From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charlie Christian
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Birth name
| Charles Henry Christian
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Born
| (
1916-07-29
)
July 29, 1916
Bonham, Texas
, U.S.
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Died
| March 2, 1942
(1942-03-02)
(aged 25)
Staten Island, New York
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Genres
| Jazz
,
swing
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Occupation(s)
| Musician
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Instruments
| Guitar
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Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian
(July 29, 1916 ? March 2, 1942) was an
American
jazz
guitarist
. Christian is best known as one of the first famous guitarists to play the electric guitar. He is also remembered as one of the first musicians to help create the styles of jazz music known as
"bebop"
and
"cool jazz."
[1]
Christian first gained fame as a member of the
Benny Goodman
Orchestra. He played with Goodman from August 1939 to June 1941. He was very good at playing many notes up and down on a sinle guitar string. By playing his guitar through an amplifier his guitar solos made the guitar very loud in the band.
Christian died in March 1942 when he was only 26 years old. He had been sick with
tuberculosis
for several years before he died.
[2]
Even though he was jazz guitarist who died before the music style rock and roll was started, he was still a large influence on rock and roll musicians. It was because of this that in 1990 Charlie Christian was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
even though he had never played rock and roll music.
Charles Henry Christian was raised in
Oklahoma City
in the American state of
Oklahoma
. In 2006 Oklahoma City renamed a street to
"Charlie Christian Avenue."
There is also a yearly jazz music festival in Oklahoma City which is named after Charlie Christian.