How hip is your harp?
Every now and again someone comes along determined to haul the concert harp out of the orchestra pit. Our question is: has the harp finally become hip? And has the jazz harp become even hipper?
They’re strange questions. But thanks to the pioneering work of jazz harpists, such as Dorothy Ashby, change is in the air. Young jazz musicians are redefining the role of this very traditional instrument.
Tara Minton – hip harpist
Jazz harpist, Tara Minton, will be performing at our third jazz supper at The Gateway, Seaton in April. The show entitled “Following in the footsteps of Dorothy Ashby” sounds very NOW.
Tara says Ashby is her biggest influence. She is one of “the most unjustly under-loved jazz greats of the 1950s”.
Throughout her career, she was a trailblazer. She pushed musical boundaries and inspired generations of musicians who followed her.
Find out more about Tara here.
Queen of the jazz harp
Dorothy Ashby was an Afro-American musician who pioneered the use of the jazz harp in the 50s. She was not the first jazz harpist but she was the most successful.
She was exceptional for the time – a black woman working in a male-dominated jazz scene. And choosing to play an unusual instrument.
She moved the harp, long seen as an orchestral instrument, from the background to centre stage. Her achievement was to make a massive instrument like the concert harp swing!
As she commented: “This isn’t just a novelty, though that is what you expect. The harp has a clean jazz voice with a resonance and syncopation. It turns familiar jazz phrasing inside out”.
Dorothy’s swinging harp
Dorothy was a unique and prolific player, overcoming considerable obstacles. She released 11 albums of her own and collaborate on many others.
Her albums ranged from straight-ahead jazz to jazz-funk and soul and covers of pop songs. Alice Coltrane was a better known jazz harpist. But it was Ashby who laid the groundwork years before Coltrane ever set foot in a studio.
“Dorothy is the jazz harpist”, declares Edmar Castenada, the Colombian harpist. “Most bands used harp as a colour, but Dorothy could solo like a pianist. It’s difficult to improvise on bebop like Dorothy did. She made the harp a full instrument that you play, not as an effect.”
Collaborations
Ashby also had a second career as a high profile session musician. She appeared on Bill Withers’ 1974 album, +’Justments.
Then Withers recommended her to Stevie Wonder. He used Ashby on “If It’s Magic” from the 1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life. Listen to Stevie’s version of the song on YouTube below.
She also played on records by Freddie Hubbard, Gene Harris and Bobby Womack. And accompanied Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Minnie Ripperton, Diana Ross, Earth Wind & Fire, Barry Manilow .
She died at age 53 in 1986.
Find out more about Dorothy Ashby here.
Following in Dorothy’s footsteps
The use of the harp has evolved from its orchestral setting to influence all types of modern music. Sarah Vaughan, Chet Baker and even Frank Sinatra often used the harp in their recordings. And it also has long history in Latin American music.
But it often features in festival lineups. And features in pop and rock. Artists such as Coldplay, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran all use its sonic properties.
So, the harp is also enjoying a resurgence on the contemporary jazz circuit. Young musicians are now exploring its unique sounds as a lead instrument.
Escaping the harp bubble?
Many people find the juxtaposition of jazz and the harp as surprising. But Tara Minton disagrees.
“A lot of people are very excited about the harp. My mission is to get the instrument and its capabilities out of the ‘harp bubble’ and into the wider world of music”.
For her the harp “takes the place of a piano in a trio, and is a kind of cross between piano and guitar”.
So, hip harping is definitely a THING. This traditional instrument has a long and rich history in jazz music. But now it’s bursting out of its bubble.