Dorothy Ashby - The Jazz Harpist '2012

Tracks list

Tracklist:

Disc 1 

1. Thou Swell (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (04:02)
2. Stella By Starlight (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (03:09)
3. Dancing on the Ceiling (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (07:31)
4. Aeolian Groove (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (04:16)
5. Quietude (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (02:52)
6. Spicy (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (03:41)
7. Lamentation (The Jazz Harpist, 1957) (04:03)
8. Pawky (Hip Harp, 1958) (07:08)
9. Moonlight in Vermont (Hip Harp, 1958) (05:18)
10. Back Talk (Hip Harp, 1958) (05:07)
11. Dancing in the Dark (Hip Harp, 1958) (04:45)

Disc 2 

1. Charmaine (Hip Harp, 1958) (04:05)
2. Jollity (Hip Harp, 1958) (03:39)
3. There's a Small Hotel (Hip Harp, 1958) (05:54)
4. Rascality (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (03:57)
5. You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (04:00)
6. It's a Minor Thing (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (03:56)
7. Yesterdays (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (04:24)
8. Bohemia After Dark (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (06:21)
9. Taboo (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (06:17)
10. Autumn in Rome (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (05:33)
11. Alone Together (In a Minor Groove, 1958) (04:59)

Disc 3 

1. Lonely Melody (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (03:48)
2. Secret Love (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (03:35)
3. Gloomy Sunday (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (02:37)
4. Satin Doll (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (04:42)
5. John R. (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (03:15)
6. Li'l Darlin (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (04:31)
7. Booze (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (02:12)
8. Django (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (04:34)
9. You Stepped Out of a Dream (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (02:57)
10. Stranger in Paradise (Dorothy Ashby, 1961) (03:19)
11. Soft Winds (Soft Winds, 1961) (03:01)
12. Wild is the Wind (Soft Winds, 1961) (04:28)
13. The Man I Love (Soft Winds, 1961) (03:00)
14. My Ship (Soft Winds, 1961) (03:45)
15. Love Is Here to Stay (Soft Winds, 1961) (02:45)
16. I've Never Been in Love Before (Soft Winds, 1961) (02:26)
17. With String Attached (Soft Winds, 1961) (02:48)
18. Laura (Soft Winds, 1961) (03:06)
19. The Guns Navarone (Soft Winds, 1961) (02:15)
20. Misty (Soft Winds, 1961) (02:47)
21. The Gypsy in My Soul (Soft Winds, 1961) (02:51)


 moreAshby was born Dorothy Jeanne Thompson in Detroit in 1932. She grew up
in a family connected to Detroit's jazz scene and was playing piano at a young
age. After graduating from Wayne State University with a major in piano, Ashby
switched her main instrument from piano to harp around 1952. At the time, harp
was seldom seen in jazz circles and largely considered more of a classical
instrument. Ashby pioneered jazz harp, working with saxophonist/flutist Frank
Wess on 1957's The Jazz Harpist and two 1958 outings, Hip Harp and In a Minor
Groove, to find a sound that let harp lead standards and bop numbers. This
approach was all but unheard of at the time, and Ashby continued releasing
harp-centered jazz albums throughout the '60s, including efforts like 1965's The
Fantastic Jazz Harp of Dorothy Ashby for Atlantic Records. In the late '60s,
Ashby's music expanded somewhat, incorporating more wide-reaching styles on the
psychedelic soul jazz of 1968's monumental Afro-Harping and 1969's Dorothy's
Harp. In 1970, she released the even more experimental album The Rubaiyat of
Dorothy Ashby, which found her playing both harp and koto on funky, somewhat
orchestral soul jazz tracks. The album even found Ashby singing on a few tracks,
and a larger band was arranged and conducted by Richard Evans. Throughout the
'70s and into the '80s, Ashby played harp on records by Bill Withers, Stevie
Wonder, Stanley Turrentine, and Minnie Riperton, among many other jazz and soul
greats, and she released a few more records of her own before dying of cancer in
1986.

Ashby's trailblazing as a jazz harpist unconcerned with conforming to the
expected opened doors for everyone who followed. Even by the mid-'60s, Ashby was
trading notes with fellow Detroit-born harpist and contemporary peer Alice
Coltrane, and in the years after her death, ripples of Ashby's influence can be
heard not just in harpists like Brandee Younger and Zeena Parkins, but in
certain spheres of indie rock, rap, experimental music, and beyond.

In 2023, box set release With Strings Attached, 1957-1965 remastered Ashby's
first six albums, giving new listeners a chance to own her long-out-of-print
early catalog. © Fred Thomas



Dorothy Ashby - The Jazz Harpist.rar - 862.8 MB

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