RobP
RobP
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Sonny Sharrock: bad axe

Posted almost 6 years ago
I've spent a lot of time loving bands that weren't real popular, but when I'd go to a club to see them it turned out that on that particular level they were huge. Even when I saw Sonny Sharrock at Slim's in San Francisco several years ago the place was packed. But I think it's safe to say this is one guy who was definitely underappreciated.Sonny was a guitarist who claimed to be a jazz sax man with a bad axe. He played uncredited on Miles Davis's Jack Johnson album (the credited guitarist, John McLaughlin, is flat-out amazing, and I don't have a clue how much Sonny played on that record-he said he played on it, and afterward Miles asked him to audition for his band, and Sonny, indignant, refused-oops). Both on solo albums (Guitar is absolutely amazing and his most mainstream rock album) and with Last Exit, Sonny took the idea of noise rock combined with free jazz to levels unheard of except possibly in Hendrix's head.I'm a huge Hendrix fan; Sharrock is the only guitarist I think has come close to touching his legacy. Both his solo albums and the Last Exit albums vary significantly in style and consistency. Most of his music took chances that, because of his heavy jazz influences, would never allow Sharrock the pop accessibility that Jimi's music could achieve. And sometimes he went for the mainstream and wasn't that successful. Sharrock's best music wasn't pop; a lot of Hendrix's was. That's not a judgment, but it does affect who will like each man's music. Sharrock at his best often reaches a level that melds music and noise--he claimed to be a jazz man, but also wanted to make peoples' ears bleed.I've left out a lot of album titles here because the best Sharrock material I have is either on record or cassette in my collection, and I've just moved so I'm writing this without easy access to the exact album titles. But anyone's welcome to ask and I'll look around, or if you want to post recommendations please do. Anyone into rock/jazz/noise guitar should hear the best of Sonny Sharrock, then branch out.
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Comments (13)

  1. BarrieSutcliffe
    BarrieSutcliffe says That sounds so far up my alley that I feel like I'm getting a prostate exam. Sonny Sharrock is now on the download list!
    Permalink posted 07/29/2006
  2. LadyC
    LadyC says yes, i want to know more now thanks to you.
    Permalink posted 07/29/2006
  3. RobP
    RobP says Specific absolutely phenomenal Sonny Sharrock albums: Guitar-if you're a rock fan this is probably the best one to start with. It's jazzier than Hendrix, and the bluesy stuff is kind of like Stevie Ray Vaughn, the wild weirdness of the solos makes me think of Tom Verlaine in terms of adventurousness. This album is all guitar, and it's the kind of album that makes me think that's all I need. Seize The Rainbow-another relatively straight up rock album, features Dick Dogs, one of Sonny's best tracks, and everything else is at least good. Ask the Ages-a jazzy venture and fairly mainstream in that regard. Pharoah Sanders plays sax all over this album, so maybe I mean mainstream free jazz, although everything on here is underpinned with great melodies. This and Guitar are probably the two Sharrock albums least likely to clear a room, which means they're great to introduce yourself to his music, but they're also musically adventurous in ways bound to keep this far from the real mainstream--I guess my mainstream in this case refers to Coltrane and Hendrix, each at their least pop (well, maybe not Coltrane at his LEAST pop), stuff so from the gut that it loses sight of genres, just starts one place and ends where it has to. He also has a great album of quiet songs that he recorded with Nicky Skopelitis, really beautiful stuff. It's called Faith Moves, and this one you probably could play for anyone (I mean, they wouldn't all run out to buy it, it ain't pop, but they wouldn't cringe and squirm and say "Ugh, what's that?" which are all likely reactions to the rest of Sonny's best material). Last Exit albums: Iron Path-this one is NOISE, and I love it. Peter Brotzmann on sax, Bill Laswell on bass, Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums, it's all madness. Lots of shrieking sax and screaming guitar, I know people whose musical tastes are often similar to mine who can't stand this. I think it's a great album to drive to, but if you get stuck in traffic you might jump out of your car and start destroying things. Last Exit-very similar to Iron Path but probably a little easier to listen to. There's something almost resembling a dance track on here, that is if you dance to stuff like Big Black. The rhythm section is so tight that the solos can go anywhere without ever leaving the song. That said, there are also a few Sharrock albums, notably the ones from the late 60s, especially those with his wife Linda, that are nowhere near as good as these. Linda is a free jazz vocalist who reminds me of Yoko Ono, and there's not nearly enough emphasis on guitar on these early albums (remember, Sonny started as a jazz sideman). Oh, and Sonny died a few years back, but there's a website: sonnysharrock.com of course.
    Permalink posted 07/29/2006
  4. LadyC
    LadyC says oh wow thank you rob! i found the site. much appreciated, i'll have to come back and read the whole thing later!
    Permalink posted 07/29/2006
  5. ROCKNROLLPIMP1
    ROCKNROLLPIMP1 says thanks for the post hendrix pop? mmmm i'll have to chew on this hendrix was a BLUES guitarist,that melded,prog,metal,pop,rock,jazz and soul. he was THE innovator of feedback and distortion.taken to levels only dreamed of by others. ummm sorry i guess you can tell whom my absolute favorite guitarist is. i'll be checking out sharrock can't believe i've never heard his stuff DAMN! he did space ghost coast to coast way kool!
    Permalink posted 07/29/2006
  6. RobP
    RobP says Never meant to imply that Jimi was anything other than the absolute best. But in the late 60s POP was not necessarily a derogatory term; the Beatles were pop, the Stones were pop, Hendrix and Dylan were pop - the term covered a far wider expanse than it does today. Jimi wanted to play more jazz, there was an album at least in the planning stages with Miles, and some of the instrumental passages on Electric Ladyland not only imply that but are similar in structure to some of the stuff Sharrock was working on (1983, for example, is the same TYPE of music as some of the extended passages in Sharrock's Guitar album). Jimi had hit singles; that's the extent of my pop argument, a difference in style that allowed Jimi to make pop music without artistic sacrifice because it fell within the blues rock structure. Sharrock knew that structure but did not intuitively make music within it - his best music always had something to do with jazz rooted in the works of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, neither of whom ever sold albums in the quantities that Hendrix did.
    Permalink posted 07/30/2006
  7. ROCKNROLLPIMP1
    ROCKNROLLPIMP1 says right on! i see and understand your implications. i just am flabbergasted people do not realize the depth of Hendrix's influence and the fact that he was more of a blues/jazz guitarist than anything else. and just how profoundly he has influenced *ALL* guitar playing to this point. i am really only touchy about Jimi so far as music goes. probably having spent numerous years here in the south arguing with so many morons about his greatness that they cannot seem to grasp. thanks for the wonderful post on sonny sharrock yeah i guess he was popular, but the story of how america did not really get him at first and how he was booed opening for the monkees still stick in my mind. i believe we like the same kind of music...........
    Permalink posted 07/30/2006
  8. RobP
    RobP says I first heard of Sharrock when he was interviewed in Motorbooty about 10 years ago. I just reread the interview and he talks about being booed all over the place, and someone walking onto the stage at the Montreux jazz festival when he was playing with Herbie Mann's group and shouting at Sonny, "This is not jazz! This is not jazz!" But he also talks about how in the sixties it was common when Coltrane was playing at clubs for people at the first several rows of tables to WALK OUT because he was playing so loud. At some point if you're any good you have to offend somebody; Monkees fans should be the least of our worries. (And my God, can you imagine that show? A bunch of pre-pubescent kids showing up for their made for television pop stars and JIMI comes out. And puts on the kind of show he put on. Let's face it, a lot of adults weren't ready for it; I'm guessing a lot of the booing came from parents who took their kids to the show and couldn't miss the sexuality so obvious in Jimi's guitar love).
    Permalink posted 07/30/2006
  9. ROCKNROLLPIMP1
    ROCKNROLLPIMP1 says yeah good point there.it is so true you are going to offend some people. i can only imagine that audience he had. he was not appreciated here then broke in the u.k. i have added a couple of cds at amazon in my wish list what do you recommend?
    Permalink posted 08/02/2006
  10. RobP
    RobP says hey pimp, based on what's on your mog, the 2 Sharrock albums I would recommend first are Guitar and Seize the Rainbow. I also heard a track yesterday by a band called Smokin Willie, had some good guitar on it, I know nothing else about this band--blues rock, maybe Southern rock, don't know, heard it once, you might want to find a sample. Queens of the Stone Age also might be up your alley--they're probably my favorite current band, real good guitar, interesting songwriting, bunches of weirdness.
    Permalink posted 08/04/2006
  11. ROCKNROLLPIMP1
    ROCKNROLLPIMP1 says YEAH SEIZE THERAINBOW WAS THE ONE I ADDED I'LL CHECK SMOKIN WILLIE...HAVE NOT HEARD OF THEM YEAH I GOT A COUPLE OF QUEENS CDS I REALLY DIG THOSE GUYS WEIRDNESS IS RIGHT UP MY ALLEY
    Permalink posted 08/04/2006
  12. Bawston Sean
    Bawston Sean says Sonny's 'Black Woman' is a must-own if you're looking for weirdness. I really don't know how to describe it's epic awesomeness - it's some of the best free jazz money can buy.
    Permalink posted 08/06/2006
  13. RobP
    RobP says 'Black Woman' is one of those I don't recommend to most people. Not that any of Sonny's stuff is easy listening but the weirdness has a lot to do with the vocals so it's a whole other category. Not one of my favorites but I haven't heard it enough to really judge it; I own it but haven't played it a lot. Whereas when I bought Guitar (and I'd never heard him at the time, bought it solely off this Motorbooty interview that I'll pdf for anyone who wants it) it was one of those records that I played one side, was totally blown away, played the other side and it was better, and I don't know how long I just kept flipping.
    Permalink posted 08/06/2006

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