charlie Christian was born on July 29, 1916 in Bonham, Texas but grew up in Oklahoma City. His dad was a singer/guitarist, his mom a pianist, and they played in a Dallas cinema when he was a youngster. His 2 bothers were also musicians. Christian began his musical career on the trumpet but due to a significant chest condition switched to the guitar at age 12. He also had some understanding of the bass and the piano. Following the family's relocation to Oklahoma City in 1921, Christian senior lost his sight. To make a living he ultimately ended up being a street artist accompanied by his three kids, Clarence on violin and mandolin, Edward on string bass, and Charlie on guitar.

Throughout the early 1930s, Charlie Christian played guitar in his brother Edward's band "The Jolly Jugglers". He first gained broader recognition for his obvious skill in 1937 when he signed up with The Anna Mae Winburn Orchestra. He then played in 1938 with The Alphonso Trent Sextet. Christian became captivated with the electric amplified guitar when he saw Eddie Durham, who played an early variation of the electric instrument. Christian chose to explore the electric amplified guitar. He soon mastered exactly what was then a brand-new instrument.

His reputation on the electric amplified guitar grew very swiftly and jazz enthusiasts came from everywhere to hear his new and pioneering guitar style. His amplified single note lines sounded sometimes like a tenor saxophone. Christian began to introduce numerous pioneering ideas into his jazz improvisations. He utilized augmented and diminished chords in a manner which in the not too remote future would change the world of jazz. His ideas were extremely individualistic and he was a great fan of Django Reinhardt's guitar approach. He enjoyed playing Reinhardt's improvised choruses, note-for-note, on numbers like "St. Louis Blues" and then include some of his own improvised choruses.

In 1939 while playing with The Leslie Sheffield Band he was heard by the influential jazz promoter, John Hammond. He had actually been encouraged by pianist May Lou Williams to travel to Oklahoma City to hear Charlie Christian. Hammond was so amazed he encouraged his brother-in-law, band leader Benny Goodman, to hear Christian. Goodman was originally reluctant to listen to the young guitar player but he eventually agreed to provide him an audition on August 16, 1939 in Los Angeles. It only took a couple of bars of Charlie Christian soloing on "Rose Room" for the fantastic clarinetist to recognize the young guitarist's remarkable ability. Christian was hired on the spot.

In the two years that followed Charlie Christian became a major influence, not only in The Benny Goodman Big Band and Sextet, but likewise on the history of jazz. After playing at night with the Goodman band, Christian would go on to play into the early hours of the morning at Minton's Jazz Club in Harlem. Here he played for hours on end, his creative improvisations straight up influencing other jazz musicians who visited the club including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Clarke, Joe Guy, and others. A few of these historical jam sessions luckily were tape-recorded for posterity by Jerry Newman.



Tragically the late nights and Christian's love of the New York night life did not help his health. He had actually experienced poor health for a lot of his life. In the spring of 1940 he was checked in to a medical facility where the medical diagnosis revealed that he had consumption. Despite the medical professionals' warnings he failed to take proper care of his health. In July 1941 he suffered a major relapse and went into The Seaview Sanitarium on Staten Island. He died there in March of 1942.

Peabody Conservatory trained guitarist Steven Herron is an expert on jazz guitar instruction. He has spent most of his adult life playing professionally at clubs and restaurants as well as teaching private students at his studio. Sign up now for his Free Chord Harmonizations Report and find out more about Charlie Christian solos.

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