{"id":2982,"date":"2022-03-23T11:04:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/?p=2982"},"modified":"2022-04-04T10:30:43","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T14:30:43","slug":"the-most-unjustly-under-loved-jazz-great-of-the-1950s-womenshistorymonth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2022\/03\/the-most-unjustly-under-loved-jazz-great-of-the-1950s-womenshistorymonth\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe most unjustly under-loved jazz great of the 1950s” #WomensHistoryMonth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I take exception to Tom Moon\u2019s characterization of Dorothy Ashbury (quoted as the title): she isn\u2019t just among \u201cthe most unjustly under-loved jazz greats of the 1950s<\/a>\u201d; she is almost certainly the<\/em><\/strong> most inexplicably under-appreciate jazz great ever<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in 1932 in Detroit, Ashbury broke barriers at every angle: a Black female professional artist in a male dominated industry, Ashby established the harp as an improvising jazz instrument, cracking open both mainstream society’s notion’s of what was and was not appropriate for a Black woman to do (playing classical harp) and<\/em> cracking up the counterculture’s notion of what could and could not be done (bringing “novelty” background instruments like harp and koto<\/a> to center stage, bringing global cultural and musical tropes to Euro-American-centric jazz).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s been maybe a triple burden in that not a lot of women are becoming known as jazz players. There is also the connection with black women. The audiences I was trying to reach were not interested in the harp, period\u2014classical or otherwise\u2014and they were certainly not interested in seeing a black woman playing the harp.”<\/p>Dorothy Ashbury<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But I kinda give zero shits about any of that; just listen<\/em> to her music:<\/p>\n\n\n\n