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SOLO FLIGHT THE CHARLIE CHRISTIAN LEGACY |
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CHARLIE CHRISTIAN
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To Charlie
The history of the electric guitar as an important jazz voice certainly begins with Charlie Christian. Fundamentally a swing player, he is nevertheless often considered a proto-bopper of sorts. Indeed, many of the most admirable elements of bop musicality – the soaring excursions beyond the confines of the familiar, the joyous sense of real-time discovery and delight, and that wonderful combination of “freshness” and “rightness” that distinguishes the playing of the great early boppers – are present in abundance in his work. The originality of his conception, the hard-driving swinging qualities of his sinuous lines, and the perfect marriage of tone and content in his playing are, in my opinion, unmatched to this day. Charlie Christian is deservedly considered the most influential electric jazz guitarist of his or any time, and listening to his recordings is always a blast.
– Walter Becker
The greatest inspiration in my musical career as an instrumentalist comes from Charlie Christian and his magnificent and unique approach to jazz guitar. I heard him when I was a young boy, and to this very day his mature sound and his ability to swing stick to me like glue. – George Benson
Charlie Christian had a depth of feeling that in my estimation nobody past or present has ever achieved. Besides being harmonically advanced for his era, the rhythmic time with which he played his notes set him apart from all others no matter what instrument they played.
– Herb Ellis,
Charlie Christian made music important to me... He was the one who got me going. I bought all the Goodman/Christian recordings and memorized Charlie’s choruses, playing them on a second-hand $14 guitar and a $20 amplifier.
– Tal Farlow
It’s been more than 30 years now since I first heard Charlie Christian, and every time I hear him I’m able to uncover a bit more. His music sounds deeper and deeper and more modern each time. The affect he’s had on the guitar is just staggering. I don’t think there’s one of us that has come along since that hasn’t been touched by him, whether we know it or not. And more important even than his guitar playing is what he accomplished as a musician. His musical ideas transcend the instrument. His music is timeless. – Bill Frisell
His playing reflected the influence of horn players and piano players filtered through the mind of a brilliant guitarist. Every guitarist who came after Charlie Christian that was at all influenced by “jazz,” was influenced by him whether they knew it or not. What he accomplished in such a short time, coupled with the fact that he died at 25 years of age, makes Charlie Christian the Jimi Hendrix of his generation.
– Warren Haynes
I had the fortune to work with Charlie Christian and he was more aggressive, forceful and louder than I was. I said to him: “You play loud” - not as a criticism or anything. He said: “I like to hear myself!”
– Barney Kessel
Charlie Christian was amazing. He was the guy who really brought the electric guitar solo to prominence. I first heard him around ‘41 or ‘42, when I was still in Indianola, Mississippi. He just knocked me out! I don’t think that there is a guitar player who has come along after him in the field of Jazz, Blues or Rock that hasn’t been influenced in some way by the genius of Charlie Christian. – B.B. King
No one swung like Charlie Christian. It’s safe to say that he was one of the founders of the bebop movement. You listen to what he was playing back then and you hear it still being played today... Charlie’s influence is everywhere!
– Russell Malone
That cat tore everybody’s head up. I never saw him in my life, but he said so much on records. I don’t care what instrument a cat played, if he didn’t understand and feel the things that Charlie Christian was doing, he was a pretty poor musician.
– Wes Montgomery
It all starts with him: Charlie Christian is The Father. In his all-too-brief time, Charlie changed the world of jazz, blues, and everything else besides. It is literally impossible to overstate the importance of his contribution to the development of jazz. His limitless stream of melodic ideas; the many blue shades of his pungently sad, sweet tone; and his irrepressible swing all continue to influence generations of guitarists. From Wes Montgomery to James Blood Ulmer, from Tal Farlow to Charlie Hunter: It all began with the first master of the electric guitar, Mr. Charlie Christian. – Vernon Reid
Every guitar player on Earth should sit down and listen to this set in its entirety. To witness pure genius, as it’s being created, Christian has done more for electric guitar, in his all too brief life, than anyone else before or since. As far as I’m concerned this set is the bible. – Duke Robillard
Charlie Christian was the first electric guitarist to go head to head, note for note with the horn players and hold his own. His single note improvisations invented the future of the electric guitar. – Joe Satriani
Miles Davis told me that he thought Charlie Christian was the original instigator of the bebop movement, Bird and Diz’s main influence. When you listen to his playing today. it’s still inspiring, fresh, harmonically and rhythmically advanced. I love the fact that the modern jazz movement seems to have been started by an electric guitarist! – John Scofield
Every guitar player, young and old, needs to go back and listen to Charlie Christian. The man single-handedly invented bebop, which is the backbone of modern music. His jazz chord styling and guitar solos were the forerunners of today’s modern jazz. How do I feel about Charlie Christian? My son, Charles Kahlil Trucks, is named for Charlie Christian. On electric guitar, he’s always been the one for me - the originator, the prime source. I don’t think anyone else comes close. The first time I heard him on record, it was like hearing Howlin’ Wolf for the first time. He had that kind of impact on me.
– Derek Trucks
Without Charlie Christian, jazz and blues wouldn’t sound the way they do today or be nearly as popular. Everybody might still be playing a banjo! – Jimmie Vaughan
He was the most amazing guitar player I ever seen in my life. He walked in the studio – he was a little late – and when he got there, they run down a couple of numbers and he jumped right in like he’d been rehearsing. Great guitar player!
– Aaron “T-Bone” Walker,
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