Sonny Sharrock

[rmpmcdermott]

Can we just talk about how much of an underrated badass Sonny Sharrock was?

Outside of his brilliant solo records, he played on Don Cherry's Eternal Rhythm, Byard Lancaster's It's Not Up to Us, Miles Davis' Tribute to Jack Johnson, Pharaoh Sanders' Tauhid, Wayne Shorter's Super Nova and a ton of Herbie Mann records.

But my favorite work of his was the Ask the Ages record he did not long before he died.

Pharoah Sanders — tenor & soprano saxophones
Elvin Jones — drums
Charnett Moffett — bass

[neatomic]

some prime sharrock with wife linda..1974 at wkcr...preserved at the great archive.org

Sonny And Linda Sharrock - Live WKCR : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive



cheers

[rmpmcdermott]

some prime sharrock with wife linda..1974 at wkcr...preserved at the great archive.org

Sonny And Linda Sharrock - Live WKCR : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive



cheers

So good! Is that a Yamaha 175 copy? I always wondered about that.

[neatomic]

yeah he used a yamaha 175 copy..they built them well back then!!!..classic lawsuit era guitars


cheers

[rob taft]

"Ask the Ages" is one of my deserted island CDs.

[David B]

'Ask the Ages' is one of the greatest jazz records of the last 30 years.

Back around 2000 I was beginning to discover jazz. I had two routes. The first was '70s fusion (Weather Report etc); the second was Sonny Sharrock, Pharaoh Sanders and a lot of free jazz. In the days before social media and online shopping, I thank a penpal in the States, made through another forum, for burning and sending me CDs from his huge collection of avant-garde and free jazz.

I think I have somewhere a full radio show / interview with Sharrock that I must dig out.

Sharrock and Pete Cosey are my two first jazz guitar heroes!

[Litterick]

His final work, I believe, was the theme and incidental music for the Cartoon Network's Space Ghost Coast To Coast. A 1996 episode of the programme was dedicated to him:

[neatomic]

in action, sonny and bassist miroslav vitous..two of the most outside player/ music thinkers of that era..with herbie mann quintet...

cheers

ps- miroslav vitous went on to be a founding member of weather report!!!

[unknownguitarplayer]

I saw Herbie Mann with Miroslav and Sonny in Detroit in 1969. I was a teenager just starting to find my way in jazz. The concert was outdoors and pretty casual, so I was able to walk up to Sonny before the show (he was holding the Yamaha in the pictures) and ask what I'm sure was a stupid question about scales. I don't remember the question, but his answer struck with me all these years: "Only fish have scales."

[sgcim]

I saw Herbie Mann with Miroslav and Sonny in Detroit in 1969. I was a teenager just starting to find my way in jazz. The concert was outdoors and pretty casual, so I was able to walk up to Sonny before the show (he was holding the Yamaha in the pictures) and ask what I'm sure was a stupid question about scales. I don't remember the question, but his answer struck with me all these years: "Only fish have scales."

That's some deep schlitz!
I also saw Sonny live with Herbie Mann at the Felt Forum when I was also a wee lad just starting to find my way in jazz.
He came out dressed in a white smock like a doctor or butcher would wear. I can still remember the wild smile he had on his face that either meant he was very confident, or completely insane.
It came time for his solo in the tune they were playing, and he whipped out his metal slide, cranked his Twin up to eleven, stepped down on some pedal, and filled the huge auditorium with sound so loud, jazz fans ears started to bleed! Some old lady looked at me with a look on her face like she'd just been shot in the heart.

Sonny went into a frenzy and strummed all the six strings as fast and as hard as he could, using the slide as a barre to go chromatically up and down the neck, and it felt like the place was gonna explode.
I loved it!

[snoskier63]

My head hurts after listening to that first video. I am a man of order and harmony, what can I say.

[David B]

A couple of nice interviews with Sonny:

PREPARED GUITAR: Interview with Sonny Sharrock by Ben Ratliff

Jazz Guitar Online Feature: Sonny Sharrock: On Improvisation

GP Flashback: Sonny Sharrock, February 1990 - GuitarPlayer.com





I love these shots of Sonny! ^

[David B]

Sonny Sharrock is all over the sessions for Miles Davis' 'Jack Johnson', playing through a ring modulator as McLaughlin takes the leads. He was uncredited on the original release. Not sure if the box set corrected that.

[unknownguitarplayer]

...he whipped out his metal slide, cranked his Twin up to eleven, stepped down on some pedal, and filled the huge auditorium with sound so loud, jazz fans ears started to bleed! Some old lady looked at me with a look on her face like she'd just been shot in the heart.

Yep, that guy!

I remember him talking about going to Berklee for a short time. That would have been in the mid 60's when Berklee was a very small place (1 building) that was very jazz-centric. Hard to imagine Sonny fitting in there.

[rmpmcdermott]

So much Sonny love on here! That's really great to see. I understand he's not for everyone, but I just adore his work. Ask the Ages was a game changer for me.

[cosmic gumbo]

Let's not forget free jazz supergroup Last Exit.

[P.J.]

I would crank Last Exit in college to get my Deadhead roommates to don headphones rather than blast yet another live Dead tape. It worked with Pavlovian efficiency!!