The Leonids haven't shown yet. It's still early but the viewing is nigh perfect. I live on Whidbey Island, which is north of Seattle enough to be free of its light pollution. We have dark skies and it is clear tonight. Perfect. And Charlie and Dizzy are wailing at Minton's.

Craig featured Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt on Sonny Side Up. Check out his comments about this album and jazz.

I checked out emusic and they didn't have this album but had several by both Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt. emusic also had a link to some Lester Young. I downloaded one of each and then I thought of Charlie Christian and checked to see if that had anything by him.

I had heard recordings of Charlie Christian with Benny Goodman. But I hadn't heard any of the Minton's sessions. In 1941 Charlie Christian would go to Minton's after hours and jam with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie. The house piano player was Thelonious Monk. It was here they started to create a new music that was to be known as bebop.

I didn't know that any of these sessions had been captured. I must be living under a rock because emusic has After Hours with Charlie Christian, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk recorded at Minton's and Monroe's.

A review, at Amazon says it well:

In 1941 a young man named, Jerry Newman brought a portable recorder to the legendary jazz club in Harlem called Minton's. What he recorded is little short of priceless. Cut in May of 1941 this music features, among others, electric guitar pioneer Charlie Christian, Dizzy Gillespie then a young trumpeter just beginning to emerge from Roy Eldridge's shadow, the cool toned tenor of Don Byas, a young drummer who was radically altering the approach of jazz drummers named Kenny Clarke, and a little known house pianst named Thelonious Monk. There are two reasons this music is so vital. First, the performances are outstanding. Christian is transcendant in his soloing. His lines are crisp, and swing hard as anyone, and for this listener THE reason to pick up this disc. He is afforded the opprotunity to really stretch out and dig into the music that the standard three minute record of the day simply could not allow, just listen to "Swing to Bop" and "Up on Teddy's Hill". Gillespie is in a transitional phase of his playing, only just beginning to come into his own, but one hears glimpses of his greatness on "Kerouac". Monk is identified as the pianist on "Swing to Bop" and "Stomping at the Savoy". One has to strain to listen even as he solos as the piano is very soft, most likely far from the mic, but one hears enough to tell his playing is still stride based and displays little of his trademark style. These performances of Monk and Gillespie at such a stage gives the fan a perspective of just how young they were, and how far they would come. The second reason to pick this cd up is for it's historical value. At the time this music was very much underground and ignored by nearly everyone outside of the musicians and a small base of dedicated fans. This recording gives us the briefest glimpse of the music that would become "be-bop" in it's infancy, and is an indespencable historical document. The sound quality is suprisingly high considering the source materials are the discs mr. Newman cut on his portable, and then listened to countless times. While not in the catagory of audiophile quality, there is very little audible analog hiss, and most of the musicians (save the rhythm section, which is muffled thorughout) come through loud and clear. This disc is a must for fans of bop, Christian, Gillespie, and fans looking to fill holes in the development of jazz styles, I recommend it highly.

I've been listening to this over and over. Charlie Christian is incredible on these cuts. He rocks! This was recorded in May of 1941. Shortly after these recordings, he contacted TB and was dead March 2, 1942, at age 25.

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