Of all the striking facts about Charlie Christian’s short life, the fact that he was buried in an unmarked grave is perhaps the most mind boggling. That a musician, who was among the most influential of his or any other time, would be laid to rest so anonymously is hard to imagine. More than a half century after he was buried in Bonham Texas, the place of his birth, the Texas Historical Society placed a marker at his gravesite, although there is still some controversy whether they have the correct gravesite. Regardless anyone who pays their respects is doing so for the man, not the location.
Charlie Christian was born in Bonham, Texas on this day, July 29, in 1916. By the time he was two, the family had moved to Oklahoma City. His family was extremely musical. His mother and father earned a living writing the musical accompaniments for silent films, and his brothers were both musicians. Charlie initially performed with his father and brothers in a quartet on the streets and in some of the clubs around Oklahoma City.
Christian’s first guitar was an instrument he had fashioned from a cigar box in a manual training class. When he was twelve his father died and he inherited his dad’s guitar. He continued to play in a band his older brother had formed. He also played the trumpet in high school, which evidently had an influence on the style of playing he developed on the electric guitar. By the end of the mid thirties he had formed a band, taken up the electric guitar and was developing a reputation.
What first brought Christian national attention was his collaboration with Benny Goodman. One of my favorite jazz stories involves Charlie Christian’s famous audition for Benny Goodman in 1939. Record producer, and Goodman’s brother in law, John Hammond had arranged the audition, after being alerted to Christian by pianist Mary Lou Williams. Goodman, who was a perfectionist, had not been impressed by previous artists for whom Hammond had arranged auditions, and was anything but eager to listen to another Hammond recommendation. In addition Goodman was not yet a fan of the electric guitar. As a consequence, Goodman’s attitude was somewhat hostile when the audition began.
What happenned is not entirely clear, even whether Christian played the electric or acoustic guitar in that first audition is uncertain. The audition started poorly and went nowhere fast. It ended with Goodman uninterested in the talents of the young guitarist. But Hammond was not finished, unbeknownst to Goodman, he arranged for Christian to sit in with the band that evening. And Christian was definitely plugged in at the night session.
Goodman was not happy when he discovered the arrangement, and decided the best way to end the proceedings was to stump Christian with an obscure tune with which he was certain Charlie was unfamiliar. So Goodman called for "Rose Room". Forty minutes later Hammond said he could see tears in Goodman’s eyes. Christian had practically grown up on "Rose Room" and when Goodman asked for the song, Christian enthralled him with a series of remarkable improvisations, with which Goodman was entirely unfamiliar, and which clearly moved him. Goodman hired Christian instantly. I’ve always wondered what a revelation it must have been when Benny Goodman first heard Charlie Christian play "Rose Room".
From that moment on Charlie Christian and his single note electric guitar style were a revelation not only to the jazz world, but also to the larger musical community. When Charlie Christian first picked up the electric guitar it was an experimental instrument. A very few years later, when he laid his instrument down for the last time, it was ensconced in the musical lexicon, in no small measure thanks to his contributions. Charlie Christian had not only discovered the beauty of the instrument, he had also discovered its power. He had shown it was capable of solos as elegant, intricate and powerful as any of the horns. Whether it’s rock, pop, blues or jazz, his influence is inarguable. Countless musicians in each field have acknowledged his influence. He is a member of the Rock and Roll and Jazz Halls of Fame.
But Christian’s influence was not limited to those who play the guitar. Christian’s own greatest influence was probably not the guitarists of the time, but the distinctive sounds of Lester Young’s tenor saxophone, which he had heard in Oklahoma City. Christian had wanted to play the sax in the high school band, but his teacher insisted on the trumpet. When he picked up the electric guitar, Christian discovered he could get a horn like sound from the instrument and he developed what has been described as a horn style of playing. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis all considered Christian an influence. In fact Christian, who when in New York was a regular at the legendary after hours jam sessions at Minton’s in Harlem, is credited as a major influence in the evolution of the bop style of jazz.
Tragically, sometime in his early twenties, Charlie Christian contracted Tuberculosis. He was hospitalized first in 1940, and finally in 1941 on Staten Island. Although he had plans for a new band, in anticipation of a recovery, it never happened. On March 2, 1942, at the age of 25, Charlie Christian died on Staten Island. While he had never married, he left behind a daughter and an unparalleled musical legacy. He was taken home to Bonham, Texas where he was buried, as mentioned, in an unmarked grave.