Search - Dorothy Ashby :: Rubyaiyat of Dorothy Ashby

Dorothy Ashby
Rubyaiyat of Dorothy Ashby
Genres: Jazz, Pop, R&B

Track Listings (10) - Disc #1
1. Myself When Young
2. For Some We Loved
3. Wax & Wane
4. Drunk
5. Wine
6. Dust
7. Joyful Grass & Grape
8. Shadow Shapes
9. Heaven & Hell
10. The Moving Finger

CD Details

All Artists: Dorothy Ashby
Title: Rubyaiyat of Dorothy Ashby
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: DUSTY GROOVE
Release Date: 7/17/2007
Genres: Jazz, Pop, R&B
Styles: Cool Jazz, Soul-Jazz & Boogaloo, Bebop, Soul
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 602498604311

Synopsis

Album Description

Electrified harp, funky vibes, Japanese koto, and more - all wrapped up in Chicago soul arrangements from the legendary Richard Evans. Easily the funkiest record ever from the legendary Dorothy Ashby - a set of all-original tunes based on the writings of Omar Khayyam, done in trans-cultural blend that inflects Ashby's jazz roots with Eastern-styled instrumentation - and sends the whole thing home with beats and grooves on the bottom. A truly unique little album - and one of the greatest late 60s sessions from Chess Records! First time on CD! Produced and arranged by Chicago soul legend Richard Evans! Heavy funk with harp, vibes, flute, and more!

CD Reviews

Seventies Experimental Soul-Jazz

Engrooviast | New Jersey | 04/27/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a reissue of a 1970 Cadet Records release. This concept album was produced by the justly famous Richard Evans (former Sun Ra collaborator, discoverer of Donny Hathaway, producer for Young-Holt Unlimited, Leroy Hutson and many more) and was clearly a pet project for Ashby. Besides the inventive and sonorous harping we expect from Ashby, we also get: extensive African and Japanese instrumental accompaniment (plenty of koto and kalimba); Ashby's mannered and already-retro-in-1970 vocals (her voice is unobjectionable and her phrasing is highly dignified); and lyrics (both sung and recited) supplied by the Fitzgerald translation of Omar Khayyam.

The production is lush and cinematic, and the music is downtempo, groovy jazz with a world music flavor. The kind of record that Madlib or Thievery Corporation might mine for samples or inspiration.

It's a record that is very self-consciously philosophical and "deep" in a particularly dated 1970s way - think of the grandiosity and pseudomystical sensibility of some of Pharoah Sanders' work. It's a record very much of its time, but highly enjoyable nonetheless."