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Dorothy Ashby
Afro-Harping (Deluxe)
Cadet / Verve
‘Afro-Harping is filled front-to-back with sumptuous and hypnotic grooves. Its African percussion, soulful orchestrations, in-the-pocket rhythms — and Dorothy’s virtuosity — take it far beyond jazzy mood music (as sampling by Pete Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Dilla, Madlib and co bears ample witness).
‘This deluxe version features eight bonus tracks from the four-track session reels that are arguably superior to those on the original album, including an explosive rendition of the Soul Vibrations single, extended versions of the title track and Little Sunflower, and two fantastic, jazzy readings of Theme from Valley of the Dolls.
‘Additional flavour is provided by some of the in-studio atmosphere. The reels also featured the voices of Dorothy, producer Richard Evans, and others: encouragement, laughter, a brief burst of beatboxing, a spat about how many bars had just been played… In many cases these elements have been retained, conjuring up the sheer joy of being in the room with Dorothy and some of Chicago’s finest musicians in the winter of ’68.
‘By that time, Evans was running every aspect of Cadet Records, applying his emerging funk formula to new and established artists, with an overflowing pipeline of work for Ramsey Lewis, John Klemmer, Odell Brown and many more. His growing Afrocentricity, coupled with Ashby’s desire to highlight the Black struggle that had been the subject of several plays (from which three of the tracks on Afro-Harping were drawn) that she and her husband John had produced in her hometown of Detroit, provided the foundations for the recording of Afro-Harping. ‘Her jazz playing was very New York-ish, very sophisticated,’ Evans has recalled. ‘But I wanted things to be very Black, very funky at Cadet.’‘
‘Housed in a digipack with 28-page booklet. The sound is newly transferred from the original ¼-inch tapes, and remastered.’
The first fruits of Land’s long, luxuriant collaboration with Bobby Hutcherson, from 1968. Jazz Crusaders Buster Williams and Joe Sample are here; and Jimmy Smith’s drummer Donald ‘Duck’ Bailey (with whom Land had recently worked on Roy Ayers’ Virgo Vibes).
Land’s older albums — Harold In The Land Of Jazz, for example, and The Fox — have been HJ touchstones since our very early days. But this is something else. The saxophonist’s dark, schooled lyricism remains unmistakable, but by now hard bop machismo is ceding to the thorough-going influence of the gentler side of John Coltrane — his intentness, key signatures, modal swing.
The eight recordings here are compact and focussed; lit up with a consecratory loveliness. The titular opener and the ballad Imagine share a stricken, abiding, sublime serenity; hailing from the same hallowed ground as Trane knockouts like Tunji, Dear Lord, and After The Rain. Music as the healing force of the universe.
This is a genuine lost classic; handsomely reissued in the ‘Verve By Request’ series, with excellent sound. Hotly recommended.
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