Dorothy Ashby: Jazz Harpist

With the introduction of the 33 1/3 LP in the late 1940s and  very early 1950s, harpists began appearing with greater regularity on jazz albums. At first, harpists were tag-alongs on record dates—the whipped cream on the sundae known as "with strings." But as jazz arrangers grew more and more ambitious later in the decade, and the jazz and pop markets began to overlap, harpists who had been chained to symphony orchestras found themselves being called regularly for jazz dates. Except, that is, Dorothy Ashby, who was perhaps the greatest jazz harpist of them all.

What made Ashby special is that she started out as a jazz pianist in Detroit. Her attack on the harp was different than most of her peers. Her style was more direct and commanding than the "blend in" harpists from the classical side. And as Ashby's many albums show, her technique and phrasing were first rate—strong improvisational ideas combined with a touching curiosity rather than just timidly adding a wash of angelic mist.

The harp has a long jazz history, making its first appearance on a jazz recording in 1926. The date was Art Kahn and His Orchestra, and Russ Crandall was credited as playing the instrument. Throughout the 1930s, the harp popped up on jazz recordings. Ted Lewis used a harpist in the early 1930s (Loretta McFarland) as did Jack Teagarden (Casper Reardon) [pictured], who also played extensively with Paul Whiteman.

There was Adele Girard with Frankie Trumbauer and Joe Marsala in 1937, and Laura Newell with Artie Shaw in 1941 and Ruth Hill with Tommy Dorsey in 1942. In August 1944, Elaine Vito played behind Coleman Hawkins, while Reba Robinson replaced Hill on Dorsey dates.

After the war, Ann Mason was on Artie Shaw's Musicraft sessions and Gail Laughton played with Boyd Raeburn in 1946. On the West Coast, June Weiland did many of the early Capitol dates with Peggy Lee, and in 1949 Katherine Thompson backed Billy Eckstine at MGM. Meyer Rosen was the harpist on the first Charlie Parker With Strings session in 1949, with Verley Mills appearing on the second in 1952 along with Sauter-Finegan dates the same year. Corky Hale [pictured] also recorded on many West Coast jazz dates, including sessions with Herbie Harper, Chet Baker, Les Brown and Anita O'Day. She also recorded as a leader on Plays Gershwin and (Vernon) Duke.

As the LP became the dominant format in the early 1950s, the first harpist to work steadily on jazz dates in New York was Janet Putnam, a first-call player with a hip, classical touch. When it came to more exotic sessions, calls went to Betty Glamann, who was the first harpist to record a jazz recording as a leader—Swinging on a Harp in 1956, with Eddie Costa (vib, celeste) Barry Galbraith (g) Rufus Smith (b) and Osie Johnson (d). Glamann also played on Oscar Pettiford's fascinating big-band dates in 1957 and a session with trumpeter Kenny Dorham that same year.

Putnam and Glamann paved the way for what came next. With the release of Jazz Harpist for Regent in 1957, Dorothy Ashby transformed the harp from a florid flavor to a swinging guitar-like instrument. She made the harp a dominant solo and duo instrument with a beautiful, singing personality. On her first album followed by Hip Harp (1958) and In a Minor Groove (1958), Ashby was paired with Frank Wess on flute, which proved to be a magical combination.

Ashby's background didn't begin in the concert hall. Born in 1932 in Detroit, Ashby began playing piano at age 11. Encouraged by her guitarist father, Ashby  enrolled in a high school harp class. Both father and daughter figured there would be more work opportunities for her as a harpist than as a female jazz pianist, especially in Detroit, where there seemed to be great jazz pianists by the dozen.

After high school, Ashby attended Wayne State University, where she studied piano and music education, and performed as a folk singer on the radio. After graduation, she worked as a pianist in jazz clubs but in 1952 was playing the harp extensively.

As a harpist, Ashby at first faced pressure from fellow musicians who viewed the instrument as a novelty rarely taken seriously in jazz settings. To change that perception, Ashby gave free concerts with a trio that included her husband John Ashby on drums.

After launching her recording career, Ashby and her husband began producing plays in the 1960s—with John writing the scripts and Dorothy penning the musical scores. The couple relocated to California, and Dorothy was used extensively on Hollywood pop-rock dates in the years that followed. She died in 1986 of cancer at age 53. [Portrait of Dorothy Ashby by Robert "Tres" Trujillo]

In Ashby's hands, the harp sounds like a swinging guitar played by a pianist in a ball gown. Fortunately Ashby recorded quite a few wonderful albums, ranging from jazz and pop to World music.

JazzWax note: Back in 2009, I spent a few hours at the New York apartment of Janet Putnam and David Soyer listening to Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin. Both Janet and David were on the date. My post is here.

JazzWax tracks: Many of Dorothy Ashby's albums are out of print or haven't been remastered in years. Her first album, Jazz Harpist is available at Amazon here and here. Hip Harp (1958), In a Minor Groove (1958) and Afro-Harping (1968) also are at Amazon. Her albums are available at download sites. And hopefully, Fresh Sound will release a box featuring all of her great recordings.

JazzWax clip: Here's There's a Small Hotel from Hip Harp with Frank Wess on flute...

 

Comments

[David]

Harpists are at a disadvantage to pianists and guitarists in that it's much harder to play chromatically. Playing in the style of, say, Herbie Hancock would involve some very frantic pedal work. Ashby manages to bypass any awkwardness largely by playing in a harmonically conservative style.
A harpist not mentioned above was Harpo Marx who recorded two albums, one of them featuring musicians like Buddy Collette, Paul Horn, Fred Katz, Jim Hall, and Carson Smith. Harpo seems to have had no concept of rhythm, but otherwise plays quite well. He also contributes a bit of whistling.

[Jan Stevens]

Once again, Marc, you exhibit some very fine research on a very obscure jazz topic (the use of harp in jazz). Dorothy Ashby is about the only name I recall in jazz liner notes and credits. I believe she did a number of dates with the great Quincy Jones, if memory serves, as well as some of the CTI stuff Creed Taylor produced too.

[Bill Kirchner]

Great job of research! There was also an improvising British jazz harpist named David Snell who was active in the 1960s. He appears on John Dankworth's THE ZODIAC VARIATIONS (Fontana) and Zoot Sims' WAITING GAME (Impulse).

[Devra Hall Levy]

John Levy was her manager for awhile tho we were never able to pinpoint the exact years. Excerpted from pg 184 of "Men, Women and Girl Singers":
"Dorothy was petite and attractive with a winning smile. At four-feet eleven inches, you couldn’t help but wonder how she could manage a 72-pound harp that stood taller than she did. She was one of the nicest people I ever met, and her personality, along with her versatility, helped her career survive. In addition to being an incredible harpist, she was also a talented pianist, composer and singer, with a warm contralto voice.
"Dorothy and [her husband] John were a good team, and The Ashby Players was one of their creative brainstorms. With John as the writer/director, they produced a couple of original musical plays about black life. And because they focused on being entertaining and were careful not to preach, these productions were well received. Everything Dorothy did was well received. Critics wrote glowing reviews and she won lots of jazz polls—yet she still remained largely unknown outside the world of musicians and serious jazz aficionados."

[MenyKU]

Jonny Teupen did some interesting classical crossover recordings, can't find any samples of that unfortunately, but here's some funkier stuff he did later....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icQFS7V39Vw

[Jery Rowan]

A square peg in a round hole; a tuxedo with argyle sox; an elephant with the Lipizzaner Stallions; a harp as a jazz instrument...

Sorry folks, none of it works. I find this topic to be such a stretch that I want to burn my Miles Davis “Sketches of Kazoo” album.

[Red Sullivan]

Gloria Agostini!
(And a resounding "No!" to Jerry Rowan, above. This is a great topic.)
(I also second David Snell, mentioned above, who also recorded at least one trio record, with bass & drums, and worked into the '80s).

[Dustin Keeler]

Revisionist harp historian. A history of the jazz harp that doesn't mention the word Alice Coltrane? Are those recordings too wierd to fit in your category of jazz. Also not to mention any of Dorothy Ashby's Cadet recordings and classifying them under the throwaway term rock-pop is ridiculous. Those are some wierd psychedelic jazz recordings. I don't think she was going for the hollywood pop market when she recorded an entire album on the rubaiyat. Besides that I found your research to be very interesting.