BOBBI HUMPHREY — Fancy Dancer (1975-2008) RM | Blue Note Rare Groove Series | Two Version | APE (image+.cue), lossless + FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The third and final collaboration between flutist Bobbi Humphrey and Larry Mizell also marked the end of Humphrey's five-album run with Blue Note Records. Humphrey began recording with Larry and his brother Fonce (who provides arrangements and plays clavinet and trumpet here) in the aftermath of Donald Byrd's Black Byrd, the collaborative jazz-funk effort that resulted in a massively successful (and influential) commercial breakthrough for the trumpeter and the label. While not as well known as her Blacks and Blues album, her stellar debut with the pair from 1973, Fancy Dancer is every bit its aesthetic equal. The Mizells lined up a serious crew of studio aces for the date, including trumpeter Oscar Brashear; trombonist Julian Priester; Tyree and Roger Glenn on saxophone and piano, respectively; pianists Skip Scarborough and Jerry Peters (who were part of an army of them on this date); drummer Harvey Mason; bassist Chuck Rainey; and even the great Dorothy Ashby on harp. Recorded at their Sound Factory studio in Los Angeles, Fancy Dancer is a seamless collection of seven tracks that cruise the distance across soulful fusions of funk, Latin grooves, electric jazz, and gauzy vocal choruses that offer a hint as to what the underground dancefloor scenes of Los Angeles and New York were offering in at the predawn of the disco era. Humphrey's flute playing feels effortless as she hovers around and plays through the layers of spacy keyboards, shimmering rhythmic pulses, and seductive textures provided by lilting voices, hand percussion, and breaks. The set comes popping out of the gate with the glorious "Uno Esta," featuring bank upon bank of warm bubbling keyboards, roiling basslines, and hand drums courtesy of Mayuto Correa's congas. Craig McMullen and John Rowin contribute some bright chunky guitars, and Larry lays a fine horn chart in the cut as Humphrey begins the first of three solo breaks. When the chorus comes in, the rhythm shifts; the vibe get funkier but never loses the sheen and polish in the mix.

Following this is the stunning Chuck Davis number "The Trip." Commencing with a cut-time funk break, wah-wah guitars, and three different synth harmonic lines all painting a nocturnal spaced-out groove, Humphrey begins to play fills around and through them. A Rhodes enters and the drums become more pronounced in the mix, just as a guitar begins to play contrapuntal fills under her flute. This is one of the greatest tracks in her catalog because it is simultaneously dreamy and sensual and offers enough head-nodding funk to seduce an army. The title track feels more laid-back at first with its gentle chorus. But some flipped-out psychedelic soul finds its way through in waves of Latin percussion that build a shelf under Roger Glenn's vibes break, which in turn sets up Humphrey's burning flute solo prefiguring a salsa piano line and furious hand drumming in syncopated grooves. "Mestizo Eyes" is a steamy, lusty babymaker with simmering, ratcheted intensity as Rainey's fat-bottom electric Fender bassline belies the chunky wah-wah guitars and synth strings and Dorothy Ashby's harp floats through the center. A chorus of male voices softly chants the title and Humphrey goes to town, rhythmically undulating her solo through the entire mix. There isn't anything approaching a middling moment here -- this is all killer, no filler. Jazz critics may have had their troubles with this set, but no one cared; Humphrey and the Mizells were creating a new kind of largely instrumental funk that was inclusive of everything they could weave in from world music to soul-jazz to club music to pop -- and the public responded.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1 Uno Esta 6:40
Arranged By – Fonce Mizell & Larry Mizell
Written-By – L. Mizell
2 The Trip 5:36
Arranged By – Chuck Davis, Skip Scarborough
Piano – Chuck Davis
Written-By – C. Davis, D. Jones
3 You Make Me Feel So Good 6:12
Arranged By – Fonce Mizell & Larry Mizell
Written-By – F. Mizell-L. Mizell
4 Fancy Dancer 5:42
Written-By, Arranged By – Jerry Peters
5 Mestizo Eyes 4:49
Arranged By – Fonce Mizell & Larry Mizell
Written-By – L. Mizell-F. Mizell, W. Jordan
6 Sweeter Than Sugar 4:20
Whistle – James Carter 
Written-By, Arranged By – Chuck Davis, Skip Scarborough
7 Please Set Me At Ease 6:05
Arranged By – Fonce Mizell & Larry Mizell
Written-By – F. Mizell-L. Mizell, Ruby Mizell
Credits :
Arranged By [Background Vocal] – Larry Mizell, Fonce Mizell
Bass – Chuck Rainey
Clavinet, Synthesizer [Solina], Trumpet – Fonce Mizell
Conductor – Fonce Mizell, Larry Mizell, Sigidi
Congas – Mayuto Correa
Drums – Harvey Mason
Flute, Vocals – Bobbi Humphrey
Guitar – Craig McMullen, John Rowin
Harp – Dorothy Ashby
Marimba, Vibraphone – Roger Glenn
Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Clavinet – Skip Scarborough
Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Synthesizer [Arp] – Jerry Peters
Piano, Synthesizer [Solina, Arp], Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Larry Mizell
Tenor Saxophone – Tyree Glenn, Jr.
Trombone – Julian Priester
Trumpet – Oscar Brashear
Vocals – Augie Rey, Bobbi Humphrey, Fonce Mizell, Jesse Acuna, Katherine Lyra, Larry Mizell, Rosario Davila, Sónia Tavares

DOROTHY ASHBY — In a Minor Groove (1995) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

While not the first male or female jazz harp player (Casper Reardon of Jack Teagarden's bands, Adele Girard performing with her husband Joe Marsala, or Corky Hale set precedents), Dorothy Ashby was the very best and most swinging performer on the multi-stringed instrument associated with the gates of heaven. Here on Earth, Ashby adeptly plucked and strummed the harp like nobody else, as evidenced on a single reissue containing her two best LPs for the Prestige and Prestige/New Jazz labels from 1958 -- Hip Harp and In a Minor Groove. Alongside her prior efforts for the Savoy label, they collectively represent a small but substantive discography for the Detroit native in small group settings. With the exceptional flute sounds produced by Frank Wess, the combo plays music that is oriented via a unique sonic palate, further enhanced by the principals in the standards and originals they have chosen. Fellow Detroiter Herman Wright is here on bass, with duties split between legendary drummers Art Taylor and Roy Haynes, who place particular emphasis on subtle brushwork. Of course, the watchword of Ashby's sound is elegance, as she and Wess weave magical threads of gold and silver through standards like the circular and pristine "Moonlight in Vermont," the dramatic, slow "Yesterdays," or the sad "Alone Together." In a more Baroque or chamber setting, "Charmain" and "It's a Minor Thing" have Wess and Ashby thinking on a regal or Grecian platform. The variety on this collection is impressive, as you hear cinematic bluesy proclamations on "Autumn in Rome," striking mystery in "Taboo," mischievous and sly winks during "Rascallity," and a sexy calypso-to-swing beat as "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" unfolds. Two originals of Ashby's stand out -- the well swung, blues based yet exotic "Pawky" with the singularly unique flute of Wess, and the delicate but decisive "Jollity" that moves along nicely. Of course these are straight-ahead mainstream jazz musicians, and you also get a soaring, clean version of the tricky "Bohemia After Dark" and "Dancing in the Dark," where Ashby's harp acts like a rhythm guitar. In fact, it is this aspect of Ashby's performing style that sets her apart from being a singular or simplistic crystalline melodic implement. Then add to this element that Wess is so acutely fine tuned to pure tonal discourse simply by the nature of his instrument, and can carry the load by himself. This is a delightful package that deserves further recognition as a project unique to jazz and modern music, perfectly showcasing Dorothy Ashby as an individualist for the ages. Michael G. Nastos
Notes
Remastered compilation of two LP's "Hip Harp" (Tracks 1-7) (Dorothy Ashby With Frank Wess - Hip Harp) & "In A Minor Groove" (Dorothy Ashby And Frank Wess - In A Minor Groove) (Tracks 8-15) released in 1992.
Track 5 listed here as "Charmain", but listed on most other releases as "Charmaine", including on the original "Hip Harp" release (Dorothy Ashby With Frank Wess - Hip Harp) that this release comes from.
Tracklist & Credits  

DOROTHY ASHBY — The Rubaiyat Of Dorothy Ashby (1970-2007) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Issued on Cadet in 1970, The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby is really a left-field offering for the jazz harpist. But being a jazz harpist was -- and remains -- an outside thing in the tradition. Her previous offerings on Prestige were pure, hard bop jazz with serious session players soloing all over them. She made recordings for Atlantic and Jazzland before landing at Chess in 1968 with Afro-Harping which began her partnership with arranger Richard Evans. Ashby became content as an iconoclast and was seemingly moving forward toward the deep well of spiritual jazz in the aftermath of John Coltrane's death and the recordings of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. On this set for Cadet, she again teams with Evans who wears the hats of producer, arranger, and conductor of a string section and the record goes in a somewhat different direction. Whereas Afro-Harping hit on a direction for Ashby and cemented her relationship with Evans, Rubaiyat realizes that partnership in total. With a band that included a host of percussion instruments -- Stu Katz played vibes and kalimba, and Fred Katz played a second kalimba, Cash McCall was enlisted as guitarist, Cliff Davis played alto saxophone, and Lenny Druss played flute, oboe, bass flute, and piccolo. There is also a bass player and a drummer but they are not credited. For her part, Ashby played her harp, but she also brought the Japanese koto into the mix as well as her voice. Rubaiyat is no ordinary jazz vocal album. It is exotic, mysterious, laid-back, and full of gentle grooves and soul. The opening cut, "Myself When Young," with its glissando harp and koto, is in an Eastern mode, and immediately lays out Ashby's vocal as this beautiful throaty, clear instrument hovering around the low end of the mix. Midway through it kicks into soul-jazz groove without losing the Eastern mode and goes, however gently, into an insistent funky soul-jazz groove. There is no kitsch value in this music, it's serious, poetic, and utterly ingenious musically. It sounds like nothing else out there. And it only gets better from here. The poem that commences "For Some We Loved" gives way to a percussion and koto workout that comes right from the modal blues. The oboe playing is reminiscent of Yusef's Eastern Sounds but with more driving, hypnotic rhythm. "Wax and Wane" begins with kalimbas playing counterpoint rhythms and Ashby singing in Japanese scale signature, but soon hand percussion, strings, and a flute enter to make the thing groove and glide, ethereal, light, beautiful. "Drink" is a pure soul-jazz ballad with harp fills, a funky bassline, and shimmering flutes above a trap kit. The piano solo -- played by Evans, we can assume -- on "Wine," is a killer move bringing back the hard bop and giving way to a smoking vibes solo by Katz. It's as if each track, from "Joyful Grass and Grape," "Shadow Shapes," and "Heaven and Hell," enter from the world of exotica, from someplace so far outside jazz and western popular musics, and by virtue of Ashby's vocal and harp, are brought back inside, echoing the blues and jazz -- check out the koto solo on this cut, by way of the symbiotic communication between Evans and the musicians. You can literally hear that Ashby trusts Evans to deliver. Ashby transforms "Shadow Shapes" and "Heaven and Hell" from near show tunes in her contralto into swinging, shuffling jazz numbers. The lithe beauty on display in her voice and the in-the-pocket backup of the rhythm section is flawless and infectious. The set ends on its greatest cut, "The Moving Finger." Introduced by what seems like an Eastern Buddhist chant, it quickly slips into harp, koto, guitars, drums, and bass bump. Evans adds strings for drama playing repeating two-note vamps before Katz and his vibes take the thing into outer space. The slippery guitar groove and alto solo that cut right into the flesh of the blues turn it into a solid late-night groover with plenty, plenty soul. The fuzz guitar solo playing counterpoint with the kalimba rhythms is mindblowing, sending the record off to some different place in the listener's head. And this is a head record. Time and space are suspended and new dimensions open up for anyone willing to take this killer little set on and let it spill its magic into the mind canal through the ears. Depending on how much of a jazz purist you are will give you a side to debate the place of this set in Ashby's catalogue. For those who remain open, this may be her greatest moment on record. by Thom Jurek

-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :

1. Myself When Young - 5:16

2. For Some We Loved - 4:02

3. Wax and Wine - 4:25

4. Drink - 2:30

5. Wine - 3:56

6. Dust - 2:51

7. Joyful Grass and Grape - 3:38

8. Shadow Shapes - 3:32

9. Heaven and Hell - 3:10

10. The Moving Finger - 5:39

Credits :
Dorothy Ashby - Harp, Koto, Vocals
Lenny Druss - Flute, Oboe, Piccolo Flute (tracks 1-5 & 10)
Cliff Davis - Alto Saxophone (track 10)
Stu Katz - Vibraphone (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6 & 8-10)
Cash McCall - Guitar (track 10)
Fred Katz - Kalimba (tracks 2, 3 & 10)
Ed Green - Violin (track 2)
Richard Evans - Arranged and Conducted
Inspired by the words of Omar Khayyam

DOROTHY ASHBY – Afro-Harping (1968-2003) RM | SERIE : LP Reproduction | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The best and most complete album done by jazz harpist (a rare style) Dorothy Ashby. She didn't approach her instrument as if it were a gimmick, and she wasn't content to be a background/mood specialist. She turned the harp into a lead instrument, and offered solos that were as tough and memorable as those done by any reed, brass, or percussion player. Ron Wynn

Tracklist :
1 Soul Vibrations 3:22
Richard Evans
2 Games 3:57
Dorothy Ashby
3 Action Line 3:43
Dorothy Ashby
4 Lonely Girl 3:15
Redd Evans / Neal Hefti / Jay Livingston
5 Life Has Its Trials 4:31
Dorothy Ashby
6 Afro-Harping 3:01
Dorothy Ashby
7 Little Sunflower 3:47
Freddie Hubbard
8 Theme from Valley of the Dolls 3:35
André Previn
9 Come Live With Me 2:39
André Previn
10    The Look of Love 4:06
Burt Bacharach / Hal David
 Credits :
Arranged By [Original] – Richard Evans 
Harp – Dorothy Ashby