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Dorothy Ashby
Born:
Born Dorothy Jeanne Thompson, she grew up around music in Detroit where her father, guitarist Wiley Thompson, often brought home fellow jazz musicians. Even as a young girl, Dorothy would provide support and background to their music by playing the piano. She attended Cass Technical High School where fellow students included such future musical talents and jazz greats as Donald Byrd, Gerald Wilson, and Kenny Burrell.
While in high school she played a number of instruments (including the saxophone and string bass) before coming upon the harp. She attended Wayne State University in Detroit where she studied piano and music education. After she graduated, she began playing the piano in the jazz scene in Detroit, though by 1952 she had made the harp her main instrument. At first her fellow jazz musicians were resistant to the idea of adding the harp, which they perceived as an instrument of classical music and also somewhat ethereal in sound, into jazz performances. So Ashby overcame their initial resistance and built up support for the harp as a jazz instrument by organizing free shows and playing at dances and weddings with her trio. She recorded with Richard Davis, Jimmy Cobb, Frank Wess and others in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During the 1960s, she also had her own radio show in Detroit. Ashby's trio, including her husband John Ashby on drums, regularly toured the country, recording albums for several different record labels. She played with Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman, among others.
Chet Baker's Five from '65 - New Land's Best Box Set Yet
by Patrick Burnette
Five From '65: The Quintet Summer Sessions Chet Baker New Land Records 2025 We are far enough into the vinyl revival that box sets are now becoming commonplace, and the New Land label has been particularly adventurous--almost quixotic--in its offerings. New Land devoted its first jazz box ...
Brandee Younger at Dazzle
by Geoff Anderson
Brandee Younger Dazzle Denver, CO October 28, 2025 The jazz harp is an unusual concept. The upside is that it makes the player instantly stand out because of the dearth of jazz harpists. A potential downside is that jazz fans may turn away, thinking a harp cannot possibly fit into jazz. ...
Abbey Lincoln, Dorothy Ashby Birthdays, New Releases From Ragan Whiteside, Nicole Zuraitis, Lonnie Plaxico, Tierney Sutton & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new releases from Ragan Whiteside, Nicole Zuraitis, Lonnie Plaxico and Tierney Sutton, with birthday shoutouts to Louis Armstrong, Regina Carter, Abbey Lincoln, Dorothy Ashby, Cyrille Aimee, Terri Lyne Carrington, Trudy Pitts, Meg Okura and Roberta Piket, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear--see them live, buy their music so ...
Brilliant Corners 2025: Days 5-8
by Ian Patterson
Brilliant Corners 2025 Black Box/Various Venues Belfast, N. IrelandFebruary 28-March 8, 2025 If the first four days of Brilliant Corners 2025 leaned towards long-form contemporary composition and free improvisation, the music of the last four days had a more spiritual tone, and a more heavily African-accented character. Many would say that ...
Fantasy Box Set League
by Patrick Burnette
Box sets are back, baby! Some of us old timers thought they might be gone for good after the CD crash (remember when Joe Henderson's The Milestone Years was going for twenty-bucks at your local mall?) But companies have realized that for those happy few who continue collecting “physical media," the big-ole stack of music still ...
Afro-Harping Deluxe Edition
Label: Verve Music Group
Released: 2024
Track listing: Soul Vibrations; Games; Action Line; Lonely Girl; Life Has Its Trials; Afro-Harping; Little Sunflower; Theme From Valley Of The Dolls; Come Live With Me; The Look Of Love; Action Line Master A, Take 2; Afro-Harping Alt. Take; Theme From Valley of The Dolls Master B, Take 2; Lonely Girl, Master G, Take 1; Soul Vibrations Alt. Take;Life Has Its Trials Master C, Take 2; Little Sunflower Master F, Take 3; Theme From Valley of the Dolls Master B, Take 6.
Chris May's Best Jazz Albums Of 2024
by Chris May
In case you missed the sad news, our dear friend and compatriot, Chris May, passed away in November (read our tribute). Below are the albums he considered extraordinary in 2024--a final testament to his discerning taste and love of sound. -mR Rob LuftDahab Days Edition Records
Marysia Osu: Harp, Beats & Dreams
by Chris May
Who knows how the jazz harp paradigm might have evolved had the instrument's most adventurous twentieth-century player, Detroit-born Dorothy Ashby, lived beyond her premature passing in 1986. Since then, most American jazz harpists have stuck pretty closely to the neo-classical glissandos and block chords-based style established by Alice Coltrane. New York's Brandee Younger is among the ...
From McCoy Tyner To Nubya Garcia Via A Detroit Techno Cover From Japan
by Andy Crowther
Music from Uruguay, Denmark, plenty of piano old and new... Latin vibes, vocal pyrotechnics from Jon Lucien, the stunning new Jaubi and Nubya Garcia albums plus '70s Blue Note sample material. Playlist John Wright Trio “You Do It" from Nice 'N' Tasty (Prestige) 00:00 McCoy Tyner “Effendi" from Inception (Impulse) 05:49 Duke Pearson “The ...
