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Highlife
Studio album by Sonny Sharrock Band
Released	1990 (1990)
Recorded	October 1990 (1990-10)
Studio	Quantum Sound Studio in Jersey City
Genre	Jazz fusion, pop, rock
Length	44:18
Label	Enemy
Producer	Sonny Sharrock, Francis Manzella
Sonny Sharrock chronology
Live in New York (1989) Highlife (1990) Faith Moves (1991)

Highlife is a studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. It was recorded at Jersey City's Quantum Sound Studio in October 1990 and released later that same year by Enemy Records.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave Highlife an "A" and called it a "gorgeously straightforward guitar record" from someone whose musical principles reflect "a genius son" of Jimmy Smith and Jimi Hendrix. He said Sharrock expresses his themes in a dignified manner, with variation in timbre more so than in harmony, while committing to both cacophony and melody in his exploration of jazz and rock traditions. Christgau named it the sixth best album of the year in his list for the Pazz & Jop critics poll. In The Philadelphia Inquirer, jazz critic Francis Davis hailed Highlife as "instrumental-pop at its most energetic and uncontrived". She felt the "vivacious" record was more "pop" than "jazz" but nonetheless a "persuasive argument for the advantages of maturity" in which Sharrock embraced "simplicity and directness, qualities you'd never have expected from him twenty-five years ago".

In The Penguin Guide to Jazz (1992), Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave Highlife three out of four stars and found it more polished than Sharrock's previous records but with "bass-heavy" jazz fusion exercises that showed potential for more in the future. AllMusic's Steve Huey was less enthusiastic, giving it three out of five stars and deeming it "something of a transitional album, catching Sharrock in the midst of figuring out where to take his music next, yet that searching quality makes it a compelling listen for fans".

Track listing

All music is composed by Sonny Sharrock, except "All My Trials" and "Highlife" which are Traditional arranged by Sharrock, "Venus/Upper Egypt" by Pharoah Sanders, "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane, and "Kate", which was written by Sharrock and inspired by "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.

• Charles Baldwin – bass guitar
• Lance Carter, Abe Speller – drums
• Francis Manzella – recording, mixing and co-producer
• Michael Knuth – executive producer
• Sonny Sharrock – guitar, production
• Dave Snider – Korg M1, Korg Wavestation

References

1. Sonny Sharrock catalog accessed July 13, 2015
2. Chronological Recordings of Sonny Sharrock accessed July 13, 2015
3. Christgau, Robert (June 4, 1991). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
4. Pazz & Jop 1991: Dean's List
5. Davis, Francis (March 27, 1992). "Jazz Meets Metal, And Sparks Fly". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on January 2, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
6. Davis, Francis (September 3, 1991). "This Is Not Jazz: The Guitar Buzz and Howl of Sonny Sharrock". The Village Voice. pp. 67‐68.
7. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (1992). The Penguin Guide to Jazz. Penguin Books. p. 972. ISBN 0140153640.
8. ^ Huey, Steve. "Sonny Sharrock: Highlife > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
9. Highlife (booklet). Sonny Sharrock. Brooklyn, New York: Enemy Records. 1990.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

External links

• Highlife at Discogs (list of releases)

• 1990 albums
• Sonny Sharrock albums
• Enemy Records albums