Jazz Articles

Avery Sharpe: 400: An African American Musical Portrait

by Troy Dostert
August 13, 2019

In 1619 the White Lion, a British privateer which had just successfully raided a Spanish slave ship, arrived in the Jamestown colony with its contraband cargo of twenty-some African slaves. Thus began the tumultuous legacy of the African American experience in North America—a four-hundred-year saga that bassist Avery Sharpe traces skilfully and poignantly on 400: An African American Musical Portrait. Sharpe has never been reluctant to acknowledge the forces that have shaped him musically and culturally. His Legends ...

Avery Sharpe: Running Man

by Bruce Lindsay
May 7, 2011

Avery Sharpe has an extensive history as a bandleader, a composer and a first-call bassist with musicians such as Yusef Lateef, and Pat Metheny. He was also McCoy Tyner's bassist for almost 20 years. No surprise, then, that Running Man is a rhythmically strong album of straight-ahead jazz tunes. The bassist's compositions move from funky, upbeat, tunes to gently lyrical ballads. Craig Handy's saxophone playing is key to the changing moods. “Running Man," dedicated to athlete Jesse ...

Avery Sharpe Trio: Live

by Dan Bilawsky
May 5, 2010

Creating an intriguing program and a well-balanced live set is an art form in and of itself. This becomes all the more challenging when dealing with small group formats, such as duo or trio settings. Bassist Avery Sharpe--best known for his work with McCoy Tyner in the '80s and '90s--proves to have exceptional skills in this department, in addition to his more obvious abilities as a supremely talented bassist and composer. This seven song program--recorded live at the Fraser Performance ...

Avery Sharpe Trio: Autumn Moonlight

by Glenn Astarita
April 10, 2009

Highly regarded bassist Avery Sharpe has been a first-call session musician due to his long affiliation with pianist McCoy Tyner and others of note. Moreover, he's a viable solo artist, evidenced here on this multicolored 2009 piano trio venture. Sharpe is the traffic director here, though it's a democratic engagement, comprised of covers and original compositions, all enamored by a lithe framework consisting of jazz-induced soul, funk, swing and other genre-fusing stylizations.

The trio often projects a flotation-like ...

The Avery Sharpe Trio: Autumn Moonlight

by C. Michael Bailey
April 7, 2009

The Avery Sharpe Trio makes a sharp dressed brand of jazz. At once intelligent and immediate, the eleven songs that make up Autumn Moonlight are splendid fuel for Sharpe's crack piano trio with exceptional pianist Onaje Allen Gumbs and drummer Winard Harper, who collectively raise the art of the trio to a level where the concert stage and bandstand are on an equal level. Isn't this egalitarian stance exactly what jazz is all about?

Sharpe is beautifully equal parts Oscar ...

Avery Sharpe: Legends & Mentors

by Michael P. Gladstone
May 18, 2008

Bassist Avery Sharpe pays homage to three jazz musicians influential in his life: McCoy Tyner, Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef. The ambitious and powerful Legends & Mentors provides Sharpe the opportunity to present his own music as well as the compositions of Tyner, Shepp and Lateef. The bassist has provided one section apiece for each artist, featuring two of their compositions alongside one original written expressly for them by Sharpe.

Sharpe auditioned for Tyner in 1980, ending up ...

Avery Sharpe: Legends & Mentors

by Woodrow Wilkins
April 2, 2008

Typically, when an instrumentalist or solo artist creates new music, the instrument carries most of the leads. That's not necessarily the case with acoustic bass players. In a class that includes Rufus Reid, Harvie S and Charles Fambrough, Avery Sharpe presents music that features the entire ensemble more than himself.Sharpe, a native of Valdosta, Georgia, began playing piano at age eight. He later took up the accordion and switched to electric bass in high school. While attending the ...

Avery Sharpe: Legends & Mentors

by Budd Kopman
March 26, 2008

There are those who take jazz to be part of a larger racial identity, and hence define its characteristics within that framework. Others, however--while not neglecting jazz's origins--point to its essence being individual expression, with the main rule being that there are no rules. The tension between the two viewpoints is palpable; but in the end, if the listener can hear the player's message, the music fits Duke Ellington's category of “good." Bassist Avery Sharpe's Legends & ...

Avery Sharpe: Legends and Mentors

by Troy Collins
March 25, 2008

Over the last three decades bassist Avery Sharpe has been a stalwart sideman to some of the biggest names in jazz. Legends and Mentors is an homage to three of his closest colleagues, pianist McCoy Tyner and saxophonists Archie Shepp and Yusef Lateef.

As McCoy Tyner's principle bassist for the past 20 years, Sharpe has appeared on over twenty records with the pianist. Recording extensively with Yusef Lateef in the 1990s, he made his recording debut with Archie ...

Avery Sharpe Trio: Dragon Fly

by Germein Linares
June 27, 2005

Bassist Avery Sharpe, a long-time collaborator with legendary pianist McCoy Tyner, releases Dragon Fly on his own JKNM Records. Joined by pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs, drummer Winard Harper, and two special guests, Chico Freeman and Jeri Brown, the album prominently features Sharpe's multiple skills as leader and soloist. The album's opening number, “Oh No!", sounds very much like Oscar Peterson's trio, with Gumbs' frenetic piano anchored nicely by Sharpe and Harper. The second tune, “Swingfield," a dedication to his hometown ...