Monday, February 28, 2011

The complete Charlie Christian Volume 4....1940

Volume 4 of The Complete Charlie Christian.............1940

Tracks:

01 - Six Appeal
02 - These Foolish Things.wav" WAVE
03 - Good Enough To Keep (Air Mail Special)
04 - Honeysuckle Rose
05 - Six Appeal
06 - AC-DC Current
07 - Stardust
08 - Wrap Up Your Troubles In Dreams
09 - Ad Lib Blues
10 - I Never Knew
11 - Charlie's Dream
12 - Wholly Cats
13 - Lester's Dream
14 - Gone With 'What' Wind
15 - Wholly Cats
16 - Wholly Cats
17 - Wholly Cats
18 - Wholly Cats
19 - Wholly Cats


Volume 4 covers the period of June 11, 1940 through part of a session on November 7, 1940.

Track 1 thru 3 – June 11, 1940, WBS recording session: “Six Appeal” (16-bar solo), “These Foolish Things” (great 4-bar chord intro; 8-bar bridge solo) and “Good Enough to Keep” (32-bar solo).

Tracks 4 & 5 – First-time issue for this incomplete [CC’s 32-bar solo is not affected] broadcast of “Honeysuckle Rose” from the Catalina Casino on June 22nd.  And, from the same gig on Santa Catalina Island, another version of “Six Appeal.”

Track 6 – From the Catalina Casino on June 30, another version of the less-than-essential “AC-DC Current.”

Tracks 7 & 8 – After a three-month vacation, Charles is back in New York City and is hired by Columbia to back up singer Eddie Howard on a quintet/octet led by Teddy Wilson on October 4, 1940:
On “Star Dust” (quintet), CC takes an 8-bar solo...and he leads off the octet with a beautiful 4-bar chord intro on “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams.”  Two other titles were recorded with CC on rhythm guitar.

Tracks 9 thru 13 – A made-in-heaven line-up for this Oct. 28, 1940 rehearsal session at the Columbia studios:  Charlie Christian and Lester Young, the two greatest soloists in jazz, with the peerless Basie rhythm section.  What a pity this group did not record regularly—we can only dream of what could have been—however we’re fortunate to have these five cuts along with the three titles from the Spirituals to Swing concert recorded 10 months earlier.   With the addition of Count Basie it was potentially even better than the Kansas City Six at Carnegie Hall.
On “Ad-Lib Blues,” Goodman was wise to lay out in the company of these blues masters.   CC takes a 2-chorus solo.
“I Never Knew” has CC soloing on one chorus with Basie taking the bridge.
On both versions of “Dickie’s Dream” Charles was obviously prepared to take a full chorus when he was cut off after 16 bars by the clarinet, probably due to time constraints.  Judging from the length of these takes, it appears that they were being considered for issue.
CC gets three choruses for his solo on the blues “Wholly Cats.”
Track 14 – Broadcast of the Democratic Presidential Campaign Rally on November 4th at Madison Square Garden:  “Gone with ‘What’ Wind.”

Tracks 15 thru 19 – The Goodman combo, now a septet, is back recording for Columbia on November 7th after the long summer layoff.  Five takes of “Wholly Cats,” a blues with a 24-bar CC solo on each take.  The long recording session continues on the fifth volume of this CD series.

Volume 4 contains all recordings from the period of June 11 through the first part of the session on November 7, 1940 with the exception of “Li’l Boy Love” which has a CC bridge solo recorded on 25 June 1940.
[Released in October 2001 on Masters of Jazz MJCD 189, Charlie Christian • Volume 9.]

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