Artist: Charlie Christian

Charles Henry Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.  Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar and a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz.

He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra from August 1939 to June 1941. His single-string technique, combined with amplification, helped bring the guitar out of the rhythm section and into the forefront as a solo instrument. For this, he is often credited with leading to the development of the lead guitar role in musical ensembles and bands. Christian's influence reached beyond jazz and swing. In 1990, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category Early Influence.

In a 1978 interview with Charlie Christian biographer Craig McKinney, Clarence Christian said that in the 1920s and '30s Christian’s father, pianist, Edward Christian, led a band in Oklahoma City. Around 1931, he and guitarist "Bigfoot" Ralph Hamilton and began secretly schooling the younger Charles in jazz. They taught him to solo on three songs, "Rose Room", "Tea for Two", and "Sweet Georgia Brown". When the time was right they took him out to one of the many after-hours jam sessions along "Deep Deuce", Northeast Second Street, in Oklahoma City. After two encores, Charles had played all three, and Deep Deuce was in an uproar.

Charles soon was performing locally and on the road throughout the Midwest, as far away as North Dakota and Minnesota. By 1936 he was playing electric guitar and had become a regional attraction. He jammed with many of the big-name performers traveling through Oklahoma City, including Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum. Mary Lou Williams, the pianist for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, told the record producer John Hammond.

In 1939, Christian auditioned for John Hammond, who recommended him to the bandleader Benny Goodman. It has been claimed 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 Leonard Ware and Floyd Smith, among others, none of whom had the ability of Christian. However, Goodman was so impressed by Christian's playing that he hired him instead.

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. He retained Christian, and in the fall of that year Goodman led a sextet with Christian, Count Basie, longtime Duke Ellington trumpeter Cootie Williams, former Artie Shaw tenor saxophonist Georgie Auld and later drummer Dave Tough.

By 1939 there had already been electric guitar soloists, e.g., Leonard Ware, George Barnes, Eddie Durham, Floyd Smith, and Eldon Shamblin. But Christian is credited with having paved the way for the modern electric guitar sound, including that of T-Bone Walker, Eddie Cochran, Cliff Gallup, Scotty Moore, Franny Beecher, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Carlos Santana  and Jimi Hendrix. For that reason Christian was inducted in 1990 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.