ROSE ROOM (1939) by the Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian on guitar

Rose Room was one of the first studio tunes recorded 2 October 1939 by guitarist Charlie Christian after he joined the Benny Goodman Sextet. I love this and other Goodman small group tracks as they are a good introduction to jazz and swing. They are popular circa forties era tunes, with members taking melodic solos that can be appreciated against the chord changes. These tracks initially helped me get jazz, rather than being scared off by some of the less user friendly forms of it. This song was also important in helping Charlie join Goodman s group. The story goes that Charlie sat in unannounced with Goodman s group at a live performance at the Victor Hugo restaurant in Los Angeles on 16 August 1939, at the instigation of producer John Hammond, who had been hearing about Charlie s electric guitar work in Oklahoma City. (Apparently Goodman had not shown much interest in Charlie when he had auditioned briefly on acoustic guitar at a recording session earlier that day). Accor