Charlie Christian - National Fame

National Fame

In 1939 Christian auditioned for John Hammond, who recommended him to bandleader Benny Goodman. Goodman was the fourth white bandleader to feature black musicians in his live band: the first was Jimmy Durante, for whom Achille Baquet, a light-skinned black clarinetist who could pass as white, played and recorded in Durante's Original New Orleans Jazz Band (1918–1920); the second was violinist Arthur Hand, who led the California Ramblers, which from 1922-1925 included light-skinned black trumpeter Bill Moore, who was billed as The Hot Hawaiian. The third was Ben Bernie, whose band from 1925-1928 also featured Bill Moore. Goodman became the fourth by bringing Teddy Wilson in on piano in 1935, and Lionel Hampton on vibraphone in 1936. Goodman hired Christian to play with the newly formed Goodman Sextet in 1939. It has been often stated that Goodman was initially uninterested in hiring Christian because the electric guitar was a relatively new instrument. Goodman had been exposed to the instrument with Floyd Smith and Leonard Ware among others, none of whom had the ability of Charlie Christian. There is a report of Goodman unsuccessfully trying to buy out Floyd Smith's contract from Andy Kirk. However, Goodman was so impressed by Christian's playing that he hired him instead.

There are several versions of the first meeting of Christian and Goodman on August 16, 1939. The encounter that afternoon at the recording studio had not gone well. Charles recalled in a 1940 Metronome magazine article, "I guess neither one of us liked what I played", but Hammond decided to try again — without consulting Goodman (Christian says Goodman invited him to the show that evening); he installed Christian on the bandstand for that night's set at the Victor Hugo restaurant in Los Angeles. Displeased at the surprise, Goodman called "Rose Room", a tune he assumed that Christian would be unfamiliar with. Unknown to Goodman, Charles had been reared on the tune, and he came in with his first chorus of about twenty, all of them different, all unlike anything Goodman had heard before. That version of "Rose Room" lasted forty minutes; by its end, Christian was in the band. In the course of a few days, Christian went from making $2.50 a night to making $150 a week.

Christian was placed in Goodman's new sextet, which included Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Artie Bernstein and Nick Fatool. By February 1940 Christian dominated the jazz and swing guitar polls and was elected to the Metronome All Stars. In the spring of 1940 Goodman let most of his entourage go in a reorganization move. He retained Charlie Christian, and in the fall of that year Goodman led a sextet with Charlie Christian, Count Basie, longtime Duke Ellington trumpeter Cootie Williams, former Artie Shaw tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and later drummer Dave Tough. This all-star band dominated the jazz polls in 1941, including another election to the Metronome All Stars for Christian. Johnny Guarnieri, who replaced Fletcher Henderson in the first sextet, filled the piano chair in Basie's absence.

In 1966, 24 years after his death, Christian was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1989, Christian became one of the first inductees into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.