BORN in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1951, Elliott Sharp has some 85 recordings to his name over the past four decades, from contemporary classical and orchestral music to avant-garde and from opera to experimental jazz, noise, no-wave and electronic music.

An inveterate performer, playing mainly guitar, saxophone and bass clarinet, he has led many ensembles over the years, including the blues-oriented Terraplane and Orchestra Carbon.

Sharp grew up in a musical family, with both his parents playing piano, and he started on the instrument at the age of at six, playing his first recital of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 at New York's Carnegie Hall when he a mere eight years of age.