Alice Coltrane may have whisked us to other dimensions with her harp on A Monastic Trio and World Galaxy, but Dorothy Ashby pioneered the use of the instrument in the jazz world. She implementing the harp in inventive ways; in addition to the cascading strumming we love Alice records for, Ashby plays in a subtle way that’s similar to jazz guitar without all the cringey bald white guy noodling. Check out her blissful version of Jimmy Webb’s “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” or the break-heavy version of The Beatles’ “Fool On The Hill.” Ashby was bit by the Brazilian bug (like everyone else in jazz at the time), and her renditions of Baden Powell & Vinicius De Moraes’ “Canto De Ossanha” and Edu Lobo’s “Reza” are two of the album’s brightest moments. Released somewhat quietly in the interim between her acclaimed Afro-Harping album and her work with Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder (Songs In The Key Of Life!) in the 1970s, Dorothy’s Harp has since become regarded as a monument of soul jazz and highly sought-after by deep jazz diggers. The wildly unpredictable heads at Music On Vinyl have blessed us with a much-needed 180 gram audiophile blue vinyl pressing; the first time the album has been in print in almost 50 years! Limited to 750 individually-numbered copies.

• blue colored vinyl
• 180g audiophile pressing
• limited edition
• 750 copies pressed
• individually numbered
• music label: Music On Vinyl 2017

reviewed by nick nightingale 01/2018