Charlie Christian

US guitar player
Born July 29, 1916 in Bonham, Texas, USA
Died March 2, 1942 at Seaview Hospital, Staten Island NY, USA.

Career began with occasional gigs as a bass player in combos around Oklahoma in the early years of the Depression. He spent more than a year with pianist Eddie Durham, Harry Smith, Hobart Banks, Little Dog, James Simpson and other players gathered to trade ideas and try to best one another, developing on their chosen instruments.

During this period, Christian learned from the guitar players with whom he came into : Tommy Lee House, Charlie Faris, Claude Burns and Ralph "Chuck" Hamilton. Perhaps his biggest influence at this point was James "Jim Daddy" Walker, one of the stars of Clarence Love's orchestra from Kansas City. Love played Oklahoma City many times from 1933 onwards, and in their first encounters, Walker (4 years Christian's senior) gave him many a lesson in guitar mastery. Other ideas came from Eddie Durham, who Christian heard a year or so later featuring with Jimmie Lunceford's band, and playing a guitar with a resonator. By the time Walker and Christian met again in 1936, however, Christian had developed enormously and was well able to handle the older player.

Christian left Oklahoma City in 1939 at the age of 23, on the promptings of Benny Goodman. Over the next 3 years he would tour across the US with Goodman, and achieve huge popularity. Recordings - both live broadcasts and in the studio (for Columbia and others) also followed. He won the DownBeat Poll for Best Jazz Guitarist in 1939, '40 and '41, and equivalent Metronome polls in 1940 and '41.

In June 1941, Christian's health failed and he was quickly itted to first Bellevue, then Seaview hospital in NY. He was never recovered from tuberculosis, and died 9 months later. Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 (Early Influence).