Warren “Sonny” Sharrock (1940-1998)

Warren “Sonny” Sharrock (1940-1998). The Father of Free Jazz Guitar. Ossining native Sonny Sharrock grew up singing in local doo- wop groups but didn't play an instrument till he was 19, when he heard Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on the radio and became “a jazz head.” Sharrock couldn't play saxophone because he had asthma, so he taught himself the guitar instead. , After a semester at Berklee College of Music, Sharrock landed in New York City in the early 1960s. Inspired by the free jazz movement, his improvisational style emulated the wild riffs of saxophonists like Ornette Coleman. His music was dissonant, raucous and not for everyone. As Sharrock put it, “I want the terror and the beauty to live in one song.” , In the 1970s, he and his first wife Linda toured with flutist Herbie Mann and released two albums. In 1977, Sharrock returned to Ossining, living on S. Malcolm St. and rethinking his career. He played local venues and helped to establish a waterfront jazz scene while working as a music therapist at a child-care agency. , In the mid-1980s, Sharrock made his comeback with the solo album Guitar, followed by Seize the Rainbow and Ask the Ages. He also composed the theme song for a Cartoon Network show, Space Ghost Coast to Coast. At 53, he had a record deal with RCA and a shot at mainstream success when he suffered a fatal heart attack in Ossining, leaving behind his wife Nettie, daughter Jasmyn, and a musical legacy that influences musicians to this day. In 2010, S. Malcolm St. was renamed Sonny Sharrock Way in his honor.