Dorothy Ashby – Soft Winds: the Swinging Harp of Dorothy Ashby LP Sowing Records (Italy)

Sowing Records present a reissue of Dorothy Ashby‘s Soft Winds: The Swinging Harp of Dorothy Ashby, originally released in 1961. Features female vibes player Terry Pollard. Comes with a version of The Skatalites‘ “Guns Of Navarone” which is a pretty surreal listening experience. Clear vinyl; edition of 300.

From the original liner notes: “Dorothy Ashby may not be the first jazz harpist (Caspar Reardon) or the first female jazz harpist (Adele Girard), but her good feeling for time and ability to construct melodic, guitar-like lines, mark her as the most accomplished modern jazz harpist (…) Accompanying her was another Detroit girl, Terry Pollard. Terry’s main instrument is the piano and she is one of the best in the country, bar none. She is also a pretty fair country vibraharpist and in this set, Miss Pollard plays vibes exclusively. With them is still another Detroiter, Herman Wright, who like Miss Pollard has worked with Terry Gibbs and Yusef Lateef, and who also served as Miss Ashby’s regular bassist. (…) Completing the quartet is Jimmy Cobb, drummer for the Miles Davis group. During the proceedings, Cobb travels between brushes and sticks without upsetting the equilibrium of this essentially quiet set. There is wide range of material presented here, from blues like Benny Goodman‘s title number, ‘Soft Winds’, and Miss Ashby’s ‘With Strings Attached’, to movie themes such as ‘Laura’, ‘Wild Is the Wind’, and ‘Guns Of Navarone’. Then there are works by such superior writers of standards as Kurt Weill (‘My Ship’); Gershwin (‘The Man I Love’ and ‘Love Is Here To Stay’).”