The First Guitar Hero
By Jeff Campbell
Like most southern towns, Bonham, Texas has a nondescript African-American cemetery just a short distance from downtown. The cemetery is quiet except for the winter wind in the trees and the sound of children playing in the adjacent neighborhood. This old burial ground is historically significant; it is the final resting place for one of the most influential guitarist in the history of American music. A musician that blazed the trail for guitar heroes like B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Duane Allman and influenced jazz, blues, country and rock n' roll.
Charlie Christian was born in Bonham on July, 29 1916. Both of his parents were musicians. Charlie's father was a singer who also played guitar and trumpet while his mother played piano to accompany the silent movies of the day. His brothers, Clarence and Edward, would go on to become professional musicians
In 1918 the family moved to Oklahoma City and Charlie's first instrument was a trumpet. Music critics and musical historians believe the trumpet influenced his horn-style, single-note guitar playing that would make him a legend.
A friend of the family, Ralph Ellison stated that at the age of twelve Charlie, "would amuse us at school with his first guitar, one that he made from a cigar box…playing his own riffs. But they were based on sophisticated chords and progressions that Blind Lemon Jefferson never knew". As a teen Charlie began playing in the Christian family band and in joints around Oklahoma City.
There were three pivotal occurrences that shaped Charlie Christian's musical legacy. The first was meeting Lester Young, a master of the jazz tenor saxophone. Lester Young opened a musical door for Charlie and he began to explore the jazz guitar solos of Lonnie Johnson and Django Reinhardt.
The second pivotal occurrence came in 1937, when Christian began to experiment with the electric guitar. In 1937 the idea of an electric guitar was still a novelty. At the time one of the few bands with an electric guitar was Jimmie Lunsford's band, with the guitar played by Eddie Durham. Up until this time the guitar had been strictly a rhythm instrument. However the electric guitar's amplification allowed the guitarist to play solos, like the trumpet or clarinet.
The third important moment in Charlie Christian's life was when his talents were brought to the attention of Benny Goodman. As the 1930's came to a close Christian's unique style of guitar playing had created fans out of many of the jazz circuit's heavy hitters; Mary Lou Williams, Teddy Wilson, Norma Teagarden and most importantly jazz promoter John Hammond.
Benny Goodman was John Hammond's brother in law and the "King of Swing", as Goodman was known, was a trendsetter in having a mixed race touring band. Christian's first, unamplified, audition for Goodman left the King of Swing unimpressed. Goodman left the audition thinking Christian was just another country bumpkin guitar picker.
Later that night Hammond snuck Christian into Goodman's band at a concert at the Victor Hugo nightclub in Beverly Hills, California. Goodman was enraged by Hammond's move and launched the band into "Rose Room", a song that he thought Christian would not know. Then Goodman pointed at Christian for a solo, hoping to embarrass the young guitarist.
Hammond described that what followed next was a three minute song that stretched out to 45 minutes! Patrons left their tables and swarmed the band stand. Almost everyone agreed that they had just witnessed the debut of the greatest soloist to play in Goodman's band. Goodman had seen the light.
For the next two years Christian electrified and energized Benny Goodman's band. In 1939 the band recorded such classics as "Flying Home", 'Rose Room" and "Stardust" which included a standout solo by Christian. 1940 brought songs like "Air Mail Special" and "Gone With That Wind". Goodman had a habit of taking credit for music written by his band members but he made a rare exception for Charlie Christian; he gave Christian partial credit for several classic Goodman tunes such as "Solo Flight", "Air Mail Special" and "Seven Comes Eleven".
In the summer months of 1941 the first signs of tuberculosis began to take their effect on Charlie Christian. As the Benny Goodman Orchestra blazed across the Midwest, Christian had to leave the band due to his illness. With the help of Count Bassie's doctor he was checked in to Seaview Sanatorium in Staten Island, New York. It's rumored that well meaning friends in the music community would bring Charlie concealed gifts of whiskey and illegal drugs.
The sanatorium life proved to be incredible boring for a young man who had seen the country from the bandstand of the most popular and well known group in the United States. One night, with help from friends, he snuck out of the sanatorium for a late night of clubbing and partying. The night out would prove to be fatal act for Charlie, as he caught a chill and subsequently died on March 2, 1942.
In only three years of recording Charlie's unique, single note playing helped showcase the electric guitar as a solo instrument. Like Robert Johnson, Charlie's playing may lack the technical virtuosity of today's guitarists but without these musical pioneers today's musicians would be starting out on the bottom of the mountain. Christian's musical influence flows across many famous musicians and multiple musical genres.
These musicians include Rock and Jazz guitarists. British rock guitarist for Ten Years After, Alvin Lee stated, "It was by listening to Goodman's band, that I began to notice the guitarist Charlie Christian, who was one of the first musicians to play solos in a big band set-up". In a 1973 interview for Guitar Player, Jazz great Wes Montgomery said, "That cat tore everybody's head up. I never saw him in my life, but he said so much on records. I don't care what instrument a cat played, if he didn't understand and feel things that Charlie Christian was doing, he was a pretty poor musician. "Solo Flight"- boy that was too much! I still hear it. He was "IT" for me. I didn't hear anybody else after that for about a year. I listened to (Charlie Christian's records) real good and I knew that everything done on his guitar could be done on mine. About six or eight months after playing I had taken all the solos off the records and got a job in a club just playing them. I'd play Charlie Christian's solos then lay out."
Charlie also influenced Blues and Country guitarists. "The King of the Blues", B. B. King, discussed Charlie Christian in the March 1975 issue of Guitar Player; "Charlie Christian was amazing. I first heard him around '41 or'42. There were 10 cent vending machines then, just like juke boxes but with pictures......and that's how I saw Charlie Christian I was still in Indianola, Mississippi at the time. To me, he was a master of diminished chords, a master at new ideas too. Barney Kessel plays a lot like him but with ideas that are more of today. Charlie didn't fluff notes much...he was so sure."
Roy Clark, mainly known for co hosting "Hee-Haw" with Buck Owens, is one of the greatest country guitarists of all time. In the 1970 issue of Guitar Player he talked about a chance meeting with Charlie Christian's guitar; "I was working in Oklahoma City, where Charlie lived. A guy called Benny Garcia had acquired Charlie's guitar…he brought to me one night to play. The guitar had that filed bar pick up on it and there was a big bubble in back of the body. But I could just "FEEL" the vibrations in that guitar, like Charlie's music was still in it somewhere. It was a beautiful instrument. I'll never forget the feeling…of playing Charlie Christian's own guitar".
After Charlie's death, funeral services were held in New York and Oklahoma City. Christian's body was brought back to Texas for a third funeral service at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bonham. Charlie Christian was buried March 10, 1942 in Gates Hill Cemetery. The guitar prodigy had returned to his birthplace.
To reach Gates Hill Cemetery travel south from downtown Bonham (the intersection of Highways 82 & 78) on Highway 78 (South Center Street) for about one mile. Turn right onto South Main Street and then left on 1st Street. Charlie Christian's memorial will be on your left.
