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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.
Brandee Younger: Soul Awakening
by Serena Antinucci
Sembrerebbe quasi che Brandee Younger abbia preferito ripetitive udienze private con la luna, prima di decidere se liberare il suo ultimo lavoro discografico. Forse, in questi dialoghi confidenziali, la luna le avrà svelato i misteri antichi del mondo, della musica, donandole immagini uniche piene di incanto. A queste è rimasta aggrappata per lunghi sette anni, prima ...
These Leos Are Jazz Lions
by Mary Foster Conklin
Some heavyweight birthdays in this mid-August broadcast, which included new releases from saxophonist Ben Flocks, songwriter Mark Winkler and guitarist Paul Silbergleit with celebratory shout outs to songwriter Bernice Petkere, Benny Carter and organist Trudy Pitts in the first hour, Roberta Piket, Jeri Southern, Howard Johnson and Regina Carter in the second hour, Abbey Lincoln in ...
Brandee Younger: Soul Awakening
by Mike Jurkovic
Sure the recording for Soul Awakening was completed in 2013, but we are more than fortunate that harpist Brandee Younger and producer/bassist Dezron Douglas have chosen now to free this music from the vaults. For Soul Awakening brings a defining clarity to what we've experienced on previous releases, such as the raw, groove/fusion of 2014's The ...
Lucinda Belle: Think Big: Like Me
by Paul Naser
As a reported tour featuring Amy Winehouse's hologram nears in winter 2018 and news also comes of a final album by The O'Jays, it seems there is still room in the world for music rooted in soul and with “jazzy" inflections. Enter vocalist/harpist/songwriter Lucinda Belle. Less Dorothy Ashby and more Peggy Lee (if Lee ...
Celebrate songwriters Abbey Lincoln and Bernice Petkere
by Mary Foster Conklin
Many special birthdays in this episode of A Broad Spectrum as we honor the great Abbey Lincoln and remember Bernice Petkere, named the “Queen of Tin Pan Alley" by Irving Berlin for her songs “Close Your Eyes" and “"Lullaby of the Leaves." Playlist Linda Dachtyl “A Late One" from A Late One (Chicken ...
Alina Bzhezhinska: Inspiration
by Roger Farbey
There have been precious few harpists in jazz. Dorothy Ashby was one, David Snell who made a memorable contribution to John Dankworth's What The Dickens! (Fontana Records, 1963) was another. But surely the most famous of them all was Alice Coltrane. So it is that Alina Bzhezhinska has dedicated this album to her heroine. It's a ...
Ravi Coltrane Live in Montreal and New York City
by Dave Kaufman
Ravi Coltrane continues to evolve as an artist of remarkable depth and breadth as reflected in the diversity of contexts in which he engages. Coltrane was featured in three different musical settings at the recent (2017) Montreal International Jazz Festival Invitation Series. All concerts were held at the Centre de Creativite Gesu, an intimate concert hall ...
Harp Happenings: Brandee Younger And Pacific Harp Project
by Dan Bilawsky
Harp happenings are relatively rare in jazz, but they are there. And when two highly agreeable and strikingly different harp-centric affairs appear on your doorstep around the same time, it really makes you stop and take notice of the instrument, its potential, and the players who are moving it forward and outward in various directions. Both ...
Rare and Unusual Instruments in Jazz
by Hrayr Attarian
Historically the cornet was the quintessential jazz instrument but over a century of its evolution other instruments have also become part of the regular jazz armamentarium. These include common ones such as the piano, saxophone, bass and drums to the more occasionally appearing violin, clarinet and other percussion instruments. There are few, however, that exhibit unique ...
