Dorothy Ashby
Dorothy Ashby | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Dorothy Jeanne Thompson |
Born | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | August 6, 1932
Died | April 13, 1986 Santa Monica, California | (aged 53)
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Harp, piano, vocals, koto |
Dorothy Jeanne Thompson (August 6, 1932 – April 13, 1986),
Ashby had to overcome many obstacles during the pursuit of her career.
Ashby's albums were of the jazz genre, but often moved into
Early life and education
Ashby was born Dorothy Jeanne Thompson and grew up in the jazz community in Detroit, where her father, Wiley Thompson, a self-taught jazz guitarist,[12] often brought home fellow jazz musicians.[13] Even as a young girl, she would provide support and background to their music by playing the piano.
She attended
Aged 17, Ashby continued her music studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she majored in piano and music education.[15][12]
Career
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.
Ashby partially contributed to the spread of unstereotypical music education in Detroit, Michigan during 1967. Robert H. Klotman, a divisional director of music education was inspired by her and Cass Technical Highschool’s harp and vocal ensemble, placing 10 Troubadour harps in 5 inner city schools.[19]
Ashby's trio, including her husband, John Ashby, on drums, regularly toured the country, recording albums for several record labels.
Her first full jazz LP, The Jazz Harpist, was recorded for Savoy in 1957, with Frank Wess on flute, Eddie Jones and Wendell Marshall on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums. The album was a mix of standards, such as “Thou Swell” and “Stella by Starlight”, and Ms. Ashby's originals. It was critically well received, but the record buying public ignored it. Her next album Hip Harp, (1958) on Prestige, was one of her best, with Frank Wess, Dave Brubeck's bassist Gene Wright and Art Taylor on drums. In all Dorothy led ten sessions between 1957 and 1970 for Atlantic, Cadet and many other labels. She was fearless in her musical choices as she played not just bop, but soul, Brazilian, African, Middle Eastern and like her contemporary (and other great jazz harpist) Alice Coltrane, free jazz. Ms. Ashby pioneered the use of the Japanese koto in jazz on her 1970 album The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, which was somewhat maligned in its time, but has become appreciated as an iconoclastic marriage of soul, world music and free jazz.[21]
The Ashby Players and theatre work
Extending her range of interests and talents, she also worked with her husband in a theater company, the Ashby Players, which her husband founded in Detroit, and for which Dorothy often wrote the scores.[20] In the 1960s, Ashby, together with her husband, formed a theatrical group to produce plays that would be relevant to the African-American community of Detroit. This production group went by several names depending on the theater production.
They created a series of theatrical musical plays that Dorothy and John Ashby produced together as this theatrical company, the Ashby Players of Detroit.[20] In the case of most of the plays, John Ashby wrote the scripts and Ashby wrote the scores.[17] Ashby also played harp and piano on the soundtracks to all of her plays. She starred in the production of the play 3–6–9 herself. Most of the music that she wrote for these plays is available only on a handful of the reel-to-reel tapes that Ashby recorded herself. Only a couple of the many songs she created for her plays later appeared on LPs that she released. Later in her career, she would make recordings and perform at concerts primarily to raise money for the Ashby Players theatrical productions.
The theatrical production group The Ashby Players not only produced black theater in Detroit and Canada but provided early theatrical and acting opportunities for black actors.
Death
Ashby died from cancer on April 13, 1986, in her home located in Santa Monica, California.[22] Her body was cremated, and her ashes were scattered over Santa Monica Bay after a memorial service.[23]
Influence
In the 1990s, Pete Rock, Rahzel and Ugly Duckling sampled Ashby's harp music for their own works.[24]
In 2018, Drake included a sample of Ashby's rendition of "The Windmills of Your Mind" in his song "Final Fantasy" from the album Scorpion.[25]
Discography
As leader
- 1957: The Jazz Harpist (Regent) – with Frank Wess
- 1958: Hip Harp (Prestige) – with Frank Wess
- 1958: In a Minor Groove (New Jazz) – with Frank Wess
- 1961: Soft Winds (Jazzland)
- 1962: Dorothy Ashby (Argo)
- 1965: The Fantastic Jazz Harp of Dorothy Ashby (Atlantic)
- 1966: The Sounds of Christmas (TAB)
- 1968: Afro-Harping (Cadet)
- 1969: Dorothy's Harp (Cadet)
- 1970: The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby (Cadet)
- 1984: Django/Misty (Philips)
- 1984: Concierto de Aranjuez (Philips)
As sidewoman
With Bill Withers
- +'Justments (Columbia, 1974)
With Bobbi Humphrey
- Fancy Dancer (Blue Note, 1975)
With Minnie Riperton
- Adventures in Paradise (Epic, 1975)
With Wade Marcus
- Metamorphosis (ABC/Impulse!, 1976)
With Stanley Turrentine
- Everybody Come On Out (Fantasy, 1976)
With Stevie Wonder
- Songs in the Key of Life (Motown, 1976)
With Sonny Criss
- Warm & Sonny (Impulse!, 1977)
With Gene Harris
- Tone Tantrum (Blue Note, 1977)
With Freddie Hubbard
- Bundle of Joy (Columbia, 1977)
With Billy Preston
- Late at Night (Motown, 1979)
With Bobby Womack
- The Poet (Beverly Glenn, 1981)
- The Poet II (Beverly Glenn, 1984)
With Osamu Kitajima
- The Source (1984)
See also
References
- ISBN 0-87930-308-5
- ISBN 0-1410-2327-9.
- ISBN 9781843532569.
- ^ Scott Yanow. "Dorothy Ashby | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
- ^ Moon, Tom (November 15, 2006). "Dorothy Ashby and a Harp That Swings". National Public Radio.
- ^ Placksin, Sally (1982). American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present. New York: Seaview Books. p. 239.
- ISBN 0-141-00646-3.
- ^ Stokes, W. Royal (2000). Living the Jazz Life. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 157.
- ^ Stokes, W. Royal (2000). Living the Jazz Life. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 158.
- ^ Rensch, Roslyn (2007) [1989]. Harps and Harpists. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 285.
- ^ a b Johnson, David (March 31, 2017). "The Fantastic Jazz Harp of Dorothy Ashby". Indiana Public Media. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
- ^ a b c Betzer, Jennifer J. (May 2020). The Innovation and Influence of Jazz Harpist Dorothy Ashby (19321986) (PDF) (Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance)). University of North Texas.
- ^ Stokes, W. Royal (2000). Living the Jazz Life. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 157.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^ "Ashby, Dorothy (1932-1986) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". www.blackpast.org. October 29, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^ a b Placksin, Sally (1982). American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present. New York: Seaview Books. p. 241.
- ^ ISBN 9780195313734.
- ^ a b Boyd, Herb (June 14, 2018). "Jazz harpist and composer Dorothy Ashby". Amsterdam News. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- S2CID 191661451.
- ^ a b c Placksin, Sally (1982). American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present. New York: Seaview Books. p. 242.
- ^ jazzarts (January 4, 2019). "Unsung Women of Jazz – Dorothy Ashby". JazzArts Charlotte. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
- ^ "Jazz harpist and composer Dorothy Ashby". amsterdamnews.com. June 14, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ "DOROTHY THOMPSON ASHBY OBITUARY". April 24, 1986. p. 40 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Dorothy Ashby - Dorothy's Harp". Light In The Attic Records. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ "Dissecting the 4 Most Improbable Samples on Drake's 'Scorpion'". Vice.com. June 29, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
External links
- Dorothy Ashby (biography from SpaceAgePop.com)
- Dorothy Ashby's Ashby Players Black Theater (A selection of Ashby Players flyers, programs, and posters on Flickr)
- Unsung Women of Jazz – Dorothy Ashby