Sonny Sharrock Birthday Broadcast

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This year's Sonny Sharrock Birthday Broadcast is Sunday August 22nd, from

2 to 7PM, on WKCR-FM, 89.9 NYC, and online at www.wkcr.org. Members of

Sonny's bands and family will attend. For background on the late Sonny

Sharrock, free jazz guitarist extraordinaire, visit http://www.sonnysharrock.com.

Said Robert Palmer about Sharrock, in Rolling Stone, Sept. 1991:

“... without warning, he’d burst into a paroxysm of

six-string mayhem –

thumb-screwing distortion, glass-shattering tone

clusters that sounded

like someone was ripping the pickups out of the

guitar without having

bothered to unplug it from its overdriven

amplifier.... Like a freight

train roaring through a darkened station not just

hours but weeks ahead of

schedule.”

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up

[Big Wheel]

I think they're playing Jack Johnson right now. Nice!

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I think they're playing Jack Johnson right now. Nice!

I've been putting it off, but now I'll have to buy the Jack Johnson box!

[Big Wheel]

I dunno what that was they just played, but it RAWKED!

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It sure did. Faith Moves album?

The Bill Cosby interview cracked me up. He said something about Sonny playing chords...he mostly played single note lines.

[Big Wheel]

I'm not sure, but I think that may have been it. It was a live set (I could hear applause after it ended).

Edit: Now I don't think that was it. Whatever I heard had a drummer.

Edited August 22, 2004 by Big Wheel

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I'm not sure, but I think that may have been it. It was a live set (I could hear applause after it ended).

Then it must have been the Knitting Factory tape.

Now I'll have to go back and listen to all his material in my collection. I've always enjoyed Ask The Ages, but the rest of the material never got more than an occasional listen. There's a VCR tape of an old WKCR birthday broadcast that I haven't heard since I recorded it.

It was interesting to hear the narrative on the NPR segment about how Santana gave Sonny credit.

I heard him play at NYC Summerstage a year or two before he died. Him, two drummers, and a bass player. Maybe a keyboard player? I don't remember. What I do remember is how he would do these burning chromatic runs with reitterated notes and then toss the pick away. I tried it when I got home with my Jim Dunlap Stubby 3.0 picks and they would just fall apart. White dust all over the guitar.

He was playing a wine red Les Paul and a Marshall half stack. Probably a 50 watt head and a 4x12 cab.

Sounds like an interesting guy. Died on a treadmill from a heart attack.

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And this raga program that came on afterwards is amazing.

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And this raga program that came on afterwards is amazing.

I know I have the CD, I think the raga playing now is on a record I haven't heard in years.

[danasgoodstuff]

I remember seeing Sonny with Cosby, D. Murray, and assorted others on TV (BET?!). They were all players from a 'Cosby Presents...' album, but a different combo than any of the tracks on the album. They played something from the labum and a smoking version of "All Blues". Is this performance in circulation? If I was doing a SS box, I'd want that version of "All Blues" for it...