CD1
1. Stardust
2. I Got Rhythm
3. Stardust
4. Tea For Two
5. Rose Room
6. Flying Home
7. Haven't Named It Yet
8. Deep Sea Blues
9. Honeysuckle Rose
10. Seven Come Eleven
11. Flying Home
12. Pagin' The Devil
13. Good Mornin' Blues
14. Oh! Lady Be Good
15. All Star Strut
16. Till Tom Special
17. Gone With "What" Wind
18. The Sheik Of Araby
19. I Surrender Dear
20. Good Enough to Keep
CD2
1. Six Appeal
2. Ad Lib Blues
3. Charlie's Dream
4. Lester's Dream
5. Wholly Cats
6. Royal Garden Blues
7. Benny's Bugle
8. Breakfast Feud
9. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
10. I Found a New Baby
11. Profoundly Blue
12. Jammin' In Four
13. Solo Flight
14. I Hadn't Anyone Till You
15. Blues in B
16. A Smo-o-oth One
17. Good Enough to Keep
18. Up On Teddy's Hill
19. Stompin' at The Savoy
20. Swing to Bop
Collective personnel
Charlie Christian – Guitar
Benny Goodman, Edmund Hall – Clarinets
Lionel Hampton – Vibes, drums
Cootie Williams, Buck Clayton, Henry "Red"
Allen, Hot Lips Page, Shad Collins, Harry Edison,
Ed Lewis, Joe Guy, Alex Fila, Irving Goodman,
Jimmy Maxwell, Johnny Martell, Ziggy Elman,
Harry James – Trumpets
Benny Carter, Earl Bostic, Gus Bivona, Skippy
Martin, Georgie Auld, Earle Warren, Don Byas,
Kermit Scott, Eddie Miller, Lester Young, Buddy
Tate, Jerry Jerome, Toots Mondello, Pete Mondello,
Buff Estes, Buss Bassey, Bob Snyder, Jack Washington
– Saxophones
J. C. Higginbotham, Jack Teagarden., Cutty Cutshall,
Lou McGarity, Dickie Wells, Benny Morton, Dan
Minor, Vernon Brown, Ted Vesely, Red Ballard
- Trombones
Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Johnny Guarnieri,
Jess Stacy, Clyde Hart, James P. Johnson, Frankie
Hines, Pete Johnson, Joe Sullivan, Dudley "Duke"
Brooks, Kenny Kersey – Piano
Meade Lux Lewis - Celeste
Freddie Green - Guitar
Artie Bernstein, Oscar Pettiford, Walter Page,
Israel Crosby, Bob Haggart, Nick Fenton - Bass
Dave Tough, Sidney Catlett, Jo Jones, Nick Fatool,
Gene Krupa, Harry Jaeger, Kenny Clarke - Drums
Ida Cox – Vocals
In
1939, Duke Ellington employed a bassist in
his early twenties named Jimmy Blanton, who
revolutionised the use of the double bass
in jazz. It was a remarkably similar story
to that of Charlie Christian, a guitarist
in his early twenties, who was recruited by
Benny Goodman in 1939 and who revolutionised
guitar playing by popularising the electric
guitar. Even stranger was the fact that both
men died tragically early of tuberculosis
in 1942. In the space of three years, both
men contributed enormously to the future of
jazz, bringing their respective instruments
into the limelight and demonstrating new ways
of using them.
This
double CD is one of a series of 20 albums
from Le Chant du Monde, highlighting the work
of individual musicians. One useful feature
of the series is that tracks are arranged
in chronological order, so that listeners
can trace the development of each artist.
This album begins with a September 1939 radio
broadcast introducing "our new guitar
player" with the Benny Goodman Sextet.
Charlie Christian’s solo is daring, including
a quotation from Pretty Baby and demonstrating
how the electric guitar can cut through with
single-string lines. The next track has Charlie
with a quartet led by tenor-saxist Jerry Jerome.
Again, Charlie’s solos are impressively clear,
and we also hear how the chug-chug of his
rhythm playing makes quite an impact.
Of
course, Charlie Christian really made his
name with Benny Goodman, and the collection
consists mainly of his work with BG’s small
groups and big band (including his feature
on Solo Flight). There are also three
tracks from a Goodman septet which sounded
like a Basie small group because it contained
Buck Clayton, Lester Young and Count Basie.
The rhythm section was Basie’s familiar line-up,
so that you can hear Charlie Christian and
Freddie Green strumming side-by-side.
Count
Basie is also present on one of my favourite
tracks: a version of I Found a New Baby
by the Goodman Sextet, with a splendid riff
added behind the familiar melody, fine solos
all round and dynamic drumming from Jo Jones.
Another of my favourite recordings is the
album’s title track, caught when the group
was warming up in the studio and someone suggested
"Let’s play the blues in B" – a
challenging key which Christian negotiated
with aplomb. I’m sorry they haven’t included
the informal Waiting for Benny which
followed Blues in B in the studio,
as it has the qualities of a jam session where
musicians are just playing for pleasure –
but making superb music in the process.
At
any rate, this is a useful introduction to
the work of an influential jazz musician whose
innovations foreshadowed the bebop revolution.
You might even call Charlie Christian the
first guitar hero.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Le
Chant du Monde 274 1459
