SONNY SHARROCK 1940-1994
What I will remember most about Sonny Sharrock - even before the
music -
will be the laughter...the sense of humor
The fun
We laughed a lot
We laughed at the conditions that we had to tolerate
to continue doing creative music
We laughed at the reaction - the response to that music -
from the journalists, the audience, even the musicians -
the same sad, phony, lost motherfuckers who will show up now to say
How great he was
How overlooked and underrated he was
How he could have done so much more...
We laughed a lot
But this part is serious
Serious as a heart attack
Peace Sonny
You gave a lot...more than they'll ever know
----Bill Laswell, May 30, 1994
Sonny! We saw the beauty before you left. Such a beautiful solo, heart open for
all to
touch, soul dancing on strings, the fine tuning of the smile, nothing left in the
past but
the future! You were fun...Sonny, so much fun You laugh...I cry! You
laugh....I cry for
your presence in this moment of depression! Sonny, I love the music too...I want
to
be human too...a poem for the musician in Death! And Life must go on, not to
miss
you Sonny...not to glorify you, not to deify....you must listen to the
understanding of
your real friends, know how much there was left to give, a quick smile and then
serious again, always the music... Peace, Sonny!
---- Umar Bin Hassan, Last Poets, May 28, 1994
Sonny Sharrock with Pharoah Sanders: Ask the Ages, on Axiom
For the Sweet Butter Fingers booklet, with more about Sonny, send $5.00 to
Charles Blass, c/o On The Brink, Inc., 214 Avenue A #2F, New York, NY 10009.
