Charlie Christian

Charles Henry Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. He was among the first electric guitarists and was a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in musical ensembles and bands.

• Christian wasn't the first jazz guitarist to use amplification (Eddie Durham, for one, beat him to it), but he brought the electric guitar into focus with his immense talent. Along with making the guitar a viable instrument in Goodman's style of swing, Christian was also a forerunner in the establishment of the musical language of bebop.
  • Nick Morrison of NPR (January 15, 2013) [1]

• When Charlie Christian got on the bandstand with Benny Goodman in 1939, he single-handedly propelled the electric guitar into the mainstream. Though he wasn’t the first guitarist to plug in and play electrified, Christian’s performances as a soloist on Goodman tracks like “Flying Home” and “Honeysuckle Rose” document the first instances that the electric guitar was used effectively as a lead instrument in a Big Band setting. The increased volume and sustain that amplification offered put the guitar on a level playing field with customary soloing instruments like the trumpet and saxophone, and Christian’s participation in early bebop jam sessions alongside such luminaries as Thelonius Monk and Dizzy Gillespie also makes him one of the founding fathers of the genre. Sadly, Christian died from tuberculosis at 26. HIs body of work inspired a generation of jazz guitar giants, including Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, Wes Montgomery, Tal Farlow and Jim Hall.
  • Dale Turner and Dave Rubin of Guitar Player (April 14, 2020) [2]

• For all his renown as the creator of modern-jazz guitar, Charlie Christian was a country boy. Steeped in the rich musical traditions of the American Southwest, he began to play almost as soon as he could walk, guiding his blind, guitarist father around Oklahoma City and entertaining with the family band. In his early teens, an encounter with tenor saxophonist Lester Young inspired him to cultivate single-note lines in the manner of a horn, rather than the guitar’s customary strumming. A crucial technological boost to Christian’s pioneering style was the development of amplification in the 1930s. By 1937, he was using an electric guitar and word of his extraordinary ability began to spread far beyond the local scene, leading to an invitation to audition for the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, in 1939. Despite an unfortunate first impression – Charlie appeared in a bright green suit with a purple shirt, yellow shoes and a ten-gallon hat – the new Benny Goodman Sextet came into being there and then. Jazz guitar would never be the same again.
  • Geoffrey Smith of BBC Music (March 19, 2024) [3]

• Every solo he plays, however brief, says something, with a captivating mixture of supple technique, bluesy authority and endless invention. You feel that his effortless flow of chromatic sophistication, twangy asides and visceral swing was constantly on tap.
  • Geoffrey Smith of BBC Music (March 19, 2024) [4]