KENNY CLARKE & CHARLIE CHRISTIAN (From swing to bop) Jazz History #46

Kenny Clarke and Charlie Christian were on the forefront of the evolution of bebop and each had an outsized impact on the development and usage of their instrument. Clarke paved the way for modern drummers by moving the primary timekeeping role to the ride cymbal and using the drums for accents, a signature move that earned him the nickname of Klook Mop.
Charlie Christian's single-note lines, made possible by the use of an amplified electric guitar, foreshadowed the chromatic language of bebop, though he wouldn't live to see the culmination. As an early adopter and innovator of the instrument that would come to dominate rock music, he earned a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
ABOUT THIS SERIES
The Jazz History series is a video adaptation of a PowerPoint presentation used to teach a university course. It traces the roots of jazz from Ragtime at the turn of the 20th century to jazz-rock fusion at the end of the 1960s. You’ll find a lot more videos like this one in the JAZZ HISTORY playlist on this channel.
If you want to learn more about the nuts and bolts of playing jazz, check out the videos in the
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Improvising on Rhythm Changes • IMPROVISING ON RHYTHM ...
ABOUT THIS CHANNEL
On this channel, jazz trumpeter, educator and author Chase Sanborn offers advice and tips for musicians and music students, based on more than forty years of experience as a professional musician.
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For more in-depth and personal information and instruction, check out Chase's books and online lesson options on his website:
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[@JoelCharles-v5v]

Super wow!!!

[@chasesanborn]

:)

[@A.ChristopherJohnson]

Best Channel EVER brother Chase !!!

[@chasesanborn]

Amen to that!

[@mgconlan]

Charlie Christian's records with Benny Goodman show a nice, polite player extending the jazz idiom. His recordings from Minton's and Monroe's show almost a different player altogether: radical, experimental, explosive. Incidentally, Jerry Newman's records at Minton's and Monroe's were. made on a home disc recorder, not a tape recorder (tape recorders were then available only in Germany).

[@chasesanborn]

Thanks for that! I wonder how big that acetate machine was.

[@georgesember9069]

Such a pleasure to hear. Great photos! Very interesting. Thanks for posting!!

[@chasesanborn]

Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for saying so!

[@bobblues1158]

This never fails to fascinate me Chase. I play tenor but transcribed some of Charlies work. Mainly to get into the language of southwestern swing. But some of his note choices are very different from that idiom. Thanks!

[@chasesanborn]

While he drew from both swing and emerging bop, I agree his vocabulary is unique.

[@alandesouzacruz5124]

Charlie Christian a great guitarrist who sadly died too Young

[@chasesanborn]

All too common in jazz history. Many made great art despite personal and sociological obstacles.

[@mgconlan]

@@chasesanborn Just some of the great guitarists who died way too young: Eddie Lang, Dick McDonough, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix.

[@chasesanborn]

@@mgconlan And on the trumpet side: Bix Beiderbecke, Booker Little, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Roy Hargrove... I imagine we can make a similar list for every instrument. It's a dangerous profession!

[@johnmitchelljr]

Sad when great musicians die from disease, not demons. Thank you. Excellent video.

[@rillloudmother]

as a guitar player, we need the right drummer.

[@chasesanborn]

Chet Baker said: "It takes a great drummer to sound better than no drummer."

[@skineyemin4276]

Charlie Christian's contribution to Bebop and guitar should never be minimized, but I was just listening to some recordings of Bird from 1940, and I think Bird was still more advanced than Christian in terms of the Bebop phrasing evolution. I can't agree with the narrator's claim on that topic.

[@chasesanborn]

The quote to which you are referring came from Gunther Schuller, so I'll leave it to him to defend his position. :)

[@PeteMartinMandolin]

I’ve heard the Mintons recording but not the Monroe’s. Are they available anywhere?

[@chasesanborn]

I don't know if they are available as audio recordings, I found it elsewhere on TH-cam.

[@Brokout]

Was Charlie influenced by Django at all? Some of his phrasing sounds very similar especially in that first solo

[@chasesanborn]

Hard to imagine he would not be. There weren't very many jazz guitar players in the early years.

[@MikeTarrani]

I think he (and Django) were influenced by Eddie Lang. In fact, you can hear Lang in Django's playing. Lang was born in 1902 and passed away too young in 1933. Django was 8 years younger than Lang. Plus Lang recorded in his relatively short life quite prolifically, so it's not a stretch to guess that Django had come across Lang's recorded work.

[@Toracube]

Amazing playing. Anyone know the history of the tapes? Who taped them? How were they saved?

[@chasesanborn]

One of the comments above sheds a little light on that.