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
Duets cover

Duets

Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell
Fase Liminal cover

Fase Liminal

Negra Chiway Band, Enrique Rodríguez
Embrace cover

Embrace

Lafayette Harris, Jr., Roswell Rudd, Ken Filiano, Fay Victor
Revelator cover

Revelator

E L U C I D
Senderos cover

Senderos

Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen
Silent Tongues cover

Silent Tongues

Cecil Taylor
LIVE cover

LIVE

Chick Corea Akoustic Band
Components cover

Components

Bobby Hutcherson
The Trance of Seven Colors cover

The Trance of Seven Colors

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania, Pharoah Sanders