Name: In a Minor Groove
Brand: Dorothy Ashby, Frank Wess

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

LP-RGM-1474

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Original album art with Ira Gitler’s sleeve notes

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2023-02-03

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

848064014744

Total Cap

Black LP

Artist

Dorothy Ashby

Frank Wess

Genre US

Jazz

Label US

In a Minor Groove

<p>Dorothy Ashby was an American jazz harpist who made significant contributions to the genre. Throughout her career, she collaborated with renowned musicians such as Stanley Turrentine, Wendell Marshall, Shirley Scott, Art Taylor, Stan Getz, and Jimmy Cobb. Born on August 06, 1932 in Detroit, Michigan, Ashby received her harp training from Velma Froude at Cass Technical High School. She also had a profound impact on [a42058], teaching them the intricacies of the instrument a few years later. Sadly, Dorothy Ashby passed away on April 13, 1986 in Santa Monica, California.</p>

Dorothy Ashby was probably the greatest—and certainly the most swinging—jazz harpist of all time, re-purposing an instrument best known for ethereal glissandos into a fully versatile voice in combo settings, capable of providing both instrumental embroidery and rhythmic drive. But she was always fighting an uphill battle in terms of garnering critical and commercial success; both her gender and the exoticism of her instrument often prevented her from being taken seriously among the hidebound environs of late ‘50s and ‘60s jazz. But it is that very uniqueness of her sound and station in the jazz world that has made her one of the most collectible musicians of her era, as her music has been sampled and celebrated by modern-day hip hop and world music artists (e.g. Jurassic Five, Bonobo) alike. In a Minor Groove is one of two albums she made in 1958 with flautist/saxophonist Frank Wess, and it is a marvel; backed by fellow Detroit native Herman Wright on bass and the great Roy Haynes on drums, she and Wess weave mesmerizing melodic threads through standards like “Alone Together” and “Yesterdays.” But perhaps the most amazing track is “Bohemia After Dark,” which displays Ashby’s uncanny ability to turn her harp into a rhythm guitar! For this first-ever domestic black vinyl reissue of In a Minor Groove, we are using the original mono sources—not the rechanneled stereo and jumbled track listing that showed up on Prestige’s later repackaging called Dorothy Ashby Plays for Beautiful People.

Music US