Artist: Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist.
One of only a few prominent guitarists who participated in the first wave of free jazz during the 1960s, Sharrock was known for his heavily chorded attack, highly amplified bursts of feedback, and use of aggressive sustain to achieve saxophone-like lines on guitar. His early work also features creative use of a slide.
He collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Alexander Solla in the late 1960s, appearing first on Sanders's 1966 album, Tauhid. He made several appearances with flautist Herbie Mann, and an uncredited appearance on Miles Davis's A Tribute to Jack Johnson.
Three albums under Sharrock's name were released from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s: Black Woman (which has been described by one reviewer as bringing out the beauty in emotions rather than technical prowess), Monkey-Pockie-Boo, and an album co-credited to Sharrock and his wife Linda, Paradise (work by which Sharrock was embarrassed, having stated several times that he felt it was not good enough to be reissued).
After the release of Paradise, Sharrock was semi-retired for much of the 1970s and early 1980s. At producer Bill Laswell’s urging, Sharrock came out of retirement to appear on Material's 1981 album, Memory Serves. Starting in 1986, Sharrock was a member of the punk/jazz band Last Exit, with Laswell, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. During the late 1980s, he performed extensively (and occasionally recorded) with the New York-based improvising band Machine Gun, as well as leading his own band.
Laswell produced most of Sharrock's later recordings, including the entirely solo Guitar, the "metal-influenced" Seize the Rainbow, followed by one of his more universally accessible albums, High Life. Sonny said this was his favorite band ever, with Abe Speller on percussion, Lance Carter on drums, Charles Baldwin on bass and David Snider on keyboards. This was followed by the well-received Ask the Ages, which featured John Coltrane's bandmates Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones.
Further information about Sonny Sharrock is found here and here.
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Sharrock, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Sonny Sharrock Band - Lucerna Hall Prague 4.10.90 Complete!
Sonny Sharrock: Videos
Pharoah Sanders & Sonny Sharrock - Live in Frankfurt 1992 full concert
Sonny Sharrock - Dick Dogs (Live In Prague 1990)