Today a little transcription of Charlie Christian jamming with the Benny Goodman crew on “Waiting for Benny,” from this recording:
I have nothing to say about Charlie Christian that hasn’t been said a million times; for that, go check out Stan Ayeroff’s book, or plenty of other resources. He’s just unbelievably great.
Oh, and fuck Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, JD Vance, and every other cretin in the current administration. They are waging war against the American people and the very notion of a free society, all for the sake of bigotry and idiocy. And fuck the 6 on the Supreme Court who are giving Trump permission to ignore Congress’ laws and the Constitution, as though he were a king. My new motto: “No Christian Nationalism but Charlie Christian Nationalism!”
The transcription
The first part of this piece features Christian freewheeling with mostly percussion accompaniment (and some occasional horn wails in the background). Everything he plays is centered around an A major triad grip, and playing only on the top 4 strings:
For measures 1-8, he plays a chromatically descending/ascending line against an A pedal point on the top string. Then things pick up in measures 9-67, he pulls out an endless stream of good lines; basically A major stuff, but freely throwing in the minor third (C) and chromatic passing notes. It’s all about generating interest rhythmically.
In the second part, measures 68-106, Christian moves to playing figures around a D minor voicing:
Soon the full band comes in, and what they are playing here is a faster version of the Benny Goodman Sextet’s “A Smooth One:”
As in the first part, Christian’s playing is primarily on the top 4 strings, though not exclusively. And he has a short passage with some chord stabs to complement his usual single-note lines.
As I said above, no need for me to write much else. Just enjoy the CC. And please, tell an authoritarian to shove it today; they only have the power that is given to them.