In a Minor Groove

Dorothy Ashby | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 30, 1994)
• Original Release Date: August 25, 1992
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Prestige
• ASIN: B000000ZDR
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,742 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Pawky

2. Moonlight in Vermont

3. Back Talk

4. Dancing in the Dark

5. Charmaine

6. Jollity

7. There's a Small Hotel

8. Rascallity

9. You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To

10. It's a Minor Thing

11. Yesterdays

12. Bohemia After Dark

13. Taboo

14. Autumn in Rome

15. Alone Together

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and beautiful jazz, March 14, 2006

By 

Peter E. Johansen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In a Minor Groove (Audio CD)

If I had to make a list of favorite obscure CDs this would surely be on it. I'd recommend this to just about anyone with an interest in jazz, especially since this is really two great albums compiled on one CD. I've never heard the harp played anything like this, like some sort of otherworldly guitar. And the flutist Frank Wess is wonderful as well. This is one I keep coming back to when I want to listen to something that just makes me feel good. The whole group just works together so well, at times approaching the lyrical intensity of just about anything I can think of short of Bill Evans. Roy Haynes (or Arthur Taylor) on drums is as always brilliant. I almost wonder why this isn't considered a jazz classic, and this certainly transcends any kind of novelty interest in a jazz harpist or a female jazz instrumentalist.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Sound, July 3, 2002

By 

C. Fischer (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In a Minor Groove (Audio CD)

I bought this album because I wanted to hear some new some new instruments playing jazz, and the sound samples of this album at amazon.com were divine, so I bought this album straight away. I was not disappointed.

In accompaniment to Frank Wess's exemplary flute solos, Ashby plays her harp more like a guitar, and in her own solos, more like a piano. But rest assured, you know you're hearing a harp when you listen, and there's almost nothing else out there that sounds like this. Like the liner notes say, this is not "the hairiest jazz"--at times you can hear very classical patterns, but that just adds to the uniqueness. So far my favorite is the final track from the "Hip Harp" half of the CD, called There's a Small Hotel.

I disagree with the other reviewer's comment that "intonation is a problem" and think that their statement that intonation problems were common in jazz at that time is way off base. The recording is from the 1950s and at time there is some definitely audible fuzz on some of the tracks, but the musicians on this album are consummate professionals and you can hear it in their playing.

I urge anyone interested in bebop jazz or in the harp to buy this CD.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yes, there is such a thing as "jazz harp.", September 14, 1998

By 

Calvin Stokes ([e-mail]) (Cleveland, Ohio (USA)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In a Minor Groove (Audio CD)

This album is actually a combination of 2 previously released LPs. It is unique in its flavor of straight-ahead jazz for the harp. The instrumentation is Harp, Flute, Bass, and Drums. While intonation is often a problem (as was generally the case in jazz at that time), the overall performance is amazingly merit-worthy, well beyond the novelty aspect. Dorothy's ability to improvise on the harp is still unmatched to this day. It is well worth the buy for anyone interested in the still-infant world of "Jazz Harp."