| Ask the Ages | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1991 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:18 | |||
| Label | Axiom Records | |||
| Producer | Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock | |||
| Sonny Sharrock chronology | ||||
| ||||
Ask the Ages is the final album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock, released in 1991 (though other material recorded earlier would be issued posthumously). It was produced by Bill Laswell and released on his Axiom Records label. It features saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Charnett Moffett, and drummer Elvin Jones. [1] [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [3] |
| Chicago Tribune | [4] |
| MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide | [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [6] |
| Pitchfork | 9.5/10 [7] |
| Q |  [8] |
| Rolling Stone | [9] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 10/10 [10] |
In a contemporary review for the Chicago Tribune , Greg Kot said Ask the Ages was a thrilling and essential album for fans of the guitar: "Despite the volcanic power of his playing, Sharrock's majesty is in the lyricism and warmth he finds in even the most abrasive alleyways." [4] Rolling Stone magazine said it sounded like a "classic free-blowing jazz album from the Sixties had been recorded with the clarity and punch of today's rock". [9] In The Village Voice , Robert Christgau gave it an "honorable mention" and described it as "Bill and Elvin's excellent jazz record". He singled out "Little Rock" as the highlight. [11] In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll of American music critics, Ask the Ages was voted the 15th best album of 1991. [12]
In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Steve Huey cited Ask the Ages as Sharrock's best work: "the most challenging jazz work he recorded as a leader, and it's the clearest expression of his roots as a jazz player, drawing heavily on [John] Coltrane's modal post-bop and concepts of freedom." [3] In the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995), the record was ranked 88th on a list of the "Top 100 Alternative Albums". [10]
All tracks are written by Sonny Sharrock.
William Otis Laswell is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, world music, jazz, dub, and ambient styles.
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. His first wife was singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed.
Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. He was the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice for 37 years, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music; he was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world–when he talks, people listen."
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Charnett Moffett was an American jazz bassist and composer. He was an apparent child prodigy. Moffett began playing bass in the family band, touring the Far East in 1975 at the age of eight. In the mid-1980s, he played with Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis.
Arc of the Testimony is the second and final album by the American jazz fusion band Arcana. It was released on bassist Bill Laswell's Axiom label on October 14, 1997. Unlike the trio configuration on the first album, this project features a spacier, slightly less abstract form of fusion music. Bill Laswell and drummer Tony Williams composed and developed the music, and co-produced the album together.
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Last Exit is the eponymously titled live performance debut album of the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in 1986 by Enemy Records.
Cassette Recordings '87, also issued with the title From the Board, is the third live album by the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in March 1987 by Enemy Records.
Iron Path is the only studio album by the free jazz band Last Exit. It was released in 1988 on Venture and Virgin Records.
Guitar is a 1986 solo studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. He recorded the album with producer Bill Laswell at RPM Sound Studios in New York City. As the project's sole instrumentalist, Sharrock performed and overdubbed his guitar improvisations onto other sections of a song he had recorded beforehand.
Seize the Rainbow is an album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock which was recorded in 1987 and released on the Enemy label.
Highlife is a studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. It was recorded at Jersey City's Quantum Sound Studio in October 1990 and released later that same year by Enemy Records.
The Curse of the Mekons is the ninth studio album by English rock band the Mekons, released in 1991. Due to a disagreement with A&M Records, the album was not released in the U.S. until a decade later, being available only as an import from their British label Blast First. It has been hailed by critics as one of the best of the Mekons' career.
"After Awhile" is an album by country music singer-songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore. It was released in 1991 as his debut album for Elektra Nonesuch Records.
Message from Home is an album by saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. It was recorded in New York City and Brooklyn, New York, and was released in 1996 by Verve Records. On the album, which was produced by Bill Laswell, Sanders is joined by kora player Foday Musa Suso, guitarist Dominic Kanza, violinist Michael White, keyboardists William Henderson, Jeff Bova, and Bernie Worrell, bassists Charnett Moffett and Steve Neil, and percussionists Aiyb Dieng and Hamid Drake.
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