Avery Sharpe is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 double-bassist.

Sharpe began playing piano at age eight and also studied accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

 in his youth. He learned both electric and acoustic bass as a teenager, then studied with Reggie Workman

Reggie Workman

Reginald "Reggie" Workman is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey....

 at the University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

. He played with Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...

 and Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny

Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...

 before joining McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

's sextet; from 1984 through 2002 he played with Tyner's trio. He has also played as a sideman with Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp

Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...

, Yusef Lateef

Yusef Lateef

Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...

, Ricky Ford

Ricky Ford

Ricky Ford is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Ford was born in Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller and then played in the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976...

, Joe Ford, and others. As a leader, he has release on Sunnyside Records

Sunnyside Records

Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record label.Sunnyside was founded in 1982 by Francois Zalacain and Christine Berthet. Its early releases consisted primarily of piano solo material and ensembles without drums, but in later years has broadened its selection of material.-Artists who have...

, and several albums on his own label, JKNM.

Although not as well-known as Ron Carter or Christian McBride, he is remarkably versatile as a bassist. A switch-hitter on bass guitar and upright bass, his humming-and-bowing, à la Slam Stewart, as well as his chord work on stand-up bass make quite an impression when seeing and hearing him live.

As leader

• Unspoken Words (Sunnyside Records
  Sunnyside Records
  Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record label.Sunnyside was founded in 1982 by Francois Zalacain and Christine Berthet. Its early releases consisted primarily of piano solo material and ensembles without drums, but in later years has broadened its selection of material.-Artists who have...
  
  , 1988)
• Extended Family (JKNM, 1993)
• Extended Family, Vol. 2: Thoughts of My Ancestors (JKNM, 1995)
• Extended Family, Vol. 3: Family Values (JKNM, 2001)
• Dragon Fly (JKNM, 2005)
• Epic Ebony Journey (JKNM, 2005)
• Legends and Mentors (JKNM, 2008)

As sideman

With McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

• Double Trios
  Double Trios
  Double Trios is a 1986 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Denon label. It features performances by Tyner supported by Avery Sharpe and Louis Hayes or Marcus Miller and Jeff "Tain" Watts along with Steve Thornton...
  
  (1986)
• Major Changes
  Major Changes
  Major Changes is a 1987 album by Frank Morgan with the McCoy Tyner Trio released on the Contemporary label. It was recorded in April 1987 and features performances by Morgan and Tyner with Avery Sharpe and Louis Hayes...
  
  (1987)
• Live at the Musicians Exchange Cafe
  Live at the Musicians Exchange Cafe
  Live at the Musicians Exchange Cafe is a 1987 live album by McCoy Tyner released on the Who's Who in Jazz label. It was recorded in July 1987 and features performances by Tyner with Avery Sharpe and Louis Hayes...
  
  (1987)
• Uptown/Downtown
  Uptown/Downtown
  Uptown/Downtown is a 1988 live album by McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label, his first for the label since 13th House . It was recorded in November 1988 and features performances by Tyner's Big Band, which included Junior Cook, Ricky Ford, Kamau Adilifu and Steve Turre, recorded at the Blue...
  
  (1988)
• Solar: Live at Sweet Basil
  Solar: Live at Sweet Basil
  Solar: Live at Sweet Basil is a 1991 live album by McCoy Tyner released on the Sweet Basil label. It was recorded in June 1991 at Sweet Basil in New York City and features a live performance by Tyner with Avery Sharpe and Aaron Scott. Another album of this evening's concert was released as Key of...
  
  (1991)
• Blue Bossa (1991)
• Remembering John
  Remembering John
  Remembering John is a 1991 album by McCoy Tyner released on the Enja label. It was recorded in February 1991 and features performances by Tyner with bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Aaron Scott paying tribute to John Coltrane...
  
  (1991)
• Journey
  Journey (McCoy Tyner album)
  Journey is an album by McCoy Tyner's Big Band released on the Birdology label in 1993. It was recorded in May 1993 and features performances by Tyner's Big Band, which included Steve Turre, Joe Ford, Billy Harper, Avery Sharpe and Frank Lacy...
  
  (1993)
• Infinity
  Infinity (McCoy Tyner album)
  Infinity is an album by McCoy Tyner released on the Impulse! label in 1995. It was recorded in April 1995 and features performances by Tyner with Michael Brecker, Avery Sharpe, Aaron Scott and Valtinho Anastacio. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states that "There are not a lot of surprises on...
  
  McCoy Tyner (1997)
• Autumn Mood
  Autumn Mood
  Autumn Mood is an album by McCoy Tyner released on the Laserlight label in 1997. It was recorded in February 1991 and features performances by Tyner with Avery Sharpe, Aaron Scott, Raphael Cruz and Claudio Roditi recorded for the LRC label...
  
  (1997)

External links

• Jazz Portraits from the WGBH Archives: Avery Sharpe a radio documentary from WGBH Radio Boston]

McCoy Tyner - Avery Sharpe - Louis Hayes (Berlin 1987)