Customer Reviews

The Benny Goodman Sextet Featuring Charlie Christian: 1939-1941

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This disc and "Genius of the Electric Guitar" together provide a solid overview of Christian's phenomenal recording career with Benny Goodman. Contrary to what another review here might lead you to believe, Christian takes plenty of passes and is in top form. Plus, the disc features plenty of phenomenal playing by Fletcher Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Cootie Wilson, Georgie Auld, and of course Benny Goodman. Very, very enjoyable.

I've always regarded the Goodman small groups as another high water mark in the history of small ensemble playing in jazz. The early lineage begins with the Armstrong Hot 5 and 7 groups, includes Count Basie's small group sessions with Lester Young, and is completed by the brilliant playing of Goodman in trio and somewhat larger ensembles. Unfortunately, this is "merely" an enjoyable collection of carefully timed studio sessions (18 tunes) with the other players serving as little more than a showcase for the "relaxed precision" (neither brilliant nor especially impressive) of Goodman's clarinet.

The title is certainly a misnomer. Far from being a "featured" performer, Christian is frequently limited to as few as eight bars of improvising during a 32-bar pop song. Apparently Sony-Columbia saw the Christian connection as the surest way to market these undeniably important recordings to the general public. This was "pop music" to listeners of the day, but for the present-day listener it's competent playing of familiar tunes--smooth, palatable, pleasant but lacking in heat, swing, or memorable improvising. The label's "Genius of the Electric Guitar" also suffers from a disproportionate emphasis on Goodman but at least affords Christian some lengthier solo opportunities.

As we approach the year of Goodman's centenary, he deserves recognition if not a renewal of interest in his music and its significance. But this is not the album for it. In fact, the scandalously neglected Les Paul small group sessions of the '40's (before the multitracking and electronic gadgetry) feature not only more scintillating guitar but more inspired, intricate, and technically challenging ensemble playing.

This is a great CD; for fans of Christian it provides a good insight into a significant part of his short career (he is not a mere sideman on this album), although I would personally always choose Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessell of Joe Pass over Christian...

Influential as he was, later electric guitar players just seem more imaginative and versatile artists than good old Charlie... As for older cats, Django was not surpassed by Christian; even when he embraced the electric guitar he was still his brilliant self; number one guitar player of the swing style...

Actually, this CD is so brilliant because of Goodman, Hampton, George Auld and other sophisticated swing players (Count Basie and Jo Jones are guests on two numbers!), PARTICULARLY because of Goodman, ellegant but hot, and, of course, because of good old Cootie Williams on last few selections... This was the trumpeter's golden era; he was still fresh from Duke Ellington orchestra... Just listen to his intros; they sound like nuclear explosion contained in a jar; just listen to his growling cressendos; they sound like the jar has exploded and nothin' can keep the mushroom from appearing over your cd player...

Benny Goodman-lb. for lb. maybe the coolest cat of 'em all-first bandleader to integrate-appears here with the great electric guitarist Charlie Christian,Lionel Hampton,Fletcher Henderson,Cootie Williams-and more;the sound is great-and I'd buy the cd for the cd cover alone-Benny with a cigarette(he could get shot for that today)and Charlie Christian.

This is a good album, but frustratingly, there is another one that is similar and much better, which is very hard to find.

In the sixties, Columbia issued an outstanding LP (Columbia 652) under the title "Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra." There were 11 sextet numbers recorded from 1939 to 1941: Seven Come Eleven, Till Tom Special, Gone With "What" Wind, Six Appeal, Wholly Cats, Breakfast Feud, Gone With What Draft, Blues in B, Air Mail Special, Waitin' for Benny, and A Smo-o-oth One. Benny and Charlie Christian appeared on all of the tracks, along with a shifting group of other musicians that included Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Cootie Williams, and Jo Jones.

These recordings had a very special quality. The melody lines were simple catchy swing riffs, credited to Goodman and others in the group. There were a number of other ensemble passages, all performed to perfection, and a lot of good solos. The musicianship on this modest album was fantastic.

As best I can determine, the album has never been reissued on CD. It is still available on vinyl -- I found one after a lot of looking -- but because Amazon is so careless about not telling you what tunes appear on older albums, it is virtually impossible to be sure what you're actually getting.

The instant CD overlaps with Columbia 652 to the extent of three numbers. There are also a couple of nice tight sextet numbers in the same vein that do not appear on the LP (Flyin' Home and AC/DC Current). The rest is miscellaneous Goodman/Christian sextet music from the same vintage. It's OK; but I don't think anyone would call most of it exciting. Poor Butterfly, I Surrender Dear and Soft Winds are nice, but they can't hold a candle to Seven Come Eleven, Till Tom Special, and Wholly Cats.

My advice: go for the best, and if you don't have a turntable, get someone to cut you a CD.

a pleasure to hear the masters combine their talent. the story of these two great musicians meeting in a time of American racism that was almost

unprecedented needed to be told. Great music, electric guitar and innovative jazz led by excellent clarinet.

If you are like me, you know that Charlie Christian was the first jazz guitarist to play amplified jazz & inspired thousands of young guitarists at the time to take up the guitar....Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, just to name a couple. I was learning reeds from my Dad at the time & was impressed with Bird, so I wanted to play alto sax. He told me that if you learn clarinet first, "you can play a whole bagful of saxes). For the moment I took his advice, but then one day at age 13 or 14 we got an LP from a jazz club he (my Dad) belonged to. It didn't even come in a cardboard jacket with liner notes, just a square 0f plastic. It was called "The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow" & I still have the recoding today, but on CD. Can you imagine? Bebop on the guitar! Out went the clarinet, & in came an old electric guitar & an amp which in total cost me about 40 bucks. Back to the subject, my interest in jazz guitar was inspired by Charlie Christian, but the music I wanted to play was bebop like Bird. I've learned as I became a better guitarist, studied music, & did it for a living, just how amazing Charlie was. His style was definitely swing, but I have everything that Charlie & Benny recorded from 1929-1941 when Charlie died of TB at age 26. I love to listen to this CD & another called "Charlie Christian: genius of the electric guitar" which I have on audio tape, but now on CD also. What do I say about the music? It has been remastered & sounds better than when it was originally recorded. My favorite was called "A Smooth One" which Herb Ellis also recorded. How do you describe music? You don't. All I can say about this CD is that Goodman & Christian played exquisitely together. They were the perfect compliment to each other.This CD is an absolute "must" for anyone who loves the big band swing era. All of the tunes on this CD were made over a 2 yr. period. Buy it. If you don't like it you can kill me.

Benny Goodman Always Had a Slamming Band&Bringing in The Genius Of Charlie Christian takes His Trademark Sound to a Whole Differnt Level.Stardust Sounds Fantastic Here.Charlie Christian is a Very Under-Appreciated GUITAR GREAT WHo Deserves TO BE HEard.The Music here is GREAT as are The Arrangements.

The performances are good, but I've heard better selections featuring Charlie Christian on other recordings.

Charlie Christian is not as dominating on this record as I was hoping for. This is pretty much a Benny Goodman record,only, Christian is only a sideman here.