Elliott Sharp

Elliott Sharp (born 1951) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer who has personified the avant-garde experimental music scene in New York City for over thirty years. He has released over sixty-five recordings spanning the musical spectrum from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock, and techo.

He is an inveterate performer, both as a soloist (playing primarily guitar and bass clarinet) and with a number of ensembles he has formed over the years, including the blues-oriented Terraplane and Orchestra Carbon. He releases music under his own label (zOaR music) as well as punk label SST and downtown music labels such as Knitting Factory records and John Zorn's Tzadik label.

He has collaborate regularly with many people, including Zeena Parkins, Eric Mingus, Vernon Reid, Bobby Previte, Joey Baron, and David Torn.

He also curates the State of the Union compilations of one-minute tracks by experimental musicians, and produces records for numerous artists.

Partial Discography

• Nots (1982)
• Monster Curve (1982)
• Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup (1987)
• In The Land of the Yahoos (1987)
• Island of Sanity (1987)
• Semantics - Bone of Contention (1987)
• Looppool (1988)
• Bootstrappers (1989)
• Datacide (1989)
• Sili/contemp/tation (1990)
• Arc 1: I/S/M (1990)
• K!L!A!V! (1990)
• Twistmap (1991)
• Tocsin (1991)
• Abstract Repressionism: 1990-99 (1992)
• Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Yahoos (1992)
• Westwerk (1992)
• Bootstrappers - GI=GO (1992)
• Cryptid Fragments (1993)
• Truthtable (1993)
• Autoboot (1994)
• Amusia (1994)
• Dyners Club (1994)
• Terraplane (1994)
• Psycho~Acoustic (1994)
• Interference (1995)
• Tectonics (1995)
• Boodlers (1995)
• Sferics (1996)
• Blackburst (1996)
• XenocodeX (1996)
• Hoosegow - Mighty (1996)
• Spring & Neap (1997)
• Tectonics - Field and Stream (1997)
• Figure Ground (1997)
• Boodlers - Counter fit (1997)
• Uitti & Sharp - Improvisations (1997)
• Revenge of the stuttering child (1997)
• Poverty line (1997)
• Rwong Territory (1998)
• Arc 2: The Seventies (1998)
• Arc 3: Cyberpunk & the Virtual Stance (1998)
• Larynx (1998)
• Rheo~Umbra (1998)
• John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp, Bobby Previte - Downtown Lullaby (1998)
• Vernon Reid, Elliott Sharp, David Torn - GTR OBLQ (1998)
• Tectonics - Errata (1999)
• High Noon (1999)
• SyndaKit (1999)
• Terraplane - Blues for Next (2000)
• Autar (2000)
• Joey Baron, Elliott Sharp, Roberto Zorzi -Beyond (2001)
• Suspension of Disbelief (2001)
• Radiolaria (2001)
• Terraplane - Yellowman (2002)
• String Quartets 1986-1996 (2003)
• Terraplane - Do the don't (2003)
• The Prisoner's Dilemma (2002)

External Link