Home » Jazz Musicians » Sonny Sharrock

Sonny Sharrock

The career of the late Sonny Sharrock is unique in modern jazz. He first aspired as a doo-wop singer, determined to take music as his vocation after listening to Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue." Aspired to play saxophone but instead took up guitar in his early 20's due to asthmatic conditions, nonetheless he emulated his guitar styling after the energy players such as Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders. He appeared as a cameo in Mile Davis' "Jack Johnson" album and Wayne Shorter's "Super Nova" album as well. His most notable appearance was his duel with Sanders on "Taulid" and "Izipho Zam." His primal tone with gusto was indeed a one-of-a-kind. Although his didn't employ massive distortion to create the full-on blast, Sharrock's buzz saw lines with slamming dissonant chords were definite a character in the late '60s free jazz scene.

After playing free jazz with Pharoah Sanders, while he was playing funk-jazz with Herbie Mann, guitarist Warren "Sonny" Sharrock recorded three albums with his wife Linda Sharrock's wordless vocals: “Black Woman,” ( 1969), featuring the first version of his signature tune “Blind Willy,” “Monkey-Pockie-Boo,” (1970), possibly his most personal album; and Paradise (1975), introducing electronic keyboards in the sound of the couple and emphasizing Linda's vocal workouts, an avant-funk experiment that predated the new wave of rock music. The background of his guitar playing was fundamentally the blues, but at the same time he displayed a loud, aggressive, feedback-laden, quasi heavy-metal technique.

For six years Sharrock did not make a single record. It was bassist Bill Laswell, a protagonist of the new wave, who rediscovered him for Material's “Memory Serves.” (1981) “Dance with Me Montana,” (1982), not released until 1986, contained embryonic versions of his classics.

Laswell also organized Last Exit, an avant-funk quartet with Sharrock, German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson that played virulent jazz- rock, influenced by both the brutal edge of punk-rock and the cerebral stance of the new wave. Laswell was the brain, but Sharrock was the epitome: Last Exit played the kind of loud, savage jazz-rock and free jazz that Sharrock had pioneered. The catch, of course, was that Laswell had put together four mad improvisers, ranging from the cacophonic Brotzmann to the hysterical Sharrock to Laswell's dub bass. “Last Exit,” (1986) was a set of totally improvised jams, with frantic peaks, but pale in comparison with the live “Koln.” (1986) The other Last Exit live recording, “The Noise of Trouble,” (1986) was a humbler study in contrasts.

Read more

Tags

Album Review

Don Cherry: Where Is Brooklyn? & Eternal Rhythm - Revisited

Read "Where Is Brooklyn? & Eternal Rhythm - Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi


Nel percorso artistico di molti, è decisivo il rapporto tra emancipazione ed auto-affermazione. Il jazz moderno è spesso testimone di una dialettica feconda tra individualismo e trama collettiva, ma è dirimente il tema dell'originalità. “Se sei come tutti gli altri, a che serve il jazz?," diceva spesso Monk. E un vero “percorso," costellato da innumerevoli stazioni, è stato quello di Don Cherry, mai del tutto soddisfatto delle sue conquiste, costantemente messe in discussione. Ammesso e non concesso che Cherry sia ...

25
Reassessing

The Electric Years Box Set

Read "The Electric Years Box Set" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


In a year that has brought us a true bounty of previously unheard majesty including Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!), and Bill Evans; Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969), (Elemental Music) it is only fitting that Miles Davis get his due. And in a very, very big way. Seared into modern memory, modern art, the music presented on the gloriously massive, eleven LP set Miles Davis: The Electric Years ...

11
Film Review

Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Read "Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Various Artists Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Onyx Collective/Searchlight Pictures 2021 One of the most thought-provoking moments in Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson's documentary on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival comes from a festival attendee, looking back from the distant perspective of half a century. “I had never seen so many black people before," he recalls, still awestruck, all these years later, at the memory of 50,000 black people gathered ...

10
Album Review

Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages

Read "Ask the Ages" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


In 1994, guitarist Sonny Sharrock died from a sudden heart attack at age 53, leaving behind a body of cutting-edge jazz guitar compositions and recordings that still sounds ahead of its time.Ask the Ages (1991, Island), Sharrock's last official release, literally was one for the ages, recorded with an amazing quartet which teamed the guitarist with bassist Charnett Moffett and two powerhouse musicians greatly influenced by the sturm und drang of John Coltrane, drummer Elvin Jones and reedman ...

20
From the Inside Out

Unraveling the Mysteries of Monk, the Night Tripper & More

Read "Unraveling the Mysteries of Monk, the Night Tripper & More" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Terry Adams Talk Thelonious Clang! Records / Euclid Records 2015 Thelonious Monk's music has been more misunderstood and misinterpreted than most composers.' How you play Monk's music is just as important as what you play, and what you don't play is often just as important as what you do. “The first Monk song I heard was when I was about 14--it was 'Off Minor' by his septet," recalls Terry Adams, founder ...

7
Album Review

Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages

Read "Ask the Ages" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Guitarist Sonny Sharrock had been recording since 1969, in a variety of formats. In 1991, he recorded his masterpiece, Ask the Ages for Axiom records. The recording was produced by Sharrock and MOD Technologies founder and bassist Bill Laswell. Axiom Records was a precursor to Laswell's MOD Technologies. It is fitting that Laswell resurrect Sharrock's magnum opus recorded the year before the guitarist's death. Much has been made of Sharrock making music with former John Coltrane sidemen Pharoah ...

638
Extended Analysis

Pharoah Sanders: Tauhid

Read "Pharoah Sanders: Tauhid" reviewed by Chris May


Conventional wisdom has it that saxophonist Pharoah Sanders' signature, late-1960s astral jazz recording is “The Creator Has A Master Plan" from Karma (Impulse!, 1969). But conventional wisdom is rarely to be trusted. Clocking in at an unhurried and mesmerising 32:45, “Master Plan" is certainly definitive Sanders of the time; yet “Upper Egypt And Lower Egypt," from Sanders' own-name Impulse! debut, Tauhid, recorded in November, 1966, is arguably the finest statement in his astral oeuvre.At a relatively brief 16:16, ...

Read more articles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Electric Years...

Columbia Records / VMP Anthology
2023

buy

Ask the Ages

M.o.d. Technologies
2016

buy

Ask the Ages

M.o.d. Technologies
2015

buy

Miles Davis: A...

Legacy Recordings
2005

buy

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.