Biography:

Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. He was among the first electric guitarists and was a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in musical ensembles and bands.

Early life

Christian was born in Bonham, Texas. His family moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, when he was a small child. His parents were musicians. He had two brothers: Edward, born in 1906, and Clarence, born in 1911. Edward, Clarence, and Charlie were all taught music by their father, Clarence Henry Christian. Clarence Henry was struck blind by fever, and in order to support the family he and the boys worked as buskers, on what the Christians called “busts.” He would have them lead him into the better neighborhoods, where they would perform for cash or goods. When Charles was old enough to go along, he first entertained by dancing.^[1] Later he learned to play the guitar, inheriting his father’s instruments upon his death when Charles was 12.^[2]

He attended Douglass School in Oklahoma City, where he was further encouraged in music by an instructor, Zelia N. Breaux. Charles wanted to play tenor saxophone in the school band, but she insisted he try trumpet instead.^[2] As he believed playing the trumpet would disfigure his lip, he quit to pursue his interest in baseball, at which he excelled.^[3]

In a 1978 interview with biographer Craig McKinney, Clarence Christian said that in the 1920s and 1930s, Edward Christian led a band in Oklahoma City as a pianist and had a shaky relationship with the trumpeter James Simpson. Around 1931, Simpson instructed guitarist “Bigfoot” Ralph Hamilton to secretly school the younger Charles in jazz. Hamilton taught him to solo on three songs, “Rose Room“, “Tea for Two“, and “Sweet Georgia Brown“. When the time was right, he took Charles to one of the many after-hours jam sessions along “Deep Deuce” in Oklahoma City, where Edward’s band was performing, and after some encouragement, Edward allowed Charles to play. Edward was surprised that Charles knew the tunes, which were well received by the club.^[4]

Charles soon was performing locally and on the road throughout the Midwest, including states as far away as North Dakota and Minnesota. By 1936 he was playing electric guitar and had become a regional attraction. According to the record producer John Hammond, Christian jammed with many of the big-name performers traveling through Oklahoma City, including Teddy Wilson , Art Tatum, and Mary Lou Williams, the pianist for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy.^[5]

Career

National fame

In 1939, Christian auditioned for John Hammond, who recommended him to bandleader Benny Goodman, who was only the fourth white bandleader to feature Black musicians in his live band. Goodman had previously heard electric guitarists Leonard Ware and Floyd Smith, among others, and he unsuccessfully tried to buy Smith’s contract from bandleader Andy Kirk.^[4]

There are multiple accounts of Christian and Goodman’s first meeting. The former recalled in a 1940 article in Metronome magazine, “I guess neither one of us liked what I played.” Despite this, Christian claimed that Goodman invited him to a show that evening. According to another account, Hammond decided to install Christian as the band’s guitarist without consulting Goodman.^[6]

Goodman’s band, including Christian on guitar, played that night at Victor Hugo restaurant in Los Angeles. The bandleader called “Rose Room”, a tune he assumed Christian did not know. However, Christian knew the tune and took an unprecedented twenty choruses of improvisation; Goodman hired him as a member of the band as a result. In the course of a few days, Christian went from making $2.50 a night to $150 a week.^[7]

Christian joined the newly formed Goodman Sextet in September 1939, which included Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Bernstein and Nick Fatool.^[8]

Amateur recordings made in September 1939 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Jerry Newhouse, a Goodman aficionado, capture the newly hired Christian while on the road with Goodman and feature Goodman’s tenor sax player Jerry Jerome and then-local bassist Oscar Pettiford. Taking multiple solos, Christian shows much the same improvisational skills later captured on the Minton’s and Monroe’s recordings in 1941, suggesting that he had already matured as a musician.^[7] The Minneapolis recordings include “Stardust“, “Tea for Two“, and “I’ve Got Rhythm“, the latter a favorite of bop composers and jammers.^[9]

By February 1940, Christian dominated the jazz and swing guitar polls and was elected to the Metronome All Stars. In the spring of 1940, Goodman laid off most of his band, but he retained Christian, and in the fall of that year Goodman led a sextet with Christian, Count Basie, longtime Duke Ellington trumpeter Cootie Williams, former Artie Shaw tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and later drummer Dave Tough. This all-star band dominated the jazz polls in 1941, including another election to the Metronome All Stars for Christian.

His work on the Goodman sextet sides “Soft Winds”, “Till Tom Special”, and “A Smo-o-o-oth One” show his use of few well-placed melodic notes. His work on the Sextet’s recordings of the ballads “Stardust“, “Memories of You“, “Poor Butterfly“, “I Surrender Dear” and “On the Alamo” and his work on “Profoundly Blue” with the Edmond Hall Celeste Quartet (1941) show hints of what was later called cool jazz.^[10][11] Although credited for very few, Christian composed many of the original tunes recorded by the Benny Goodman Sextet.^[12]

Credits:

Wikipedia