Charles Henry Christian was a bebop jazz guitarist and an American swing guitarist born on July 29, 1916 in Bonham, Texas.

His family moved from Bonham, Texas to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma when Charlie was a small child. Charlie Christian was the youngest in the family and had two brothers; Clarence and Edward, both of his parents were musicians. His father Clarence Henry taught music to all the three children’s. Charlie’s father Clarence Henry was struck by a illness and lost both of his eyes, he and his brothers were asked to work as ‘buskers’, giving live performances in public places in order to support the family. His father died when he was 12 and Charlie took over his father’s instruments and learnt guitar.

Charlie Christian

Charlie Christian joined the ‘Douglass School’ in Oklahoma City, where he met music instructor Zelia Breaux, who encouraged him to learn music. Charlie Christian started learning jazz guitar from Ralph Hamilton of the band ‘Bigfoot’. He was taught to play solo on three songs, ‘Tea for Two’, Rose Room’ and ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ by the band members. Charlie Christian played all the three solos in a jam session in Deep Deuce, Northeast Second Street in Oklahoma City and the whole city was in uproar.

Charlie Christian learnt playing electric guitar by 1936 and met many big performers like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson who traveled through Oklahoma City. Charlie was auditioned by record producer John Hammond who recommended him to bandleader Benny Goodman. Initially Goodman was not interested in hiring Charlie to his band but after seeing his performance he hired him. Charlie stayed for two years (1939 to 1941) with Benny Goodman Sextet.

Charlie Christian was elected to the Metronome All Stars magazine during the jazz and swing guitar polls in February 1940. He was inducted into the ‘Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame’ of the magazine ‘Down Beat’ in 1966.

Charlie Christian was also inducted into ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’ in 1990.

Charlie Christian was contracted by tuberculosis in the late 1930s and died on March 2, 1942.

Some of his albums include:

• ‘I Got Rhythm’ - 1939
• ‘Rose Room’ - 1939
• ‘Haven’t Named It Yet’ - 1939
• ‘Flying Home’ - 1939
• ‘Seven Come Eleven' - 1939
• ‘Dinah’ - 1939
• ‘Till Tom Special’ - 1940
• ‘Grand Slam’ - 1940
• ‘Six Appeal’ - 1940
• ‘Good Enough to Keep’ - 1940
• ‘Stardust’ - 1940
• ‘I Never Knew’ - 1940
• ‘Wholly Cats’ - 1940
• ‘Royal Garden Blues’ - 1940
• ‘Breakfast Feud’ - 1941
• ‘On the Alamo’ - 1941
• ‘I Found A New Baby’ - 1941
• ‘A Smo-o-oth One’ - 1941
• ‘Airmail Special’ - 1941
  

Charles Gansa (guitar/vocals) formed an indie rock band ‘Guv’ner’ with Pumpkin Wentzel (bass/vocals) in 1993. The romance between Charles Gansa and Pumpkin Wentzel led for the formation of the band ‘Guv’ner’. Pumpkin Wentzel gave a demo tape of their recording to Pussy Galore’s member Julia Cafritz, whom she had known from her school days. Julia Cafritz handed the tape to Thurston Moore, founding member of alternative rock band ‘Sonic Youth’, who exposed the band.

Guvner

Guv’ner released their first album ‘Hard For Measy For You’ in 1994 on the record labels ‘Wiiija’ in UK and ‘Ecstatic Peace’ in US. The drumming duties for their album ‘Hard For Measy For You’ was shared by Brian Logan who played on ‘No Big Deal’, ‘Making Headlines’ and ‘Bridge Under Water’ and Jamie Lawrence who played on ‘Go To Sleep’, ‘Red Velvet Chair’ and ‘Wild Couple’. After their debut album a new member ‘Danny Tunick’ joined the band on drums. The band released the albums ‘The Hunt’ in 1996 and ‘Spectra! Worship’ in 1998.

Some of their albums include:

• ‘Hard For Measy For You’ in 1994
• ‘The Hunt’ in 1996
• ‘Spectral Worship’ in 1998Some of their singles include:

• ‘Ear! Grey Tea’ in 1993
• ‘Curry Favor’ in 1994
• ‘Baby’s Way Cruel’ and ‘Knight Moves’ in 1995
• ‘The Nazarene’, Break A Promise’ and ‘She’s Evil’ in 1996
• ‘In The Fishtank Vol. 2’ in 1997

  

  Charles Gansa - Guvner

  
  

Charlie Lee Byrd was a famous American classical and jazz guitarist born on September 16, 1925 in Suffolk, Virginia. He is better known as Charlie Byrd.

Charlie Byrd learnt to play acoustic steel guitar when he was 10 from his father, who was a mandolin player. Charlie Byrd had three brothers and one of his brothers Joe Byrd was a fellow musician. He joined the ‘Virginia Polytechnic Institute’ in 1942 where he played in a school orchestra. During the World War II he played in an Army Special Services band in Europe and returned back to New York. He joined ‘Harnett National Music School’ in Manhattan, New York and learnt jazz theory and composition.

Charlie Byrd - American Classical and Jazz Guitarist

In 1950, Charlie Byrd moved to Washington DC where he learnt classical guitar. He became the student of ‘Andres Segovia’, a Spanish Classical guitarist in Italy in 1954. Byrd formed a jazz trio and started performing in local clubs. His trio was a mixture of blues, jazz and classical music.After a short trip to Italy Byrd returned back to Washington DC where he met double bassist Keter Betts in a club called ‘The Vineyard’ and both of them performed in many gigs in 1957. During this time he released ‘Blues For Night People’ and ‘Jazz rectical’. Byrd released ‘Jazz At The Showboat’ in 1958, ‘Guitar in the Wind’ in 1959, ‘Charlie’s Choice’ in 1960 and ‘Charlie Byrd at The Village Vanguard’ in 1961.

Charlie Byrd with his trio (which included bassist Keeter Betts, drummers Bertel Knox and Buddy Deppinschmidt) toured South America under the sponsorship of the State Department in 1962. He released the album ‘Jazz Samba’ with Stan Getz on February 13, 1962. This album made the landmark and was included on “Billboard’s” pop album chart.

Charlie Byrd continued to play and record from 1970s to 1990s. He formed the ‘Great Guitars’ group with the guitarists Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis and drummer Johnny Rae in 1973.

Charlie Byrd died of cancer in 1999.

Some of his albums include:

• ‘First Flight’, Jazz Recital’, ‘Blues for Night People’ and ‘Midnight Guitar’ in 1957
• ‘Byrd’s Word’ in 1958
• ‘Mr. Guitar’ in 1959
• ‘The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd’ in 1960
• ‘Charlie Byrd at the Village Vanguard’ in 1961
• ‘Latin Impressions’ in 1962
• ‘Once More! Bossa Nova’ in 1963
• ‘Charlie Byrd Trio at the Village Gate’ in 1964
• ‘Brazilian Byrd’, ‘Travellin’ Man’, ‘The Touch of Gold’, ‘Byrd song’ and ‘Solo Flight’ in 1965
• ‘Byrdland’ in 1966
• ‘Hollywood Byrd’, More Brazilian Byrd’ and ‘Christmas Carols for Solo Guitar’ in 1967
• ‘Delicately’ and ‘Hit Trip’ in 1968
• ‘The Great Byrd’ in 1969
• ‘Let It Be’ in 1970
• ‘For All We Know’ in 1971
• ‘The World of Charlie Byrd’ in 1973
• ‘The Stroke of Genius’, ‘The New Wave’, ‘Byrd by the Sea’ and ‘Great Guitars’ in 1974
• ‘Top Hat’ in 1975
• ‘Charlie Byrd Swings Downtown’ in 1976
• ‘Blue Byrd’ in 1978
• ‘Sugarloaf Suite’ in 1979
• ‘Great Guitars at the Winery’ in 1980
• ‘Charlie Byrd Christmas Album’ in 1982
• ‘Isn’t It Romantic’ in 1984
• ‘Tango’ and ‘Byrd and Brass’ in 1986
• ‘It’s a Wonderful World’ in 1988
• ‘Rise and Shine’ in 1992
• ‘Music to Dine By’ and ‘Aquarelle’ in 1993
• ‘I’ve Got the World on a String’ and ‘Moments Like This’ in 1994
• ‘Jazz & Samba’, ‘Du Hot Club De Concord’ and ‘Great Guitars 2’ in 1995
• ‘Au Courant’ in 1997
  

Real Name: Charlyn Marie Marshall
Born on: 21 January 1972

Charlyn ‘Chan’ Marshall is an American songwriter and singer born on 21 January 1972 in Atlanta, Georgia. She is known for her minimalist style, sparse piano and guitar playing, and ethereal vocals.

Charlyn Marshall’s stage name is ‘Cat Power’. Her parents got divorced when she was still young and she stayed with her mother. Charlyn Marshall completed her higher school education at the age of 16 and moved to stay with her father Charlie, who is a blues musician and pianist. She learnt all genres of music at the age of 19 from her father.

Chan Marshall

Charlyn Marshall started her music career by playing guitar in her friend’s band under the name ‘Cat Power’ for a short period. Later Marshall realized that she preferred songwriting to performing and moved to New York City in 1992 with Glen Thrasher to continue her songwriting career. He introduced Charlyn Marshall to New York’s experimental music and free-jazz.

Charlyn Marshall’s first performance was at a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. During this period she performed as the support act to a surf rock band ‘Man or Astro-man?’ which included her singing the word ‘no’ for 15 minutes and playing a two string guitar. Marshall became the friend of ‘God Is My Co-Pilot’ band and released her first single ‘Headlights’.

Charlyn Marshall released her first single ‘Headlights’ for indie rock artist Liz Phair in 1994. The attendees included Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth, who encouraged her and played on her two albums, ‘Dear Sir’ in 1995 and ‘Myra Lee’ in 1996. Charlyn Marshall released her third album ‘What Would the Community Think’ in 1996 by singing with an independent record label ‘Matador Records’.

Cat Power - Chan Marshall

Charlyn Marshall toured with the band ‘Guv’ner for three months in support of the release of ‘What Would the Community Think’ in late 1996 and moved out from the sight of music. She worked as a baby sitter in Portland, Oregon and later moved to a farmhouse in South Carolina with her boyfriend Bill Callahan. Marshall released her fourth album ‘Moon Pix’ in 1998. She provided musical supplement to ‘The passion of Joan of Arc’, a silent movie in 1999.

In April 2006, Charlyn Marshall returned to live performance with the ‘Memphis Rhythm’ band and continued with her stage performances. At the same time she gave performance at a tribute concert of Bob Dylan. Charlyn Marshall has contributed guest vocals to several albums.

Charlyn Marshall won the ‘Shortlist Music Prize’ award for her album ‘The Greatest’ in 2007 and she is the first female to win this award. Charlyn Marshall was the musical guest on ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ on April 1, 2008.

Some of her albums include:

• Dear Sir (1995)
• Myra Lee (1996)
• What Would the Community Think (1996)
• Moon Pix (1998)
• The Covers Record (2000)
• You Are Free (2003)
• The Greatest (2006)
• Jukebox (2008)