walking upstream…
Charlie Christian
A self-taught guitarist from Oklahoma City, Charlie Christian joined Benny Goodman's band in 1939 and, in barely two years before his death from tuberculosis at 25, invented the vocabulary of modern jazz guitar: horn-like single-note lines played through an amplified pickup so the guitar could finally solo like a saxophone or trumpet instead of just strumming rhythm. His after-hours jam sessions at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem are remembered as a cradle of bebop.
the sound in question
1941
Solo FlightCharlie Christian
walk the tributaries ↓
Lester Young1930s–40s · Swing / Jazz
Christian was "more influenced by horn players such as Lester Young and Herschel Evans than by guitarists," and said outright that he wanted his guitar to sound like a tenor saxophone; he bought every Count Basie record with Young on it and learned the solos by memory before he ever plugged in an amplifier.
listen: upstream & here
1936
Lady Be GoodLester Young
1939
Seven Come ElevenCharlie Christian
listen forYoung's floating, behind-the-beat tenor lines on "Lady Be Good" are the model for the light, horn-like phrasing in Christian's own playing — listen for that same relaxed, vocal quality in the long single-note runs on "Seven Come Eleven," just played on an amplified guitar instead of a saxophone.
Eddie Durham1930s · Swing / Jazz / Big band
Durham, a guitarist and arranger who'd been amplifying his own guitar since the mid-1930s, personally showed the teenage Christian the electric guitar around 1937 — without that nudge toward amplification, Christian's horn-like single-note ideas couldn't have been heard as a lead voice over a full band at all.
listen: upstream & here
1938
Countless BluesEddie Durham
1941
Air Mail SpecialCharlie Christian
listen forDurham's amplified guitar solo on "Countless Blues," recorded with the same Basie rhythm section months before Christian joined Goodman, is one of the first electric jazz guitar solos on record; put it next to Christian's clean, amplified attack on "Air Mail Special" to hear the sound Durham pioneered fully arrived.
Herschel Evans1930s · Swing / Jazz
Alongside Young, Christian named Herschel Evans's thicker, blues-drenched tenor sound — heard nightly beside Young's cooler tone in the Basie reed section — as one of the horn voices he chased on guitar, proof his "horn-like" ideal wasn't just Young's floating cool but also Evans's throatier, more vocal side.
listen: upstream & here
1938
Blue and SentimentalHerschel Evans
1939
Rose RoomCharlie Christian
listen forEvans's heavy-vibrato, bent-note feature "Blue and Sentimental" has a thick, almost-crying tone; hear that same bent, sustained, blues-drenched phrasing (rather than fast swing runs) in the slower passages of Christian's "Rose Room."