Charlie Christian with the Benny Goodman Sextet, Septet & Orchestra - Solo Flight (Vol. II)

An essential collection from Charlie Christian, the pioneering electric guitarist whose brief career fundamentally changed the role of guitar in jazz. Backed by Benny Goodman in sextet, septet and full-orchestra configurations, Solo Flight captures Christian during the extraordinary 1939–1941 period when his fluid single-note lines and horn-like phrasing were helping establish the vocabulary of modern jazz guitar.

The album includes “Solo Flight,” “Rose Room,” “Flying Home,” “Star Dust,” “The Sheik of Araby,” “I Surrender Dear,” “Memories of You,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “I've Found a New Baby,” “Royal Garden Blues,” “Benny's Bugle” and more. Personnel across these historic sessions include Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Cootie Williams and other major figures of the swing era.

This is the French CBS Aimez-Vous le Jazz No. 3 edition, catalog 62 581, an imported European pressing and a particularly appealing edition for collectors of classic jazz and guitar history.