Recording information: Los Angeles, CA (04/10/1940-04/30/1940); Minton's Playhouse, New York, NY (04/10/1940-04/30/1940); New York, NY (04/10/1940-04/30/1940); Los Angeles, CA (05/12/1941); Minton's Playhouse, New York, NY (05/12/1941); New York, NY (05/12/1941); Los Angeles, CA (10/02/1939-06/04/1941); Minton's Playhouse, New York, NY (10/02/1939-06/04/1941); New York, NY (10/02/1939-06/04/1941).
Charlie Christian's recording career was woefully brief, lasting just a little over two years, cut short by his death from tuberculosis when he was only 25 years old, but during that time, most of it spent with the Benny Goodman Sextet, he completely invented the use of guitar in the modern jazz age. One of the first guitarists to amplify his instrument, Christian's single-string lead runs had all the swing and bounce of a saxophonist, and he thus single-handedly brought the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the front line. This two-disc set surveys the guitarist's brief but influential recording career, beginning in 1939 and ending in 1941. ~ Steve Leggett
