Bit of a background on Charlie Christian to start the evening off he was born 29th of July in 1916 and Bonham Texas and he grew up in Oklahoma City his family was poor His father was blind and got by as an itinerant guitarist singer and he had 2 brothers that also were musically inclined and too poor to buy a guitar he fashioned one out of cigar boxes in the early thirty's he worked professionally with the regional bands in the Oklahoma City area and as early as 1937 he was experimenting with electrical amplification on his guitar. Song coming up here is all star struck and that would be with the metronome all star 9 recorded 7 February 1940 in New York City Charlie Christian and live tracks. Who's who's. Who's who's who's. Who's who's who who's who's come. Home. Who's. Who's. Who's. Who's. 8th. 8th. 2. 1001008 . 180. 8818. 8. Some . 2000. Soon. Can. You can come 2 from Charlie Christian early in his career 2nd line Tea for 2 with a Charlie Christian quintet. That song recorded 21 September 19th 39 in Minneapolis Minnesota at the Harlem Breakfast Club and that song there was recorded as part of 3 tracks issued for the 1st time on this album and they were from privately cut acetate discs at a Minneapolis club and they were recorded by Jerry Newhouse who was a disc jockey up there with the reasons makes him so interesting versus some of the other recordings are a little bit more high fidelity his use given time to stretch out and fully develop some solos he was known for and his life work and started out there with the all star strut and that was from the metronome all star 9 and while Charlie Christian played prominently with Benny Goodman. On that song they're the metronome all star 9 comprised Harry James on trumpet Jack Teagarden on trombone many good men on clarinet many Carter on alto saxophone Eddie Miller on tenor saxophone. And Jess Stacy on piano Charlie Christian on amplified guitar Baba header on bass and Gene Krupa on drums recorded New York 7 February 19th 40 those songs give some indication of Charlie Christian playing a amplified guitar guitar was very rarely used in jazz or really any other means except for in folk music and things like that because he really couldn't compete with the brass instruments. Charlie Christian was one of the 1st to work with amplified electric guitar sounds and his ability as a guitarist stood out to the point where in 1939 at the urging of Mildred Bailey he was heard playing at the Ritz cafe in Oklahoma City by John Hammond who flew out especially to hear him John Hammond had just recently signed Benny Goodman to the Columbia label. And Goodman was heading out to California for his 1st recording session with Columbia and was reluctant to even give a listen to Charlie Christian because he didn't like the idea of an amplified guitar and so what John Hammond did next I'm going to read in his own words he says here. Benny Goodman took one look at Charlie decided he did not like what he saw and paid him no more attention this is out there in Los Angeles the session was not going very well and Benny was particularly nervous because he was opening that night in a brand new restaurant in Beverly Hills called Victor Hugo at the end of the session there was porch early sitting in the corner with his guitar and amplifier so I asked Benny to please listen to Charlie who had come some 1500 miles and he said he really didn't have time but surely by this time I'd gotten his guitar out of its case and so Goodman says play some chords of tea for 2 and I'll play with you Needless to say amplifier wasn't up so Goodman and yet much of a chance to hear Charlie So here's what John Hammond did the band and everybody else was rather and raged at Benny Goodman behavior and so he said let's fix him John one of the other band members I just saw the schedule there's a dinner break for the band between 830 and 930 will sneak Charlie into the kitchen while Benny is eating and so that's what they did and he called about 20 musicians and fans that he knew in Hollywood to be there at the bar. And the 1st and the 1st set ended Benny Goodman went to eat his dinner and when he got back to the bandstand he was flustered to see the teenage Charlie Christian looking up at him with a shy grin amplifier all a man attached and ready to go now Hammond goes on to say didn't think his future with Benny Goodman was to secure this point has been he was getting pretty mad so Goodman thought of all throw rose room madam which is a song he didn't believe Charlie Christian would know not only did he know it. But that particular version of rose room took some 48 minutes to play Charlie played no less than $24.00 choruses none the same each one more inventive than the one before and the room went nuts on piano you had Fletcher Henderson on vibes you had Lionel Hampton on drums Nick for tool. Needless to say Vin Benny Goodman was impressed and he asked him on the spot to go ahead and join his band and hear few cuts now from the Benny Goodman sextet and I'm going to start out with the song the rose room this is live tracks Katie Artie. I know. At end. Of. The in. The. Old. Over. The years. To come. To the us. From. Home. Oh. Oh. Oh oh. And that is Charlie Christian playing with the Benny Goodman sex test. At the last song you heard 6 appeal recorded 20 June 1940 in New York City I believe in moments no I'm sorry I would have been 20 June 1980 and Los Angeles and before that you heard I Can't Give You Anything But Love Again the Benny Goodman sex tete is recorded in New York 1000 December 1940 and before that was the actual whole song rose room recorded the 2nd of October 1939 the one that Charlie Christian made his coming out debut with Benny Goodman down there in Los Angeles and my mistake played the wrong song starting out that set they all work recorded 7 November 1940 in New York the song Holy cats. In the Benny Goodman sextet now the Benny Goodman sextet would change around so I'm not going to go ahead and read the lineup on every single one of those different versions of it but for instance with Holy cats you would have had Count Basey on piano Cudi Williams on trumpet and then with. The song rose room you would have had Lionel Hampton on vibes Fletcher Henderson on piano Charlie Christian on of course the guitar and Artie Bernstein on bass and Nick for tool on drums so would change around a little bit depending on who was playing with him. Another person who did that was Louis Armstrong he'd have his hot 5 Hot 7 things like that and have different lineups depending on who was available so. After his start with the Benny Goodman group one thing Benny Goodman was known for and very very popular for was his entire orchestra Goodman always felt that he wanted to have that intimate feel of a smaller group a sex Tet things like that even with the orchestra he would try and get that and so I'm going to play now 2 cats with the full Benny Goodman orchestra and Charlie Christian on guitar we're going to start out with the very well known and what the album is named for solo flight k t r t l p live tracks Dave's California. Eh . Eh eh eh. Eh eh. Eh. Eh eh. Eh eh. Eh eh. I am. Doing. Anything. RINGBACK READY to. Eat. Anything. To eat. The. Economy. They were at the end of the f. O x k. O f. O f. The s. And the weekend. Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman orchestra 2 songs there started out with solo flight and he did America's true record 4th of March 1941 and playing with the orchestra that evening Irving Goodman on trumpet among others and you had Benny Goodman of course on clarinet and Johnny Garnier on piano or you Bernstein on bass and Dave tough on drums amongst others and then rounded that set out their small set with the very well known Honeysuckle Rose recorded on the 22nd of November in 1939 in New York. And Honeysuckle Rose. Line up on that was with the Benny Goodman orchestra and see if I can find anyone different on that one we would have had a little bit of a change in line up red Ballard for instance would have been on trombone. Fletcher Henderson was playing piano on that one so little bit of this little bit of that with Benny Goodman Marcus try. And I'm going to round out Charlie Christian's career a little bit in abbreviated fashion while Christian was touring with Benny Goodman he pursued new musical developments and became an important member of the underground jazz movement which eventually came to be known as bebop and it was this penchant for wanting to explore that led him to the electric Capitol 5 guitar going with and then also into jazz movement that. Unfortunately he didn't get to participate in having passed away young and I will come back to the end of this but 1st before we go too much further heads here a couple of songs that maybe played the bidding good been sextet may be played with other line ups trying to get 2 or 3 of them in here anyway this 1st one I'm starting off with was recorded almost exactly. 70 years ago in 1900 to Simberg 1940 this is with the Benny Goodman sextet and the song is Gilly. The would. Be. The end of the earth. The week. The end. Of. The Earth. The Earth. But. To. Do. That it's a. Good thing. To. Do the you know. Whom. The. New. Thank. Ah. With both the road for the sake. Of. The bit but the big. Big bag the book The big boost to. The boys in the book Bit by bit by Cavuto with both bought both sides bought by the big boss the boobs with those with. The food bags and the and those with big bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb the good news. This is. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. God and all that was shown to it was was. That a I was that was. The end. It. Was a. Was. The biggest the end to it shut up to it. And that was Charlie Christian with Charlie Christian Jammer's song Waiting for Benny. Started out that set with Gilly Benny Goodman and his sextet provided 1000 December 1940 almost exactly 70 years ago in New York City. Followed that with a song from 16 April 1940 boy meets go away I don't know it's not a I don't think that's a misprint like that's maybe the Brooklyn slaying boy meets girl boy Benny Goodman on clarinet Lionel Hampton on vibes Johnny Garnier on piano Christian on guitar Artie Bernstein on bass Nick for tool on drums and we recorded 16 April 1940. And like I was saying finished are with waiting for Benny waiting for Benny recorded 13 March 1941 which is significant I will go into that in just a moment it was Charlie Christian on guitar Cudi Williams on trumpet George sent a lot like Louis Armstrong to any George Auld on tenor saxophone and Johnny Carney area on piano and Artie Bernstein on bass Dave tough on drums Well March of 1941 played a significant role in Charlie Christian's life while he toured with Benny Goodman and was pursuing these new musical developments apart from playing music whenever and wherever he could he indulged in alcohol and promiscuity behavior by many accounts he rarely slept and by the middle of 1941 was seriously ill with tuberculosis and his hospital his friends decided to continue their numerous parties at his bedside and this led to the early death of Charlie Christian from tuberculosis he died on the 2nd of March 1942 and by my count that made him just shy of 26 years old. Dylan musicians describe his style of guitar playing as quote brilliantly inventive with deceptively simple single line solos and intuitive player. Known to play at Minton's which was the cutting edge of bebop in New York City where people would come to play with the house musicians house musicians were so good that they wouldn't tolerate somebody who wasn't just anything but the top of the heap and so they would change time signatures and frames and things like that keys they do anything they could to throw the poor guy out of the audience back into the audience and Charlie Christian was playing along with them whenever he could in fact evidently he was playing at Minton's shortly before he passed away . So Charlie Christian highlighted here for the 1st hour on k d r t n live tracks. Inventive player one of the 1st to come out with an amplified electric guitar sound and when I listen to that I hear a lot of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins and guitar players like that a very simple yet defined picking style almost with the guitar going to go out with one more song here while I get myself set up for the Alternative Christmas hour you're tuned to k.d. r t L p here in Davis California 95.7 or k d r t dot o.-r. G. If you're listening in on the web and this is live tracks song coming at you now memories of you recorded 22 November 1939 in New York City. Charlie Christian also know Don that the man who discovered.