Minton's Playhouse - Charlie Christian and The House Band

Charlie Christian and The House Band

One of the pioneers of the new style, which would eventually become known as bebop, was the young electric guitarist from Benny Goodman’s band, Charlie Christian. He played nightly at Minton’s and was one of its stars. Although Christian was in his early twenties in 1941, his time at Minton's was significant, but brief; he would die the next March after being confined to a sanatorium stricken with tuberculosis. As evidenced by recordings made by Columbia University student Jerry Newman in 1941, Christian’s playing was breaking new ground. Gunther Schuller’s assessment of Christian’s playing on those recordings is as follows:

His work here seems to me relentlessly creative, endlessly fertile, and is so in a way that marks a new stylistic departure. Indeed, it signals the birth of a new language in jazz, which even Parker did not have as clearly in focus at that time.

Kenny Clarke and the band at Minton’s would look forward with anticipation to Christian’s arrival after finishing his set with Goodman. Christian was admired by his peers at Minton’s, including Thelonious Monk who “loved listening to Charlie play solos with fluid lines and interesting harmonies.”