Sonny Sharrock

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Sonny Sharrock


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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Warren Harding Sharrock
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Born = birth date|1940|8|27|mf=y
Died = Death date and age|1994|05|25|1940|08|27
Instrument = Guitar
Voice_type =
Genre = Jazz
Occupation = Guitarist
Years_active = 1966 – 1994
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Associated_acts = Linda Sharrock
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Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock (August 27 1940 – May 25 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed.

One of few guitarists in the first wave of free jazz in the 1960s, Sharrock was known for his incisive, heavily chorded attack, his bursts of wild feedback, and for his use of saxophone-like lines played loudly on guitar.

Biography

Early life and career

Sharrock began his musical career singing doo wop in his teen years. He collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Alexander Solla in the late 1960s, appearing first on Sanders's 1966 effort, "Tauhid". He made several appearances with flautist Herbie Mann and also made an uncredited guest appearance on Miles Davis's "A Tribute to Jack Johnson", perhaps his most famous cameo.

He had in fact wanted to play tenor saxophone from his youth after hearing John Coltrane play on Davis's album "Kind of Blue" on the radio at age 19, but his asthma prevented this from happening. Sharrock said repeatedly, however, that he still considered himself "a horn player with a really fucked up axe." [Stagener, Dave. (1998). "Sound Practices" Mailing List Files - Volume 1. Subject: Re: Jazz Tips. Retrieved January 5, 2008, from http://www.martinos.org/~reese/joetest/articles/articles_v01_j.html ]

Three albums under Sharrock's name were released in the late '60s through the mid-'70s: "Black Woman" (which has been described by one reviewer as bringing out the beauty in emotions rather than technical prowess [(2000). "The Music Forum - Reviews: Sonny Sharrock - Black Woman." Retrieved January 5, 2008, from http://www.tmfhk.com/reviews/review84.htm ] ), "Monkey-Pockie-Boo", and an album co-credited to both Sonny and his wife, "Paradise" (an album by which Sharrock was embarrassed and stated several times that it was not good and should not be reissued [Ratliff, Ben & Sharrock, Sonny. (1990). "Interview with Sonny Sharrock, WKCR-FM, New York City, 1989." Retrieved January 5, 2008, from http://www.joemcphee.com/jny/sharrock/ratliff89.html] [Flynn, Ed & Sharrock, Sonny. (1993). "Sounds & Voices of the Avant-Garde": Excerpts from an Interview with Sonny Sharrock, Hosted, Edited and Produced by Ed Flynn, WPKN-FM, 89.5, Bridgeport, Air Date 6/9/93." Retrieved January 5, 2008, from http://www.joemcphee.com/jny/sharrock/flynn.html] ).

Career revival

After the release of "Paradise", Sharrock was semi-retired for much of the 1970s, undergoing a divorce from wife/occasional collaborator Linda in 1978. In the intermittent years until producer/bassist Bill Laswell coaxed him out of retirement, he worked as both a chauffeur and a caretaker for mentally challenged children. At Laswell's urging, Sharrock appeared on Material's (one of Laswell's many projects) 1981 effort, "Memory Serves." In addition, Sharrock was a member of the punk/jazz band Last Exit, together with Peter Brötzmann, Laswell and Ronald Shannon Jackson. During the late 1980s, he recorded and performed extensively with the New York-based improvising band Machine Gun, as well as leading his own bands. Sharrock flourished with Laswell's help, noting in a 1991 interview that "the last five years have been pretty strange for me, because I went twelve years without making a record at all, and then in the last five years, I've made seven records under my own name. That's pretty strange." [Schaefer, John; Skopelitis, Nicky & Sharrock, Sonny. (1991). "Excerpts from an interview with Sonny Sharrock and Nicky Skopelitis, "New Sounds" #711, WNYC-FM, 9/9/91." Retrieved January 5, 2008, from http://www.joemcphee.com/jny/sharrock/schaefer.html]

Laswell would often perform with the guitarist on his albums, and produced many of Sharrock's recordings, including the entirely solo "Guitar", the metal-influenced "Seize the Rainbow", and the well-received "Ask the Ages", which featured John Coltrane's bandmates Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones. One writer described "Ask the Ages" as "hands down, Sharrock's finest hour, and the ideal album to play for those who claim to hate jazz guitar." [Sumera, Matthew. (2007). "TrouserPress.com :: Sonny Sharrock". Retrieved January 5, 2008, from http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=sonny_sharrock]

Death

In 1994, Sharrock died unexpectedly of a heart attack in his hometown of Ossining, New York, just as he was on the verge of signing the first major label deal in his entire career. He was 53. Today, Sharrock is perhaps best known for the soundtrack to the Cartoon Network program "" with his drummer Lance Carter, one of the last projects he completed in the studio before his death.

Discography

*1966: "Tauhid" (with Pharoah Sanders)
*1968: "Stone flutes" (with Herbie Mann)
*1969: "Izipho Zam" (with Pharoah Sanders)
*1969: "Super Nova" (with Wayne Shorter)
*1969: "Live at the Whisky A Go Go" (with Herbie Mann)
*1969: "Memphis Underground" (with Herbie Mann)
*1969: "Black Woman"
*1970: "A Tribute to Jack Johnson" and "The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" (with Miles Davis)
*1970: "Monkey-Pockie-Boo"
*1975: "Paradise"
*1982: "Dance with me Montana"
*1986: "Guitar"
*1986: "Last Exit" (with Last Exit)
*1986: "Last Exit, Live in Koln" (with Last Exit)
*1987: "Seize the Rainbow"
*1987: "Last Exit, cassette recordings" (with Last Exit)
*1988: "Machine Gun" (with Machine Gun)
*1988: "Iron path" (with Last Exit)
*1989: "No Material" (with Ginger Baker)
*1989: "Live in New York"
*1990: "Highlife"
*1991: "Faith Moves" (duo with Nicky Skopelitis)
*1991: "Ask the Ages"
*1996: "Space Ghost Coast to Coast"
*1996: "Into Another Light" (compilation)

References

External links

* [http://www.sonnysharrock.com Official website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/4306/sharrock The Sonny Sharrock Visual Discography]
* [http://www.joemcphee.com/jny/sharrock/SonnySharrock.html Sonny Sharrock - Sweet Butterfingers]
* [http://www.silent-watcher.net/billlaswell/discography/index.html Bill Laswell discography (includes profiles on Laswell-produced Sharrock projects)]
* [http://www.ossining.org/sharrock/sharrock.htm Ossining, New York profile]