CC Transcription Page:     Grand Slam

The “CC xcript page” contains tablature depicting the way Charlie Christian would actually play his solo.

Standard Transcription Page:     Grand Slam          <  clicking here will link to Garry Hansen’s site (then click on “TAB”) ]

The “standard page” tab has the fingering which would normally be used by most guitarists.

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  (linked with permission)

C&A:

Charlie Christian’s solo on the boogie Grand Slam must be one of the most underrated of all his solos.  All of the critical assessments I’ve read consider it no more than ordinary, but many noted jazz guitarists disagree.   To quote Jim Hall in an interview of about a decade ago referring to when he was thirteen years old and had been playing guitar for three years:  “I heard a recording of Charlie’s solo on Grand Slam and that was it.  Jazz was going to be my life!”

Charles begins his solo—swinging fervently as usual—with the same phrasing that he used on the first take of this tune (this is the second take, which was selected as the master) but using entirely different notes.  He ends, at bar 3, slurring up to the tonic (F) rather than to the usual third (A).  That's followed by a clever Bb7 line:  b7th (Ab), 8th (Bb), 9th (C), 13th (G), topped by a couple of triplets.  On mm 8-9 he plays a figure that’s identical to one he also used on the first take—here it’s over the C7, on the other take it was over the Bb7.

The entire second chorus is what really makes this solo so great;  it’s particularly fascinating from a guitarist’s point of view.  Alternating strings on the off-beat set up a four-note phrase repeated four times, each containing one note a half-step higher than on the previous one (mm 1-2 of the second chorus).  After a pause, it’s resolved with a short F7 descending burst.  Then, higher up, he immediately starts a long descending Bb7 run before ascending to culminate in a brilliant F phrase. Ingenious Fdim7 notes on alternating strings are followed by a couple of pre-bent Cs (mm 8-10).  He ends his solo with a phrase that’s virtually identical to the ending of his solo on an unreleased, untitled tune (in Db) recorded a week earlier in the same studio.

I believe it’s the best of Charles’ blues solos with the sextet in the studio:  very logically constructed;  melodic and bluesy.  It’s my favorite of his fast blues solos.

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