Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian

Charles Henry Christian was born in Bonham Texas on July 29 1916.  The Christians moved to Oklahoma City Oklahoma while Charlie was still a baby.  He had two brother Edward and Clarence JR, his father was Clarence SR.  Charlie's father went blind from fever and to support the family he and his children would preform on the street, at first charlie would just dance but when his father died  when charlie was 12 he inherited his fathers acoustic guitar.

He attended the Douglass School in Oklahoma City. His music teacher was Zelia N. Breaux, at first Charles wanted to learn Tenor Saxophone but Zelia insisted he play trumpet. Christian believed playing the trumpet would disfigure his lip so he quit and pursued a baseball career, he was quite good at it.

 With Benny Goodman 1940

In 1939, Christian auditioned for John Hammond, who recommended him to bandleader Benny Goodman, Goodman was one of the first white bandleaders to feature black musicians in his live band, That was very uncommon in the 1930s.  Goodman hired Christian to play with the newly formed Goodman Sextet in 1939.  Goodman was at first not interested in hiring Christian because the electric guitar was not a popular instrument at the time, but Goodman was so impressed with Christian's ability he hired him on the spot.  Charlie went from making a dollar fifty a week the 350.00 a week overnight.

Seven Come Eleven 

Live in 1941 at Minton's Playhouse the whole set

Solo Fight

Gibson ES 150

 ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style Electric Guitar.  The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and it was the designated 150 because that was the price.  The price also included an Amp the EH-150 and a cable.  The guitar had a mahogany neck solid spruce top and maple back and sides, and had a 24 and 3.4 scale length.  

The amp had an protective latch on case to protect the speaker while traveling.

Back of the amp

This Video show what the amp looks like on the inside

An Advertisement from the early 40s the ES-150 had changed slightly and the more expensive ES-250 was in production

Seymour Duncan Explaining the charlie Christian pickup

Guitar Sheet Music

In late 1939 Charlie contracted Tuberculosis and was hospitalized in early 1940 and went back to Oklahoma to visit family because goodman was having back trouble and couldn't tour for a few months.  March 2, 1942. He was 25 years old. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Bonham Texas

Eldon Shamblin

Eldon Shamblin

Eldon Shamblin was born in Clinton Oklahoma April 24th 1916.  Shamblin took up guitar at an early age and was inspired by pioneering guitarist Eddie Lang.  His older sister taught him to read music and she played piano,  when he was a teenager he moved to Oklahoma city and played bars and dance halls and a daily radio broadcast where he sang and played guitar.

IN 1934 Shambling joined the Alabama boys led by Dave Edwards, he did not play and instruments or sing.  Shambling played regularly with the Alabama Boys for three years.

After Leaving the Alabama boys Eldon finally exempted an offer the Play with the Legendary Bob Wills, Eldon had turned him down a couple times do to scheduling conflicts.  Shamblin officially joined in november 1937.  Shamblin and Wills worked together the rest of Wills life, Shamblin was Wills right hand man being in-charge of all the arrangements and payroll for the band.

Shamblin with an early lineup of the texas playboys 1938 Eldon is playing his 1938 gibson super 400

Bob Wills only told Eldon what to play twice in his time with the Texas Playboys the first time was while recording take me back to Tulsa he told Heldon to "put a lot of runs on this one."

Shamblin demonstrating what he did on take me back to Tulsa and talking about how Bob respected him enough to let him do his thing

Shamblin and Drummer Smokey Dacus talking about what it was like to work with Bob back in the day.  this was filmed at Cains Ballroom in Tulsa Oklahoma

Another Video of Eldon showing his unique style at mere mortal speed for once skip to 1 minute 45 seconds to see Eldon but the whole video is great.

The Playboys playing years after Bob Wills Death

Eldon's Fender Stratocaster

The Great guitar builder Leo Fender Loved Eldon's playing and gave him a very early 1954 start in a custom gold color that was not available to the public. He used this guitar for the rest of his career and it is his signature instrument.  The guitar now resides in Tulsa Oklahoma and the guitar store strings west.

Playing Pennies from Heaven with Debbie Campbell in the 1980s

In 1986 at a Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys Reunion 

In the late 1960s until the late 1970s Eldon and a few other Surviving Playboys started touring with Merle Haggard. Shamblin also started teaching music at Oklahoma University.

In the studio with Merle Haggard recording a Bob Wills Tribute album

A video tribute to Eldons Life

Barney Kessal

Barney Kessel

Barney Kessel was born in Muskogee Oklahoma on October 17 1923, he took up guitar at an early age, by the time he was a teenager he was playing steadily in many swing and dance bands around town; later to join a touring band backing up Chico Marx. 

Chico Marx Orchestra 

Kessel's early style was molded heavily after Charlie Christian also from Oklahoma. Kessel and Christian met and jammed together, while they were playing Kessel released that all of his guitar note choices were derived or a copy of Christian's Ideas and he realized that he needed to find his own voice on the instrument.  

Wessel Showing the Love for Charlie Christian 

Barney Kessel was the original guitarist in the oscar peterson trio and left to play more session after a year in 1953, he was replaced by Herb Ellis

Left to Right Ray Brown bass, Oscar Peterson Piano and Barney kessel guitar

Live in the 1970s with Oscar Peterson

Another Clip from the same Performance

A great version of Lady be Good written by George and Ira Gershwin preformed as a duet with another great guitarist Herb Ellis

Kessel Became a first call session musician in the fifties and sixties playing on countless hits and film scores.

Playing on Julie London's Cry Me a River in 1955 this song really showcases Kessel's unique chord voicings

Another Julie London one this time singing Blue Moon

Wessel Playing bass for Spock's Vulcan Mind meld one of the many film scores he played on

Barney played the intro to the Beach Boy's Wouldn't it Be Nice on a custom instrument with a Gibson 12 string neck and a mandolin body see below

You can reed more about the instrument here http://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-study-barney-kessels-personal-guitar.html

Kessel in the studio playing a fender telecaster not something you see every day

another shot playing a different fender telecaster

Signature Guitars

The Gibson guitar company gave barney a a signature model in 1961 it had two florentine cutaways and two hum bucking pickups.  The custom Kessel was $560.00 for the Custom and $395.00 for the less ornate standard model.  The guitar was 17 inches at the lower bout and 3 inches thick.  the scale length is 25.5 inches and the width at the nut is 1 and 9-16ths 

A mint condition model from 1968 in cherry burst

The Unfinished Rosewood tail piece

The Gibson Barney Kessel was discontinued in 1972 with a few custom orders finished and shipped in 1973.

Headstock of a Barney Kessel Custom

Headstock of the standard

Kay Barney Kessle

Headstock of a Kay Barney Kessel

Kessel had a line of kay guitars starting in the mid fifties and he never liked them usually saying he would never play one or they were horrible guitars.  They looked cool but don't usually play that great.

Favorite Gibson

Playing his favorite Gibson 350 onstage in the 1970s.

Wessel talking about why he loves his guitar and what makes it special to him

Kessel's guitar started out life an acoustic archtop and he added a charlie christen pickup at some point in the 1940s.  he also replaced the fingerboard with an ebony one with more simple dot inlays instead of the traditional parallelogram inlays on stock Gibson 350s.

Kessels finger board would have had inlays like the ones above when he purchased his 350 new in the 1940s

A lesson with the man him self pretty cool

Another Lesson

Kessel and Herb Ellis playing the Flintstones theme song

Wessel died in 2004 of a brain tumor he was 80 years old he is buried in new york

Herb Ellis

Herb Ellis

Mitchell Herbert "Herb" Ellis was born August 4 1921 in Farmersville, Texas and raised outside of Dallas Texas.  Ellis went to North Texas State University as a music major but studied upright bass because the collage did not have a guitar program yet.  He was forced to drop his studies because of lack of funds and he dropped out in 1941.  After collage he toured with a band for about six months with musicians from University of Kansas.  In 1943 Herb Joined Glen Gray's Casa Lomba Orchestra and started to receive Recognition for his talents. Soon after Ellis moved on to Jimmy Dorsey's band and he recorded some of his first Solos. Herb toured and recorded extensively with Dorsey until 1947.

Herb With Jimmy Dorsey Band 1946

Dorsey took six months off in 1947 and Ellis along with pianist John Frigo and bassist Lou Carter formed Soft winds and stayed at the Peter Stuyvesent Hotel in Buffalo New York.  They wrote the song Detour Ahead during this time.

Ellis left John Frigo center and Lou Carter right

An Older Ellis Preforming Detour Ahead

Herb Stayed with Soft Winds until 1952 and in 1953 he joined The Oscar Peterson trio with Ray Brown on upright bass.  This group is considered one of the best jazz Trios to ever exist.  The trio was the house backing band for verve Records backing Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie and with drummer Buddy Rich they were the backing band for Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong duets.

Ellis in Studio

With Peterson Trio 1950s

Trio Live in Amsterdam 1958

With the Oscar Peterson trio 1950s

Ellis Left the Oscar Peterson Trio in November of 1958 and Peterson did not replace him with another guitar player but a drummer Ed Thingpen.  From 1958 to 1960 Ellis tour and recorded with Ella Fitzgerald

Herb Ellis & Ray Brown or bass Backing Ella Fitzgerald in 1957

  

Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel Playing the George and Ira Gershwin standard Lady Be Good

Gibson ES-165 Herb Ellis

Gibson gave Ellis a signature guitar in 1991 the guitar is essentially a ES-175 with one pickup.  It had a gibson 490r pickup in the neck position, in 2004 the 490r was replaced by a floating BRB hum bucking pickup and the tone control was removed.  The scale length is 24 and three quarter inch with a 20 fret neck the width a the nut is 1 11/16 inch.  the fingerboard is bound and is rosewood with parallelogram inlays.  The pre 2004 ES-165s had a rounded jazz profile neck but after 2004 the profile was changed to a standard gibson profile.  The body of the guitar is fully hollow with two internal lateral braces.  The Dimensions are the same as a Gibson ES-175 16 inches at the bout and 3.3 inches deep.  

after November 1991 the ES-165 started silkscreening Ellis's signature on the headstock

2004 model with floating pickup and no tone control

Ellis used a Van Eps String Damper on his guitar the device attached at the trusrod cover and dampened the strings so fretted and open strings sounded the same.

Lessons by Herb Ellis

Ellis on Stanford and son 1970s

Herb in the super guitar group called Great Guitars with Charlie Byrd and Barney Kessel in the 1970s

Herb with a Telecaster 

Herb Ellis died of Alzheimer's Disease on March 28 2010 at the age of 88 in his Los Angeles