Charlie Christian Tried to Play Hot Tenor!

by Amy Lee

It would be very strange, his playing so much electric guitar in Benny Goodman’s former quintet, his present septet, and winning guitar chair in Metronome’s All Star band, not to see Charlie Christian strumming right into the Hall of Fame.

 That he ever found playing electric guitar hard, as he says he did when he first started on it in 1937, is impossible to believe now.  The apparent ease with which he makes that box talk is potent proof of his talent and extraordinary command of the instruments resources.

Charlie was born and lived in Texas until he was two, so they tell him, and they toted him off to Oklahoma City.  When it came time, Charlie went to school, of course, and that was when music started bothering him.  And it bothered him so, he wanted to play tenor, but his teacher nixed that idea quick, being a disapprover of jazz.  Teacher wanted Charlie to play Something respectable and unjazzish – trumpet.  Charlie didn’t want play trumpet, so he didn’t play anything.

 –Following Pa’s Finger-steps

 Christian, Sr., played an instrument Charlie began thinking might be alright, guitar.  At the age of 12, he fell heir to his father’s two guitars, but figured he was still too small to play either of them.

About the time Charlie did venture some fretted experiments, his brother had organized a band.  In it was a guitar player from Chicago.  Charlie took some lessons from him, and “got going good from there” he says.  “After learning quite a bit, I began to put in my own ideas.”

When, at 15, Charlie “got a good little steady job in a little joint in Oklahoma City,” his brother was surprised;  he didn’t know Charlie could play that good.  After his Chicago guitar man left, Charlie’s brother even hired the kid for the spot.  Charlie stayed for awhile, then got out to work at “another little place.”  It was a fine little place, because he could jam with all the musicians from the big bands coming through.  They always stopped there.  Among others, he jammed with Cootie Williams, little thinking he’d ever work in the same band with him some day.

In 1936, Charlie returned to Texas, Dallas this time, to work.  Nothing much happened, so he came back to O. City with Alphonso Trent’s outfit.  He played some bass for Trent, and even had a chance to go with Andy Kirk as a bass man.  “But,” says Charlie logically, “I didn’t want to play bass. I wanted to play guit - ar.”

 –And Then to Bass

 That being that, he went with Trent to Deadwood, South Dakota, a wide open mining town.  Being in Deadwood he missed out on going to New York with Count Basie.

“Got kinda tiresome in Deadwood” Charlie remembers, “so I came back to Oklahoma City, and then I went to Omaha with Anna Mae Winburn’s band.  We did purty good there, and then we played around Minnesota and Illinois.”

Feeling by then he was getting nowhere once more, Christian returned home and organized his own little band.  He had also contacted Teddy Wilson with the hope of joining Teddy.

 –And Then to Goodman

 Came July, 1939, to O. City and John Hammond, on his way to Los Angeles with B.G.  Having heard about Charlie from Mary Lou Williams, he stopped off to hear the sometimes-bass man, all-the-time guitar man.  After hearing, Hammond put it up to him, “How would you like to go with Benny Goodman?”

“Fine!” answered Charlie right away.

John went along, and a few days later Charlie got a wire to join Benny in L.A.

“I was so nervous and everything,” Charlie says.  “Benny sent everyone home from rehearsal, and then he asked me to play for him.  So there we were, just the two of us, and I was so nervous with him just sittin’ there lookin’ at me, I couldn’t hardly play at all.  I guess neither of us liked what I played, but anyways he asked me to come that night to Victor Hugo’s where the band was working.  So I sat in out there, and I was still nervous.  But Benny kept smiling and things went better after that.

“And looks like we’re getting ‘bout to the end now.”

The end of the talk, yet only to the beginning of the success Charlie Christian is striking out of those guitar strings for himself.  He plays rhythm with the seeming strength of a drummer, and gets off on hot solos as he might have on a tenor.  His slow choruses are full of melodic beauty, woven simply and unostentatiously;  his fast ones, full of nimble improvising which both startles and delights.

Yes, an electric guitar, under Charlie Christian’s touch, sends out continuous high-powered shocks, which leave only good effects on listeners and fellow-performers.