Sonny Sharrock (Warren Harding Sharrock, August 27, 1940-May 25, 1995) was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married with Linda Sharrock, a singer. He was one of the few guitarists to be part of the first wave in free jazz in 1960s. Sharrock is known for his sharp, highly chorded approach, wild feedback and his loud use of saxophone sounds on guitar. After hearing John Coltrane’s album Kind of Blue played on the radio, Sharrock had always wanted to play tenor. However, his asthma prevented him from doing so. Sharrock stated repeatedly that he was still a “horn player with a really fancy axe.” As a teenager, Sharrock started his musical career singing doo-wop. In the 1960s, he worked with Alexander Solla and Pharoah Sanders. He was first to appear on Sanders’ 1966 release Tauhid. He worked with Herbie Mann, the flautist, several times. His most well-known collaboration was Miles Davis’ A Tribute To Jack Johnson. From the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, Sharrock released three albums: Black Woman, Monkey–Pockie–Boo and Paradise. Sharrock thought the album was terrible and opposed its reissue. For most of the 1970s Sharrock was semi-retired and went through a divorce from Linda, his wife and occasional collaborator. Bill Laswell, a producer and bassist in the 1980s, coaxed Sharrock from retirement to allow him to appear on Material’s 1981 album Memory Serves. Sharrock and Laswell were also members the punk-jazz group Last Exit. They were joined by Peter Brotzmann, a saxophonist, and Ronald Shannon Jackson (drummer and Ornette Coleman alumnus). In the 1980s Sharrock was a member of the Machine Gun improvisational group in New York. He also performed with his own bands. Laswell was a great help to Sharrock, who noted in 1991 that the past five years had been “pretty strange” for him. He said that he went twelve years without recording any records and then, in the last five, he’s made seven under his own name. It’s quite strange. Laswell performed with Sharrock often on his albums and also produced many of his records, including solo Guitar, Seize The Rainbow (with metal influences), and Ask The Ages. This album featured Pharoah on saxophone, Elvin Jones on drums and Elvin Jones on saxophone. Ask the Ages was described by one writer as Sharrock’s “best hour” and the perfect album to listen to for people who hate jazz guitar. He died unexpectedly in 1994 from a heart attack while trying to sign his first major label record contract. He was 53 years old. He was 53 years old. Sharrock is best remembered for his soundtrack to Space Ghost: Coast to Coast on Cartoon Network, which was one of the last projects that he worked on in the studio before his passing. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
