C&A:

Charlie Christian was in fine fettle on this recording date (Grand Slam was also recorded at this session).  To quote Jan Evensmo’s thirty-year-old comments on this master take of I Surrender, Dear:  “In ‘…Dear’ one can listen to one of Christian’s master soli, a perfect construction of great beauty.  Not a single note is superfluous or wrongly placed, and the necessary balance and relaxation are always present.”  Although I don’t agree with Evensmo’s lukewarm remarks concerning Grand Slam, I thoroughly concur with his thoughts regarding this half-chorus solo.

There’s a beautifully executed transition from E7 to Am7 at mm 3-4.  The D7 figure at bar 6 is notable for its quick wit.  As far as I can recall, the A7 phrase at bar 8 is unique to this solo.  Same with the sequence in the next measure on which Charles plays an unexpected E (9th) instead of an F (b3, the third of Dm).  We’re all familiar with the run at bar 10 from his solos on Star Dust (bar 22).  Charles closes out his solo with some blues lines on the last four bars.