Maybe the "coolest" soloist of all time. So fluent,confident,and seemingly effortless.Like Clifford Brown,Bird,Lee Morgan,and a bunch of others,Christian's early demise makes one wonder what he would've done if he had lived on....Well,the music he left us certainly has....and will continue to.
Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar, on Columbia, is the Number One album of all time -- no kidding. When I first got this, It didn't come out of my CD player for six months! Music doesn't get any beter than this. These guys, mostly LEGENDS, swung HARD on every cut, and it sounds as fresh now (70 years later!!) as it did the day they played it. And yes, Nick Fatool is one of the great unsung jazz drummers -- His kicks and "bombs" on these tunes are immortal Long live the BG6!
Charlie plays with such authority on this he makes the other musicians - except Cootie - sound a tad uninspired. That could be due to the fairly crude recording technique, I suppose. Was the drummer Gene Krupa?
@zthetha I dug through my cds to check and it was indeed Nick Fatool on this session. He was an excellent drummer that got little notoriety, even though he played with numerous big bands and small groups
@zthetha I find little about this recording technique "crude." The balance of the instruments is fine and the ambiance of the instruments playing in a "space" is quite natural. Frequency response, while not as good as today, is more than adequate and so is the damping.
@zthetha This is an alternate to a more widely issued take; on that one Williams' playing is better; also, Goodman makes a mistake on this one; he makes a false entry near the end of the record.
It's on "Genius of the Electric Guitar" by Charlie Christian. I think there may be two records with that title, but the one you want is the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces one. It has Charlie on the cover wearing a tux and holdiing a guitar.
actually pretty easy, his guitar would be REALLY bad by today's standard but he was playing on one of the first guitars. a tubed amp with some humbuckers, should do the trick.
I think single coil pickups in a hollow body guitar would do better for the Charlie Christian tone than humbuckers. Heck there are even Charlie Christian pickups still being made by Jason Lollar and a couple of others.
Happy to see this song is still being kept alive in the repertoire of western swing (version by the Quebe Sisters Band@AC&T 2011, on YouTube)
georget467 5 months ago
Maybe the "coolest" soloist of all time. So fluent,confident,and seemingly effortless.Like Clifford Brown,Bird,Lee Morgan,and a bunch of others,Christian's early demise makes one wonder what he would've done if he had lived on....Well,the music he left us certainly has....and will continue to.
postatility 9 months ago
are any videos of charlie out there?
twev30theprince 1 year ago
jet stream!
youphoto 1 year ago
Thanks!
asdfhuk 1 year ago
Charlie Christian - Genius of the Electric Guitar, on Columbia, is the Number One album of all time -- no kidding. When I first got this, It didn't come out of my CD player for six months! Music doesn't get any beter than this. These guys, mostly LEGENDS, swung HARD on every cut, and it sounds as fresh now (70 years later!!) as it did the day they played it. And yes, Nick Fatool is one of the great unsung jazz drummers -- His kicks and "bombs" on these tunes are immortal Long live the BG6!
JimmyDeLocke 1 year ago 4
Charlie plays with such authority on this he makes the other musicians - except Cootie - sound a tad uninspired. That could be due to the fairly crude recording technique, I suppose. Was the drummer Gene Krupa?
zthetha 1 year ago
@zthetha Krupa had left to form his own band by the time Charlie joined Goodman. I'd have to look it up but this may be Nick Fatool on drums
drumuitar 1 year ago
@drumuitar I am grateful for your erudition.
zthetha 1 year ago
@zthetha I dug through my cds to check and it was indeed Nick Fatool on this session. He was an excellent drummer that got little notoriety, even though he played with numerous big bands and small groups
drumuitar 1 year ago
@drumuitar He certainly keeps it driving with swing and bounce in an almost understated way, doesn't he? Excellent drummer - thanks again for info.
zthetha 1 year ago
@zthetha I find little about this recording technique "crude." The balance of the instruments is fine and the ambiance of the instruments playing in a "space" is quite natural. Frequency response, while not as good as today, is more than adequate and so is the damping.
So what, specifically, do you find crude?
SatchmoSings 9 months ago
@zthetha This is an alternate to a more widely issued take; on that one Williams' playing is better; also, Goodman makes a mistake on this one; he makes a false entry near the end of the record.
SatchmoSings 9 months ago
That's Cootie Williams on trumpet and Georgie Auld on sax, not Harry James and Lester Young.
BSempervirens 1 year ago
The trumpeter is Harry James? Amazing sordine sounds.
GEternalBraid 1 year ago
Loved it!!!!!
312827JCK 1 year ago
this guy is awesome....so is eldon shamblin....same birthplace, same era
turnagegp 1 year ago
Please some tell me where I can get this album from these dudes are swinging ...by chance is that Lester Young on the Sax
Gullahboy 1 year ago
@Gullahboy
It's on "Genius of the Electric Guitar" by Charlie Christian. I think there may be two records with that title, but the one you want is the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces one. It has Charlie on the cover wearing a tux and holdiing a guitar.
drouhin 1 year ago
the solo doesn't seem to be in any scale or mode that I know of. I'd like to figure out what he's playing in.
lickedhand 2 years ago
bebop scale?
Hitamaru 2 years ago
@lickedhand to me it sounds like it's in C
xp0ferens 2 years ago
Isn't it said to be impossible to get the exact same tone as Charlie used to play in?
PoliticalFrustration 2 years ago
actually pretty easy, his guitar would be REALLY bad by today's standard but he was playing on one of the first guitars. a tubed amp with some humbuckers, should do the trick.
Hitamaru 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
i heard it was the first
kalpal67 2 years ago
Some say first others say second. whoever marked your comment as spam is LAME OH
Hitamaru 2 years ago
yeah that was least horrible thing anyone could say and it was still marked. but anyway charlie rules the freakin world!!
kalpal67 2 years ago
I think single coil pickups in a hollow body guitar would do better for the Charlie Christian tone than humbuckers. Heck there are even Charlie Christian pickups still being made by Jason Lollar and a couple of others.
gretscher 2 years ago
I would buy any CC authentic pickups... those are bad sounding but CC himself makes up for it with some wicked cool guitar playing.
Hitamaru 2 years ago
even some people gave you some thumbs down i guess you must be right!!
i guess the guitar wasn't really bad but those old pickups in it would give you alot feedback...
sjirk 2 years ago
if he knew he could put tape over the holes, he would've reduced feedback. but those pickups are nearly 90 years old...
Hitamaru 2 years ago
@PoliticalFrustration its defintely a raw sound, nothing special you know, i like that!
bigrussthefusss 2 years ago
Mint! Thanks for the tabs and the video. 5/5 & subscribtion.
Syllerud 2 years ago
did you improve the sound the quality is amazing!!!
callasexperience 2 years ago