CHRISTIAN CHARLIE, THE BEST OF. LICKS. SHEET MUSIC BOOK WITH CD & GUITAR TABLATURE.
A Step-by-Step Breakdown of the Styles and Techniques of the Father of Modern Jazz Guitar
LIBRO METODO DI MUSICA JAZZ CON CD.
SPARTITI PER CHITARRA CON:
ACCORDI, PENTAGRAMMA, TABLATURE.
TECNICA,
Series: Signature Licks
Book & CD Package - TAB
Artist: Charlie Christian
Arranger: Wolf Marshall
Explore the riffs, solos and sounds of the original electric jazz guitar virtuoso with this comprehensive book/CD pack! Wolf Marshall uses excerpts from 15 of Christian's classics to demonstrate his groundbreaking techniques, including: Air Mail Special -Benny's Bugle -Good Enough to Keep (Air Mail Special) -Grand Slam -Honeysuckle Rose -I've Found a New Baby (I Found a New Baby) -Seven Come Eleven -Shivers - Solo Flight -Stardust -Wholly Cats, and more. Includes an introduction and foreword, and a Charlie Christian biography and axology. 64 pages.
LIBRO DI MUSICA JAZZ CON CD.
SPARTITI PER CHITARRA CON:
ACCORDI, PENTAGRAMMA, TABLATURE.
THE BENNY GOODMAN SEXTET, FEATURING CHARLIE CHRISTIAN (1939-1941)
(Columbia CK CK 45144) "Stardust," "A Smooth One”.
CHARLIE CHRISTlAN- THE GENIUS OF THE ELECTRIC GUITAR. (columbia CK 40846)
“Seven Come Eleven,” “Till Tom Special,” “Grand Slam,” “Six Appeal,” “Benny's Bugle,”
“I've Found a New Baby (I Found a New Baby),” ''Solo Flight,” “Air Mail Special.”
CHARLIE CHRISTIAN (The Best of Jazz 4032- The Swing Era). "Honeysuckle Rose,"
"Shivers," "Gone with 'What' Wind," "Wholly Cats."
Charles Henry (Charlie) Christian was born in Bonham, Texas on July 29, 1916, into a musical family. His father, Clarence James Christian, played trumpet in a silent movie theater, while his mother, Willie Mae, accompanied him on the piano. Christian had two older brothers-Edward and Clarence. Both were musically inclined, though to a lesser extent than Charlie. In 1918, the Christian family moved from the Dallas area to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. There, during the early 1920s, he attended elementary grades in the Douglass School, which had an extensive music program. Interestingly, this coincided with the first known experiments of the amplified "electric" guitar. At this time, Christian took informal guitar lessons from his father, but dropped the instrument when his father died in 1926. A couple of years later, he briefly took up the trumpet to play in the school band. Christian's interest in the guitar was revived in 1928, and it is thought that his earliest jazz influence was instilled a year later when tenor saxophonist Lester Young arrived in Kansas City. Young's linear style had a strong effect on Christian, who remained a permanent "addict" to his music and was known to scat sing his solos throughout his life. Christian's first public performance as a guitarist was in 1930 at around age fourteen, when he sat in with the Don Redman Orchestra at Honey Murphy's Club in Oklahoma City. He took solos on "Sweet Georgia Brown," "Tea For Two," and "Rose Room"-most likely holding his guitar up to a microphone. In 1933, Christian began to study guitar with Ralph "Big-Foot Chuck" Hamilton. He learned to read music and some basic music theory. Christian introduced his friend T-Bone Walker to Hamilton, who taught them together. Hamilton played in the typical chordal style of the period, and it is doubtful that he had any influence on either Christian's or Walker's single-note solo approach. During this time, Walker and Christian, while learning together, played shows as a duo alternating on bass and guitar. In 1934, Christian secured his first professional music job with the Alphonso Trent band as a bassist. The group toured throughout the area, playing venues in Kansas City, Dallas, Fort Worth, Little Rock, and Tulsa. In the next three years, Christian also played with The Jolly Jugglers (with his brother Edward), toured the Southwest with the Anna Mae Winburn Orchestra, and worked with the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra in St. Louis. In his travels he probably encountered Delta blues players, as well as western swing bands, which were now regularly featuring amplified steel guitars and soloists who used a swingbased single-note style. A breakthrough occurred in 1937. Back in Oklahoma City, Christian was playing piano and met Count Basie's guitarist Eddie Durham, who is credited with having recorded one of the earliest amplified guitar solos. Christian was immediately enthralled with the electric guitar and sought Durham out for some basic pointers. Durham later remarked, "I never saw anyone learn so fast, nor have I seen anyone rise to the top so quickly." Soon after the meeting, Christian bought his first electric guitar and began to assemble the components of his horn-like approach. By 1938, he was touring as an electric guitarist with Alphonso Trent's Septet and worked at The Dome in Bismarck, North Dakota. There, he was heard by jazz guitarist Mary Osborne. She recalled that it was "the most startling thing" she ever heard, and that it sounded like a distorted saxophone. Osborne further recalled that Christian played Django Reinhardt's difficult "St. Louis Blues" note for note, and many of the figures he worked into his solos evolved later into Benny Goodman tunes like "Seven Come Eleven" and "Gone with 'What' Wind." At that time, a local music store displayed the Gibson ES- 150 with a sign reading "As featured by Charlie Christian." Christian was, by this point, a regional hero. In July 1939, jazz and blues impresario and producer John Hammond became aware of Charlie Christian. Acting on a tip from singer Mary Lou Williams, Hammond flew to Oklahoma to hear the guitarist. He then arranged an audition in Los Angeles for swing clarinetist Benny Goodman, who was becoming interested in the electric guitar as an ensemble instrument. Goodman was initially unimpressed when he heard Christian comp unamplified rhythm guitar behind "Tea For Two" and further dubbed him "an impossible rube." Later, Hammond sneaked Christian onto the bandstand for an impromptu jam session with the Benny Goodman Quintet at the Victor Hugo Restaurant. The group played an extended jam on "Rose Room," during which Christian matched Goodman riff for riff and improvised over twenty choruses. He was hired on the spot for $150 a week to play with the Benny Goodman Sextet and relocated to New York City. Christian's influential recordings began in late 1939. He recorded extensively with the Goodman Sextet, Septet, and Orchestra, as well as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, and participated in the historic Carnegie Hall jazz concert Spirituals to Swing. These sessions marked the formal genesis of modern jazz guitar. Christian's stirring performances on pieces such as "Air Mail Special," "Seven Come Eleven," "Honeysuckle Rose," and the epic "Solo Flight" argue the case convincingly. During his association with Goodman, Christian became one of the biggest names of the swing era. Not content to rest on his laurels and enjoy the fruits of his newfound stardom and accolades, he pushed the envelope further. In 1940, Christian was part of the milieu at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, and as such foreshadowed the arrival of the bebop idiom along with early luminaries of the genre Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, and Kenny Clarke. Christian went so far as to purchase an amplifier to be kept on the premises for his regular after-hours jams. Plagued with respiratory problems his entire life and unwilling to scale down a demanding lifestyle, Christian succumbed to tuberculosis and died on March 2, 1942. In retrospect, his contributions are profound and inescapable. During a period of less than three years, Christian had emerged from total obscurity to produce a copious body of material that forever altered the course of music. Legendary jazz guitarist Barney Kessel is one of few guitarists to have actually played with Charlie Christian during his short career. On August 22,2001, I visited Barney at his home in San Diego, CA, and during our time together discussions naturally turned to Charlie. He graciously offered his memories...
Songlist:
Table of contents
A Smooth One
Air Mail Special
Benny's Bugle
Gone With 'What' Wind
Good Enough To Keep (Air Mail Special)
Grand Slam
Honeysuckle Rose
I've Found A New Baby (I Found A New Baby)
Seven Come Eleven
Shivers
Six Appeal
Solo Flight
Stardust
Till Tom Special
Wholly Cats