Charlie Christian
Charlie Christian was one of jazz's first great electric guitarists and influenced a generation a jazz guitarists in the 40s and 50s like Tiny Grimes, Barney Kessel, and Herb Ellis, Wes Montgomery, and George Benson. He started his music career playing piano, but after becoming a student of Eddie Durham he started playing the guitar. Christian was discovered by talent scout John Hammond and in 1939 was invited to try out for clarininetist Benny Goodman. He played in Benny Goodman's Sextet for two years before dying of tuberculosis at age 25.
