Jazz Articles about Elliott Sharp

About Elliott Sharp

Album Review

Dialectrical constitutes the third entry in the discography of Elliott Sharp's most jazz-focused outfit, following on from the eponymous debut Aggregat (Clean Feed, 2012), and subsequent Quintet (Clean Feed, 2013). Although perhaps best known for his idiosyncratic guitar work, Sharp here demonstrates his chops as an adept reedman, with a talented NYC crew on board. Special mention must go to grizzled drummer Barry Altschul replacing Ches Smith who helmed the engine room on the previous two outings. Other constants are ...

Album Review

Elliott Sharp: Port Bou

Read "Port Bou" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
March 15, 2017

Composer/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp chose a dramatic subject for Port Bou: the last minutes in the life of philosopher Walter Benjamin at Port-Bou (a town in Catalonia, Spain) as he was fleeing Nazi-occupied France. This is a man preparing to commit suicide, so the music is appropriately intense. I'm reminded of Laurie Anderson's performance piece about Difficult Music. Some will find this music hard to listen to, not because of the noisy avant-garde content (there's only a little), but due to ...

Album Review

Elliott Sharp: Sharp? Monk? Sharp! Monk!

Read "Sharp? Monk? Sharp! Monk!" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 5, 2015

Polymath musician Elliott Sharp fears nothing creatively. He will as readily dismantle the blues into its atomic components as he will Western European classical music. Or jazz, for that matter. On Sharp? Monk? Sharp! Monk!, Sharp attempts the impossible, that is: a post-modern dissection of five Thelonious Monk pieces, played on guitar no less. Ex vivo Monk could be seen as one of the first musicians to apply post-modern method to music. Fearlessly, Monk readily expanded the tonal and harmonic ...

Album Review

Elliott Sharp: Momentum Anomaly

Read "Momentum Anomaly" reviewed by Vic Albani

by Vic Albani
October 15, 2014

Elliott Sharp. Uno dei nomi su cui, davvero, ci si sarebbe da scrivere parole su parole. Amato e odiato. Compreso e incompreso. In breve, un fiume inarrestabile di musica; una discografia monumentale. Torrenziale come i miliardi di note che diffonde nell'universo musicale d'avanguardia da metà degli anni Settanta. Decine e decine di progetti: ordine e disordine, bellezza e ambiguità. Sicuramente uno dei compositori moderni più schizofrenici e contorti: free puro, ethno-lines, blues, avantgarde, minimalismo, geometrie e caos. Una sorta di ...

Film Review

Elliott Sharp: Ostryepolya

by Eyal Hareuveni
September 26, 2014

Elliott Sharp / Scott Fields Ostryepolya PanRec / NotTwo Records 2013 The musical meeting of innovative guitarists Elliott Sharp and Scott Fields came by coincidence. Both were aware of each other's work for many years, but the opportunity of playing as a duo never arose. Each is a master composer and improviser with extensive experience accumulated in various formats. Sharp pioneered the usage of fractal geometry, chaos theory, genetic metaphors and using ...

Album Review

Elliott Sharp Aggregat: Quintet

Read "Quintet" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 21, 2013

Elliott Sharp is one of New York downtown scene's more notorious affiliates, primarily heralded for his avant-garde guitar work, spanning jazz improvisation, jazz-rock, and blues-rock. He's also an accomplished reedman, evidenced on Quintet and previous ventures into the free-jazz space. Sharp once again aligns with like- minded New York-based artists, some of whom are leaders, and busy session artists. Residing within a controlled-chaos type scenario, the soloists engage in some intense duels when all hell breaks loose, but also temper ...

Album Review

Elliott Sharp / Melvin Gibbs / Lucas Niggli: Crossing The Waters

Read "Crossing The Waters" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
September 3, 2013

The performer roster of Switzerland's progressive record label Intakt Records was showcased in 2012 at John Zorn's New York City venue, The Stone. Venerable Swiss drummer and longtime Intakt recording artist Lucas Niggli teamed with New York City-based guitarist Elliott Sharp and bassist Melvin Gibbs for a maiden trio concert, wasting no time at all capturing their synergistic output by cutting this album the following day. The results are gratifying, as the multifaceted drummer-- known for pushing the envelope--attains equal ...