'H. Johnson's Jazz Moment: Dorothy Ashby'

WABE’s H. Johnson has been a fixture on our station since 1978. As host of both “Blues Classics” and “Jazz Classics,” H. continually educates and entertains WABE listeners every Friday and Saturday night. Now, H. is adding “City Lights” music contributor to his exceedingly long resumé, and he’ll be joining the show every other Friday to share a bit from his breadth of jazz knowledge. The new segment, “H. Johnson’s Jazz Moment,” explores selections from the best of H.’s music collection along with tidbits from history, personal reflections, and H.’s thoughts on the evergreen resonance of jazz. 

In this “Jazz Moment,” Johnson takes a listen to a jazz virtuoso who specializes in an unusual instrument — harpist Dorothy Ashby. While jazz harp exists elsewhere, and many listeners might know the abstract expressions of Alice Coltrane or the romantic jazz balladry of self-taught harpist Harpo Marx, Dorothy Ashby carved out a career entirely her own. Her music adventures in genres from swing standards and bebop to free jazz, world music and soul.

Ashby grew up in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of self-taught jazz guitarist Wiley Thompson. Discovering the harp as a high-schooler, Ashby originally trained in classical tradition, acquiring a disciplined and articulate sound on the harp highly recognizable in her later jazz work. “She used to get piano recitals, bought her first harp in 1952,” said Johnson. “Her first job on harp was in Philadelphia, a club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1953. That’s how quickly she picked it up.”