She played with Louis Armstrong, Woody Herman, and other acts, and in 1962, was selected in down beat's annual poll of best jazz performers.
#Famous jazz harp players free
She overcame initial resistance to the concept by organizing free shows and playing to dances with her trio.Īshby's trio, including her husband John Ashby on drums, toured the country and appeared on a variety of jazz labels through the late 1960s. Although she could get hired as a pianist, she wanted to play harp more, and bought one in 1952. She attended Wayne State University, studying piano and music education, and after graduation, went to work in the small but lively jazz scene in Detroit. The harp has a clean jazz voice with a resonance and syncopation that turn familiar jazz phrasing inside out." As she later commented, "This isn't just a novelty, though that is what you expect.
She had to share five harps with fourteen other students, however, so she must have quickly discovered an affinity, because she was left with a goal of owning her own harp. She came to the harp only after a short detour through saxaphone and bass in the band of Cass Technical High School, where she attended alongside future jazz greats Donald Byrd, Gerald Wilson, and Kenny Burrell. She grew up around music in Detroit, where her father, guitarist Wiley Thompson, often brought fellow jazz musicians home to jazz while Dorothy comped in the background on their piano. Died 13 April 1986, Santa Monica, CaliforniaĪlthough not the first jazz harpist, Dorothy Ashby was clearly the most successful, and contributed some choice recordings in the hard bop and jazz-funk styles.Born Dorothy Jeanne Thompson 6 August 1930, Detroit, Michigan.