Dorothy Ashby

Who was Dorothy Ashby?

Dorothy Jeanne Thompson, better known as Dorothy Ashby, was an American jazz harpist and composer.

Along with Alice Coltrane, Ashby extended the popularization of jazz harp past a novelty, showing how the instrument can be utilized seamlessly as much a bebop instrument as the saxophone. Her albums were of the jazz genre, but often moved into R&B, world and other musics, especially on her 1970 album The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, where she demonstrates her talents on another instrument, the Japanese koto, successfully integrating it into jazz.