Charlie Christian

Jazz guitarist, born in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was hired by bandleader Benny Goodman in 1939, playing mainly with the Goodman sextet rather than the big band. Christian pioneered the use of the amplified guitar as a solo instrument, freeing the guitar from a purely rhythmic role. He was one of the musicians whose after-hours sessions at Minton's Playhouse in New York City laid the basis of the bebop revolution. He died aged only 25 of TB and pneumonia.

Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian, 1939
Born	July 29, 1916 Bonham, Texas, USA
Died	March 2, 1942 New York City, New York, USA

Charlie Christian (29 July 1916 – 2 March 1942) was an American jazz guitarist.

Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop. In the late 1930s, he came to the attention of record producer John Hammond, who introduced Christian to bandleader Benny Goodman. Goodman hired Christian to play with the Goodman Sextet starting in 1939. Initially reluctant to hire Christian, due in part to the fact that electric guitar was a relatively new instrument, Goodman was so impressed by Christian's playing that he changed his mind.

The story of their meeting on August 16, 1939 is notable: an encounter that afternoon at the recording studio had not gone well, but Hammond decided to try again: without consulting Goodman, he installed Christian on the bandstand for that night's set at the Victor Hugo restaurant in Los Angeles.

Christian's solos are frequently referred to as "horn-like," and in that sense he was probably more influenced by horn players such as Lester Young than by early acoustic guitarists like Eddie Lang and jazz/bluesman Lonnie Johnson, although both had contributed to the expansion of the guitar's role from "rhythm section" instrument to a solo instrument. The single-note style of the Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt actually predates Christian's, at least in recordings, and Reinhardt's influence on Christian (and Christian's on Reinhardt) is apparent.

Guitarists who followed Christian and who were to varying degrees influenced by him include Mary Osborne, Oscar Moore (Nat King Cole trio), Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlow, and—a generation later—Jim Hall.

Christian paved the way for the modern electric guitar sound that was followed by other pioneers, including T-Bone Walker, Les Paul, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, B.B.

Though known mainly for his influence on electric guitar, Christian was also an important developer of bebop. With Goodman absent, Christian and the rest of the Sextet recorded "Blues in B" and "Waiting for Benny", which were basically bop jam sessions.

Christian contracted tuberculosis and pneumonia, and died at the age of 25, at what is now called the Old Seaview Hospital in Staten Island.