Re: Seminal Jazz Albums?

Simon Brown (zcfbm25@ucl.ac.uk)
Wed, 17 Apr 1996 11:47:27 +0100

> [Charlie Christian] not to mention one of (if not the first) the 1st
people to use an "electric"
> guitar.
> i heard a story about how he came to play w/benny goodman. benny apparently
> wasn't real big on letting this unknown kid sit in. someone set up charlie's
> stuff on the bandstand anyway. benny decided not to let charlie in on what
> the tunes/keys were, but charlie figured them out, and sounded great! benny
> was impressed and took him on.

I remember reading this also - the song was either Tea For Two or I Got
Rhythm - either way a bitch to play! I also remember reading about how he
came to play guitar. He wanted to play sax but had weak lungs (he died from
TB at the age of 22). So he played guitar, distorting it slightly to make it
sound like a sax which is why he often has a slightly raw sound to his
playing (which I really like).
Yours sincerely (with peace and love),

Simon Brown
s.j.brown@ucl.ac.uk
UCL Geology (2nd year)