Although there were guitarists who had played amplified guitars before him, it was jazz musician Charlie Christian who established the electric guitar as a serious proposition.
He developed the style of single-note, melodic electric guitar playing that placed the instrument on a par with the saxophone, trumpet, clarinet a rhythmic percussive style with diminished and augmented chord structure in an original way that gave birth to what he and his co-innovators called “modern” jazz though the form has since become widely known as “bop” or “behop”
It is widely thought that Charles Christian was born inDallas,Texas, in 1919. His father was a singer-guitarist. The Christian family moved toOklahomawhen Charlie was just two years old.
His interest in music began by playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, but he also learned to play acoustic guitar, double bass and piano, though not necessarily in that order. It was a double-bass player that Christian got his first professional gig with Alphonso Trent’s bans in 1934. He played in several other bands before coming into contact with Eddie Durham in 1937.
Durhamwas an arranger, trombonist and pioneering electric guitarist with Count Basie. Christian had been impressed withDurham’s electric guitar work, and also by that of Floyd Smith who had been playing an amplified Hawaiian guitar. When he metDurham, he quizzed him on his playing technique. At the time Christian did nor own a guitar, and whenDurhamtold him to get one of his own, he turned up with an extremely rough instrument for which he paid five dollars.Durhamwas amused by the instrument but impressed with Christian’s desire to learn and his instant ability to assimilate all he was shown.
By 1938 Christian had acquired an “Electric Spanish” Gibson ES-150 guitar, which he most likely used in conjunction with a Gibson amplifier. The guitar was the first model sold complete with a fitted magnetic pick-up. Suitably equipped, he rejoined Al Trent’s band, but this time as a guitar player. The response to his playing, from both audiences and musicians, combined astonishment with admiration.
By the time he was discovered by the jazz entrepreneur John Hammond, Christian had become something of a local hero inOklahoma.Hammondthought that Christian would be a perfect addition to Benny Goodman’s small group, and flew him toCalifornia. Christian Stayed with Goodman until his death less than two years later.
In July of 1941, following two years of intensive activity – the period in which the majority of his best-known recordings were made – Christian collapsed and was admitted to Bellevue Hospital, New York. He was suffering from tuberculosis. During early 1942, while convalescing as Seaview hospital, Staten Island, he contracted pneumonia. He died on 2nd march 1942.
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