Home » Music » Videos

3

Celebrating the Guitar Playing of Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian
Duration: 11:00

Many know of guitarist Charlie Christian, but how many have studied his playing or even listened to one of his solos? Christian could be considered the most influential jazz guitarist ever. He demonstrated how a guitar with a pickup and amplifier could compete with horn players in playing fast, loud lead lines and solos. In addition, he contributed mightily to the vocabulary of bebop, including the insertion of upper chord extensions. This icon was born on July 29, 1916, became known for his work with Benny Goodman starting 1939, and died at the age of 25. Since there seem to be no video recordings of Christian, we here present a video of current teacher Nathan Borton explaining Christian's approach on "Grand Slam." If you’re looking for the real thing from the master, search YouTube for "Stompin’ at the Savoy (1941) - Charlie Christian."

Posted by Scott Lichtman.

Buy Now


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Tags

Song of the Day

Blue Train
Matthew Alec
Benny's Tune
Nick Adema
Questar
Rez Abbasi
Bad Teeth
Neal Bowen

Popular

Armando Mi Conga
Irving Flores
Reinvented
Szymon Mika
Not Even Close
John Yao
Escher's Staircase
Junichiro Mataga
Leonardinho
Gabriel Rosati
Traveler
Daniel Casares

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.