DOROTHY ASHBY - Afro-Harping DOROTHY ASHBY

LP - Reissue, Black Vinyl

A bona fide ‘cult’ classic, Afro-Harping is the first of a rarefied and outstanding trilogy of soul-jazz albums by Dorothy Ashby that were produced for Cadet records (Chess) by Richard Evans between 1968 and 1970. Afro-Harping is filled front-to-back with sumptuous and hypnotic grooves. Its African percussion, soulful orchestrations, in-the-pocket rhythms and Dorothy’s virtuosity take it far beyond jazzy mood music and made it a favourite of beat heads and producers.

Jazz harpists are uncommon, and Dorothy is rightly regarded as probably the greatest of a rather exclusive club that also includes Gail Laughton, Corky Hale and Alice Coltrane. Though all her recorded output is strong, Afro-Harping is truly special. “She was an expert on the harp and did things very instinctively. I think she just wanted to please me, and that’s why those recordings are different,” Evans remembered.

Unfortunately, on release Afro-Harping came and went without significant fanfare and, not long after their third and final record together, The Rubaiyat…, the Ashbys left Detroit and moved to LA, where Dorothy concentrated on session work, appearing on records for Bill Withers, Bobby Womack, Stevie Wonder and others. Two years after her final solo album was released in 1984, she died of cancer at the age of just 53 and didn’t get to witness her star rising as her work was widely rediscovered, a process that really began at the turn of the ‘90s.