Ask the Ages cover

Ask the Ages

Released

Guitarist Sonny Sharrock had made a few impressive albums in the late ’60s, but largely fallen off the scene until the mid-’80s, when bassist and producer Bill Laswell brought him back as a member of jazz-noise-rock supergroup Last Exit and helped him reestablish himself as a leader. His final album was this free jazz summit conference with Pharoah Sanders on saxes, Charnett Moffett on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. The pieces have soaring, anthemic melodies, and both Sharrock (multiply overdubbed) and Sanders deliver what fire music fans will be seeking, but the ballad “Who Does She Hope To Be?” is tender and loving.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
+/- cover

+/-

Ryoji Ikeda
The Peach Orchard cover

The Peach Orchard

In Order to Survive, William Parker
Salvation cover

Salvation

Funeral Mist
Dirt…and More Dirt cover

Dirt…and More Dirt

Henry Threadgill
Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar, Cambridge Massachusetts cover

Grand Slam: Live at the Regattabar, Cambridge Massachusetts

Joe Lovano, Lewis Nash, George Mraz, Jim Hall
Charles Wuorinen: Metagong cover

Charles Wuorinen: Metagong

George Nickson, Mark Steinberg, New York New Music Ensemble