Dorothy Ashby: Afro-Harping - Deluxe Edition Vinyl 2LP

"Remastered from the original ¼ inch tapes by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios, 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 and made it a favourite of beat heads and producers; sampled by Pete Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Dee (aka J Dilla), Madlib, Flying Lotus and many others. This deluxe version features eight bonus tracks, alternate takes from the surviving four-track session reels that are arguably superior to those on the album. Additional flavour is provided by some of the in-studio ‘atmosphere’ that accompanies the bonus cuts. The session reels also featured the voices of Dorothy, Evans and others: encouragement, laughter, a brief burst of beatboxing and a mild disagreement over how many bars had been played, for example. In many cases these elements have been left where they were found, the better to experience the sheer joy of being in the room with Dorothy and some of the Chicago’s finest musicians in the winter of ’68." - Cadet

Original Lab review:

Cadet is quickly becoming one of my favorite labels. Something about their recordings have an unscripted funkiness to them. This is the prime example as producer Richard Evans (of Soulful Strings fame) and harpist Dorothy Ashby team up to create a funky harp album. And with all those NY producers sampling harps and strings back in the day, this record has achieved that on the record store wall ooooh that's that harp ish fame (and easily goes for $100-200). Once "Come Live with Me" was featured on Dusty Fingers, the secret truly was out. That wicked drum and bassline intro took heads in, then snapped it with the unfamiliar harp floating over the beats. The other big tune here is the drum heavy "Soul Vibrations" with the eerie "Dunwich Horror" synthesizer thrown in to haunting effect. Listen here as Dorothy solos like you never knew a harp could. The rest of the album is more in the bossa-nova style, but as witnessed this is one of those infinite sample records.

• deluxe edition expanded w/ 7 previously-unreleased alt takes
• black double vinyl pressing
• remastered from the original analog tapes
• includes 8-page insert w/ extensive liner notes
  
• original release year: 1968
• music label: Cadet 2024

reviewed by the mgmnt 10/2005