NWR: Charlie Christian. Eden - Help?

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Claude Kolm

Claude Kolm
All the box sets of Charlie's music seem to be no longer available for sale in regular commercial channels. This is not only true here in the US, but also in Europe where they no longer are in copyright. E.g., most Proper boxes can be purchased for about $15 for the four discs, even in the US, but not the Charlie Christian one. For many of the jazz greats of the 1930s and 1940s, one can get 10 CD sets for 10-12 euros/box. But not CC. What's going on? This seems to be the case only with the box sets, as many of the single discs are still available.
 
Don't know the cause of it, but it could be that Columbia/Sony has tightened the licensing restrictions on the masters and is limiting the box sets they're allowing. Or maybe the rights have reverted to Charlie Christian's heirs and they want to emphasize sales of single discs (or downloads). Sometimes the licensing deals for particular packages just runs its course and the collection goes out of print and this may be a situation where they all ended right around the same time.

-Eden (or maybe it's a conspiracy on the part of fans of Wes Montgomery, T-Bone Walker, or Eldon Shamblin to gain more exposure for other influential guitarists)
 
I'm actually getting interested in jazz guitar. Basically, though, I only know Django Reinhardt (and now Charlie Christian) and that's it. Any other jazz guitarists that you could recommend?
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
I'm actually getting interested in jazz guitar. Basically, though, I only know Django Reinhardt (and now Charlie Christian) and that's it. Any other jazz guitarists that you could recommend?
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That's an awfully broad question, so let me just put in a plug for one of my very favorites, Jim Hall. One place to start would be "Undercurrent" with Bill Evans.
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
I'm actually getting interested in jazz guitar. Basically, though, I only know Django Reinhardt (and now Charlie Christian) and that's it. Any other jazz guitarists that you could recommend?
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Depends a lot what style and period you want. I particularly like Jim Hall (check out the Undercurrents album he did with Bill Evans -- I see Steve beat me to it -- it's fabulous), Kenny Burrell, Charlie Byrd, among others.
 
My knowledge of jazz is sadly very limited but I have enjoyed the Kenny Burrell Midnight Blue record on Blue Note very much (are there really any Blue Note records that aren't recommendable?). I've enjoyed some Wes Montgomery as well. But generally I tend to prefer the saxophones when it comes to jazz.
 
For a more contemporary take, check out the following Pat Metheny sessions with a trio: Question and Answer (with Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette), Rejoicing (with Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins), Day Trip (with Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez), and Trio->Live (with Larry Grenadier, Bill Stewart).
 
Every jazz guitarist links back to Charlie Christian somehow or another, so he's definitely worth listening to, boxed set or not (although maybe Django wasn't particularly influenced by Christian).

All of the guys mentioned above are worth checking out. I'd add Tal Farlow, Grant Green, Joe Pass, and certainly Pat Martino the list. Most have "greatest hits" albums available that would enable you to dip your toe in the water before committing to buying music that you don't like.

-Eden (waiting for Oswaldo to weigh in with his recommendations)
 
Django was earlier than Charlie Christian (recording by 1928, several years before Charlie became active and more than a decade before Charlie came to national attention when he joined Goodman). Django's style was already mature by the time Charlie came on the scene, so I doubt that there was any influence running to him. Django did play with Bird and Diz both in the States and in France, but that was after the War, when Charlie was already gone several years.

Here's a box of 10 Django CD's at $20, a real bargain. The downside is that other than song title, time, and composer, there is no identifying material (e.g., date, players) with it. http://www.amazon.com/Djangology-Dj...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1268172815&sr=1-2
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
Django was earlier than Charlie Christian (recording by 1928, several years before Charlie became active and more than a decade before Charlie came to national attention when he joined Goodman).
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A valid point, that, but only if you're one of those types of people who believe that time is linear.

-Eden (and people are probably equally unlikely to buy into my theory that Reinhardt could have lost his finger back when he joined up as a member of the Yakuza when he was playing that Ginza bar gig in 1930)
 
There are only about a jillion really talented jazz guitarists. This is a very, very limited list:

Jimmy Raney. (Any of the Criss-Cross recordings)

Russell Malone. (Black Butterfly)

Mark Whitfield. (7th Avenue Stroll)

Emily Remler. (East to Wes)

Charlie Hunter. (Many recordings, they're all good)

Joe Beck.(Just Friends)

Gene Bertoncini. (Find Ben Ratliff's review...Bertoncini has been playing jazz disguised as hotel lobby music for many decades)

Chuck Wayne and Joe Puma. ("Interactions." Good luck finding it.)

John Scofield (Get the early stuff on Enja, before he discovered the chorus pedal. "Out Like A Light" is a good place to start)

Howard Roberts. (Color Him Funky)

And yes, it's true, Jim Hall is the shit, although he doesn't do pyrotechnics. You actually have to listen carefully to realize how out there he really is. The same can be said of Beck, Bertoncini, Wayne, and Puma.
 
The solo in "Swing to Bop" pretty much sums up for me what Christian did for jazz guitar, past, present and future, (linear or otherwise)...

 
Eldon Shamblin, wasn't he sort of like the Freddie Greene of the western swing set? He played with Curly Chalker on an old Jethro Burns lp I used to have. (That's a whole world of music I need to get back into...)
 
A few others worth mentioning: Barney Kessel (maybe the top bebop guitarist after Charlie Christian), Herb Ellis, and Bola Sete (Brazilian, played with Diz and Vince Guaraldi).

Re: Freddie Green, mentioned above, he was Basie's rhythm guitarist during almost fifty years and was said to have never taken a solo - almost literally true. He did notably take a solo when playing with the jam session on Honeysuckle Rose during Bennie Goodman's 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert. Despite this self-effacing role, he garnered enormous respect.
 
originally posted by Joel Stewart:
Eldon Shamblin, wasn't he sort of like the Freddie Greene of the western swing set? He played with Curly Chalker on an old Jethro Burns lp I used to have. (That's a whole world of music I need to get back into...)
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Sorta-kinda. Shamblin was an excellent rhythm guitarist (Freddie Greene was the BEST though) but also soloed really well. His style was a cross between hillbilly country and jazz, but jazz in that mid-to-late 1940s transition period between swing and bop (Jimmy Wyble and Herb Ellis are also good examples of that 'tweener style).

-Eden (Anthony Wilson is another young-ish guitarist worth checking out. His steady gig is with Diana Krall but his own recordings show some inspired playing and compositional skills)
 
Thanks everyone. The response has been overwhelming and I'm very grateful. Lots of stuff to listen to. Already listening to Jim Hall on Youtube and I'm loving it.
 
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