Linda Sharrock

Although her profile and discography remain more limited than those of vocal improvisers such as Jeanne Lee, Irene Abei, or Urzula Dudziak, Linda Sharrock produces a soaring, swelling sound of equal penetration and impact. She appeared with her husband at the time, Sonny, on the Atlantic album Black Woman, now out of print, where her screams, yelps, cries, and calls were set against Sharrock’s splintering riffs, dissonant lines, and slamming, percussive phrases. Even listeners acquainted with late-period Coltrane and still absorbing Albert Ayler found the 1970 recording jarring. After parting musical company with Sonny, she reemerged in 1986 on an album by the Pat Brothers. On that project she delivered quasi-'50s cool narratives/vocals, while the trio of Wolfgang Puschning, Wolfgang Mitterer, and Wolfgang Reising combined alto sax screams and bleats, flute lines, synthesizer noodling, sampled snippets, and crashing drum beats; in this setting Sharrock supplied the calming influence. She has never functioned as a straight singer.