Dorothy Ashby: Afro-Harping (2LP, deluxe remaster) [DECCA]

Why you'll love it

This deluxe 2LP set is remastered from the original 1/4 inch tapes and adds eight alternate takes plus an eight-page booklet. AllMusic's Ron Wynn called it the best and most complete album Ashby ever made.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Deluxe edition
• Remastered from the original 1/4 inch tapes
• Eight previously unissued alternate takes
• Eight-page booklet
• Stereo mix

About the album

The harp doesn't usually get the funky parts. Dorothy Ashby had spent years proving that wrong, and in February 1968 she teamed up with arranger and producer Richard Evans at Cadet and made the record that settled the matter. AllMusic's Ron Wynn praised how she turned the harp into a lead instrument, with solos as tough as any reed or brass player's.

Evans wraps her electric harp in African percussion, strings and horns, and Ashby plays lead like any horn player would. Evans's "Soul Vibrations" opens with a bang, her own "Games," "Action Line" and "Life Has Its Trials" show her as a writer, and she takes on Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower," the Previns' "Theme from Valley of the Dolls" and Bacharach and David's "The Look of Love." The bonus disc adds alternate takes from the original session reels. Guitarist Phil Upchurch co-wrote the title track with her, and "Come Live with Me" and "Lonely Girl" show her softer side.

Dusty Groove called it one of the grooviest records ever. Strings attached, and all the better for it.

Also at Kops: more Dorothy Ashby on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Cadet / Verve (cat# 5399759), a reissue of the 1968 album.