Charlie Christian live at Mintons

[neilraoufsw]

this makes me happy!

[Lafforte]

Just incredible. The whole jam is pretty great, but Charlie's playing is simply incredible, so fluid and melodic, and swings like crazy. Thanks a lot for this.

[arjhendrix]

wow

thank you

[jpalberthoward9]

Les Paul said in his "Chasing Sound" video that Charlie "nailed him to the wall, and rightfully so." It's hard to imagine anybody cuttin' Les' head, but if there was ever a guy to show LP a thing or 2, it would have to be Charlie. The man's phrasing, sense of swing, and harmony are nothing short of genius. Anybody who plays guitar, no matter what style, can learn something from this gentleman.

[fujifour]

I come back to the video time and time again, blows my mind.

[marinelovesuperman]

this song is awesome, this guitarist is amazing

[gruniongrady]

There is a passage at 2:32 that is absolutely beyond what anyone has done, then or since. A Rosetta Stone moment. Well, in my humble opinion.

[msilva12000]

Charlie and Django were jazz and guitar pioneers greats. I mean, alltime greats!

[papmjny]

really did not know that Charlie Christian is that marvellous player. And all these years I have listened to Hendrix and Jimmy Page and so on.

[sakofben]

yeah, django's fingers were flyin up and down the fretboard in the 30's before charlie's scene. charlie probably got a lot of inspiration from django and vice versa

[oramikleepunk]

@sakofben This guy had an unique sound.It was original.I heard that T-bone walker,and him were friends.

[alexjrmarino]

This is the swinginest musician I ever heard. Also, this is the first be-bop recording and actually he is one of the pioneers of solo electric guitar whatsoever! @tsawkeedatalle

[hmfrod]

@alexjrmarino this is the first be-bop recording? thats a funny one, how is this even be-bop? check out the rythmic section, even charlies phrasing is still pretty much django inspired... he eventualy became involved in the be-bop scene but this clip is not an example of that definately

[alexjrmarino]

@hmfrod hey fella.. it's 1941, be-bop wasn't developed in any deliberate way and is still in progress, but anyway charlie had a recording of Django and that's all - they never met! Bop is fast, virtuosic improvisation. Listen for the rhythmic phrasing.Emphasized asymmetrical,weak and off beats.. he often ends the phrase on the second half of the fourth beat..if that's not early bop, idk what else ? :)

[tsawkeedatalle]

Not bad for a country boy from OKLAHOMA.!i Charlie was hip man!i Digg it!i

[ndinigwe]

The first solo guitarist. Before him guitar was just for rythm accompaniment

[tsawkeedatalle]

@ndinigwe Not true. Guys like Eddie Lang, Django Reinhardt and electrically George Barnes in the field of Jazz. George Barnes also recorded the first electric guitar which is falsely attributed to Eddie Durham who recorded 15 years after the fact. Also, Eddie Durham is the man that introduced the guitar to Charlie. I'm am an Okie and well aware of our musical roots.

[SatchmoSings]

@ndinigwe You just dissed Django Reinhardt!!!

[babs2999]

thank you so much for uploading

[DancingOwl]

Absolutely stunning! What creativity, what inventive reshaping of chords from within and what drive that just sweeps you up and blows you away!

[theodoresmithsr]

what a comment that Charlie is "from the '40;s". And sounds modern.

[melantoriano]

only 25 years of life was been sufficient to change forever the future of the guitar....great Charlie

[GhostofCliffGullett]

CC was the greatest, Bird copied his licks. That's the greatest tribute a musician can get.

[sk8ter3699]

@GhostofCliffGullett and bird copied Monks harmonies also hahaha god damn junkies

[CadillacL]

Hard to comprehend this is from the 40s. Sounds just as fresh today.

[HecG]

Music like this is one of a kind!

[djoutrage18]

wow!! When was this recorded? mid 40s? where on earth did you find this? speachless

[kaledoik]

d'après Laurent de Wilde, ("Monk"Folio 3009 p 35), Monk n'a , hélas, jamais été enregistré avec Charlie Christian, même si ils ils ont bien souvent joué ensembles au Minton's. nombre de labels pirates prétendent le contraire: celui ci en serait donc un.

je ne trouve d'ailleurs pas que ce soit très Monk ce qu'on entend au piano! c'est le moins qu'on puisse dire!

[Corrie121]

WOW !!! Stunning !

Thanks for sharing.

[jaimepaullamb]

klook! killing it.

[jaimepaullamb]

klook! 

[monjoUtube]

I bought this record many years ago, and still dream the same old dream.

[callasexperience]

yep Cholocharlie is correct charlie Doesn't play scales, he just run changes shaping the inside or ouside of chords in geometric shapes linking them with little chromatic runs called passing notes ... Simple but Deadly. never heard anything like it since..

Also anticipating a chord change by a couple of beats creating a feeling of great drive like a plane diving, Charlie Parker used this Technic too.

[bobsunda]

diz, charlie and kenny , monk .. 4 of the 5 pioneer for bebop. the other is bird.

[fujifour]

Beautiful, atmospheric, dazzling and bloody so jazz. Man i love you Charlie i wish you were on this earth longer. Hope your jammin with the greats somewhere.

[gtrrs71]

What a lineup. Thx for posting!

[2c26]

Wow... that guy is just amazing :O

[iwgpventures]

チャ－リ－・クリスチャンって、凄いギタリストですね。

[TenTonHorse]

You'd have thought that the sheer bad-assness of this band would have caused the entire room to levitate.

[ndounakis]

Amazing ! 

[Groongers]

This. Is. Music.

[1Delta]

monk solo starts @5:50,....wow

[1Delta]

I went through a Charlie Christian phase and then Mclaughlin's long illustrious career sidetracked. but now that I'm actually trying to play some bop, I'm back to Charlie Christian full time. the guy is so free in his rhythmic improvisation, it actually reminds me of Hendrix. I did hear that Christian's running mate for awhile was none other than T-Bone Walker. wow, now there is a story for the ages. anyway, Christian is amazing a pleasure to listen to his blues bop journey's.

thanx man

[oxybent]

About 40 years ago I bought an LP by C.C. to find out what all the hyperboles were about. Alas I was underwhelmed by the offering !

But now I know exactly what they meant,

THANKS TO YOU Rootmese.

[jkgatling]

Among the best music ive ever heard, truly an amazing guitarist, and with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie by his side this truly is amazing

[nikola4195]

charlie c, is jazz , django is some kind of hungarian and franch follk musik mixture , i like charlie christian guitar ,he is aguitar god...........................­...........

[GassyMaskz]

i did not expect such an amazing line up...pleasant shock

[kalloused]

loooooooooooove Charlie Christian. And could you ask for a BETTER lineup than this?! Dizzy? Thelonious Monk? Kenny Clarke?

[TheBrownTies]

this is incredible, oh my god.

[TheEspsetmefree]

Wes Montgomery taught himself how to play by listening to Charlie Christian Records.

[jibsmokestack1]

For me the greatest guitarist who ever lived. No one else quite had feel and groove. The consistent greatest of his soloing matched any other jazz musician on any instrument!!

[imafanindeed]

69 years ago and it still sound modern, as in contemporary, not '50s modern!

[EMCEMITCH]

from charlie christian to t-bone to chuck berry---hmmmmmm....--interesti­ng in tracing the roots up to montgomery,benson,joe pass, metheny---its fascinating just like a chord progression---hmmmmmm.....

[HeavyHunter16]

cool

[docteurblas]

Il n'existe aucunes vidéos sur Charlie Christian ?pourtant c'est une époque qui ne manquait pas de Cinéastes . Merci quand même aux techniciens du son et aux photographes qui on su nous faire connaître ce géant du JAZZ .

[xp0ferens]

I only discovered this music today... I've really been missing out

[jazsper123]

jazz disputes, gotta love it

[ProfessorMarvel]

He was also the first to do this with electric. Many would that that was his biggest distinguishing factor from other early soloists.

[Jazzyteach65]

well, Dudemeister, Charlie used more chromatic passing tones than Django. Django used alot more sweeping and arpeggios. Charlie phrased more like a horn, and Django used harmonic minor, while Charlie iused more bluesy licks

[Dudemeister]

I know I'm gonna get slammed for saying this, but I have a hard time not hearing this as straight-up django imitation. Can anyone tell me what they see as the big distinguishing qualities?

[DubvibeProd]

Sorry mate but I think they couldn't be more different. Django had the gypsy thing going on and Charlie is a straight up swing/early bop style player. Charlie was the first electric guitarist and Django played acoustic...... Sure they are a little similar but I can spot one from the other after half a bar of playing...... Hope this clears things up a little.... D

[Dudemeister]

Upon listening to some of the other cuts up here I totally get the difference. I just happen to find this one especially Django-like. I'm a pretty serious guitarist so this isn't some really naive call I'm making. This phrasing is right out of Django's bag, and the tune sounds just like a gypsy tune. Django also switched to electric later on as many folks have already pointed out. The stuff that wilsonmcphert put up has a lot more characteristic playing.

[DubvibeProd]

yeah no doubt they are similar but Django had a sound all his own whereas CC took a lot from the swing/be-bop players. I'm a guitarist too and have studied both those guys and think they represent the finest Jazz guitar that can be found from their era. Django normally (90% of the time) used those funky Django acoustic guitars and had a radically different sound from Charlie who (to my ears) sounds more like a 1940's New York horn player (as far as phrasing goes).

[Dudemeister]

Judging by the end, they're playing Topsy. Or at least the same changes. One of Django's favorites.  Booyeah!

[codyr222]

Charlie's playing was far more modern and hip than Django's. You could walk into a jazz club in any major city tonight and play Charlie's solos note-for-note and it would still sound fresh to a contemporary audience (Wes started his career by doing just this). Most audiences wouldn't be able to nail it down to a particular time or style. Django's style, on the other hand, was straight gypsy and thus symptomatic of a particular time and genre. DR was immense, but CC was prescient.

[Dudemeister]

To say this solo is a uniquely Charlie Christian solo is a great disservice to Django and his influence. I understand the difference, but this is a great example of "standing on the shoulders of giants".

[codyr222]

To be sure, Charlie listened to Django. Members of the Goodman Sextet commented that Charlie listened to Django on the radio and could sing his solos note-for-note. But, if you listen to Charlie's repetoire, along with this song, it becomes readily apparent that Charlie's doing his own thing. If he's standing on the shoulders of anyone, it's Lester Young, his bigggest influence. CC admitted in a "Downbeat" article that he wanted his guitar to sound like a tenor saxophone - and it did.

[timjmoran]

CODY R.. comparing Charlie C & Django is

really kinda pointless.. it's the ol' Apples& Oranges thing- Django was an illiterate Gypsy,

self-taught; played ALmost everything with his index & middle fingers (due to a severely burned hand when he was a kid). Charlie is inCREDible- no doubt about it- and HUGEly influential- but Django had that oh-so-cool Gypsy meets jazz thing that made him

sound like NO one else, b4 nor since.

Let's just say BOTH were great

and leave it at that! AWEsome jam, tho.

[Littlewhitelephant]

@codyr222 In my view no one of the two stood on the shoulders of the other but both had riffs of their own that none of most contemporarys were able to play.

So they were both unique. Charlys style was probably imitated by more musicians than Djangos, thats all. But today its changing and a lot more are becoming able to imitate DR. So u could even say DR was ahead of its time !

[benthemiester]

blasphemy!.

[chappahx]

this is brilliant!

[zalman595]

Among the five most influential non-claasical guitarists of the twentieth century. Here's my top five in influence, in not particular order;

1 Charlie Christian

2 Django Reinhardt

3 Chet Atkins

4 Jimi Hendrix

5 Eddie Van Halen

Notice that I did say "influential" (not necessarily my faves. Whatt is interesting and sad about both Christtian that they both had greatly shortened, meteoric careers and the world was cheated by their deaths. Thanks for posting this.

[florgat91]

good list - however, as great as Chet Atkins is, he owes his fingerstyle approach to Merle Travis -- they don't call those Travis patterns for nuthin' !

[zalman595]

Hi, florga91. Chet once said that if he would have listened to Travis more, he would have sounded too much like him. So Chet, of course did acknowledge Travis' influence on his playing (along with Dajngo's). All of these guys had their influences, of course, The reason I list Chet is because of his wide, wide crossover appeal, influencing generations of Country, bluegrass, rock and pop players and virtually creating the Nashsville sound as a producer.

[earthchild100]

most amazing shit ive heard in a while

[blueingreentrain]

oh yeah!!

[FaustyFob]

i wonder when this was recorded

[SweetUpDown40]

@FaustyFob most probably 1941

[HighZombiesRule]

Fabulous guitarist.

[CryptoJew]

also charlie mingus

[bassthumper1964]

What a great ledgon.Here i am a rock bassest and i cant stop listening to this it just blows me away

[MJLatora]

This should be called Swing To Bop To Rock To Funk. In the first 3 minutes of this, you can hear remnants of the past, Lang & Reinhardt, and precursors of the future, Hendirx, Clapton, even Jeff Beck. Everone of them had to have used this as thier Bible. It's almost regrettable to have it interrupted at 3:27 by Gillespie's ( great ) trumpet.

The Jazz/Swing/Bop age contributed many virtuoso who became synonymous with their instrument. Christian is the Tatum of the guitar, the Beiderbecke

[wesm65]

@MJLatora agree with you -legend of the guitar. Joe Guy on trumpet as far as I know.

[gsdev1]

They should just call it fiercely-argue-over-who-is-the­-best-guitarist-tube.

[rollingsaxophoons]

here begins the bebop

[ColbertandStewartpwn]

was this really improvised? Either way it's incredibly easy to listen to.

[dudedad629]

Simply the best, he anticipated every thing that was to come after. This improv is often called "From Swing to Bop" and is based on "Stomping at the Savoy"

[MrRidgeroad66]

check ou the title, for crying out loud.....

[amndla911]

ジャズやロックのギターソロを時代を問わずいろいろ聴いているけ­ど、僕は60年以上前のこのギターソロがベストだ。

[jate001]

Charlie es un genio. ¡increible!

[callasexperience]

boppin the blues, I guess you can call it the best solo in history, all the secret s how to anticipate and run chord changes , built the tension till the bridge than dive!!! hi aaa

[elsoultero]

What a choice of notes! So many years ago but no one has ever done it better...

[arsenalfanforlife]

maybe not in jazz but i still think hendrix is the best guitarist ever... charlie is sick too

[matthewhenson1]

Indeed, not in jazz, fusion, classical, flamenco, brazilian or country. Hendrix was a great player however, one of the greats.

[arsenalfanforlife]

yeah, but doesnt fusion go under jazz and flamenco and brazilian under latin jazz?

[matthewhenson1]

Sometimes that's very much the case! Brazilian styles like Bossa Nova are very much latin jazz. But a native style like choro is not (check out Raphael Rabello - Cry My Guitar). Flamenco is totally its own style, native to the Gypsys of Andalucia in Spain (although modern pseudo flamenco players have adopted Rumba rhythms). Early fusion was totally jazz too but I feel through players like Holdsworth it now has its own TOTALLY unique identity seperate from contemporary jazz. Best regards mate!

[arsenalfanforlife]

thank you, im not very much into jazz but i have a lot of respect for its mucisians, because they are often the best and most talented but not the most heard about

[FaustyFob]

if you havn't heard of or listened to either django rienhardt or ocar aleman, they are both great players and BIG influences on later music! :)

[Hoopermazing]

That is undeniably true, but Charlie Christian is the reason that everyone in the world plays electric guitar. Even Django switched to electric guitar in the late 1940s.

[polishcomedy]

flamenco is not latin jazz. lol, not even close.

[arsenalfanforlife]

ok sorry

[kevinherbert]

Talent...on steroids !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dragmio]

I can't believe this is from 1940-is. He sounds totally modern. Incredible talent.

[eurabio]

I'm just checkin charlie more seriously... thats what I wanted to say.

[jazzbein]

Yeah! Swings like hell! I guess they jammed all night long...(fade in - fade out...)

[depechemodevilla]

It sounds like that Johnny Cash song at 1:50. "Going to Cut you Down"

[cyrussink]

Swings as hard as any guitarist ever. Maybe the hottest jazz guitar solo of all time.

[brianrhg]

well key word being recorded...who knows what went down at mintons night to night

[kevinherbert]

Who are the band?

[rootmese]

Charlie Christian (guitar); Don Byas (tenor saxophone);

Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Guy (trumpet);

Thelonious Monk, Kenny Kersey (piano);

Nixk Finton (bass);

Kenny Clarke (drums).

[wutrain]

that's heavy man... too many greats in one room. where do i find more minton's recordings?

[Alexcantsee]

@rootmese Damn, what a line up.

[BeatBay]

@rootmese best band ever! :)

[goaliedave67]

@rootmese not Diz or Monk, but Guy & Kersey.

[wilhoitsux]

@rootmese ya , but what about kenny g?

[kaledoik]

@kevinherbert d'après Laurent de Wilde, ("Monk"Folio 3009 p 35), Monk n'a , hélas, jamais été enregistré avec Charlie Christian, même si ils ils ont bien souvent joué ensembles au Minton's. nombre de labels pirates prétendent le contraire: celui ci en serait donc un.

je ne trouve d'ailleurs pas que ce soit très Monk ce qu'on entend au piano! c'est le moins qu'on puisse dire!

[kevinherbert]

@kaledoik : merci beaucoup

[kevinherbert]

He cooks the arse off everything he wants to.....great post...I can dance all night......

[BrunoJazzmanLeicht]

Incredible ... a guitar that made history, if regrettably in a far too short time. Excellent stuff.

Feel free to visit my little jazz & swing blog. For link see profile.

Brewlite

[CadillacL]

Charlie was way ahead of his time :)

[kevinherbert]

And still is.....

[casilet]

Haven't heard this since I have been unable to pay my old 33 Lp. I had forgotten how good this is. Thanks for the post.

[benjammin420420]

i can never find this cd, brilliant

[thiri1902]

Maravilhosíssimo!!!!!!

[albabyluv7]

WOW,,,,Nuf Said Dude was awesome... Charlie Christian was just relentless.

[MJLatora]

Kenny Clarke is having a field day on the drums too

[FerutElCampeador]

cc was a genious

[JSDJerry]

I am pretty much a novice. I just started learning to play Grand Slam. Never played any solo before. Love this sound and the forceful swing to bop.