CURRENT WEEKLY DISCOVERIES

.... from the history and world of music

 

 

THIS WEEK...

 

ME! LIVE AT BIRDLAND

 

This is me...

I sang "Sweet Lorraine" on a Monday in July at Birdland, West 44th Street, New York.

 

CHARLIE CHRISTIAN

gg

The first and last word in electric jazz guitar is Charlie Christian. His essential sound is well shown by this live version of "Stomping At The Savoy", at Minton's in Harlem, 1941.

Stomping at The Savoy

 

Christian's fame began with a 45 minute public jam with Benny Goodman of this tune, "Rose Room":

Rose Room

 

At the same session (in October, 1939) as this studio recording of "Rose Room", the group also recorded the Christian classic "Flying Home"--Charlie wrote the tune, the brilliant famous riff, but Hampton and Goodman put their names in the sacred writers' brackets too.

Flying Home

 

The annual Metronome All Stars 1939 gathering obviously had to include Christian, as the great new discovery. Here is the All Stars recording of Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose"

Honeysuckle Rose

Other musicians present were Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins, Count Basie, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey (Dorsey meets Christian?!), and new powerhouse drum sensation Buddy Rich.

 

Modern jazz developed in the hot house of Minton's, and the suitably (later) titled "Swing To Bop" is a jam that illustrates the change in this music. Christian was an essential part of the change Minton's, along with the drummer Kenny Clarke and the pianist on many jams of the time, one Thelonius Monk.

Swing To Bop

 

Meanwhile, in his day job with Benny Goodman, Christian was making more records. Here is a jam called "Blues In B", an example of the challenges the musicians set themselves--who plays in B?

Blues In B

 

The early '40s saw some brilliant records by the Goodman Sextet, some with Count Basie at the keys. A classic is "Airmail Special":

Airmail Special

The music here at times seems classical or impressionist.

ggg2

The septet (with the Basie rhythm section) in the studio

 

To SEE what (most likely) happened on Christian's fret board during these records, there are these interesting Youtube clips by a current day guitar player:

Solo Flight

Grand Slam

I Found A New Baby

 

 

http://www.jazzdisco.org/charlie-parker/discography/session-index/

 

 

 

Comment on this post or any other musical area

HTML Comment Box is loading comments...

 

 

 

Clips: the brilliant Youtube.com

Photographs: Wikipedia/Myspace/Mymusicdiscovery

Copyright Mymusicdiscovery 2006- All Rights Reserved