Hey folks,
I don't really post in this section very much (if ever) but I frequent it quite a bit to see what you all are listening to. Well Lon posted sometime last year about an amazing "Jazz Harpist" (as she's known) named Dorothy Ashby and I was like "A Jazz Harpist??" I mean, I know of Alice Coltrane but that was it (and I don't really know A. Coltrane's catalog quite yet). But
something about this Dorothy Ashby really intrigued me so...googled her and found out that she'd played with TONS of great artist like Stevie Wonder, Diane Warwick etc etc.....I ordered a CD of hers from amazon. Along with a bunch of others...as I tend to buy from there in bulk maybe twice a year. And then her disk called "Afro Harping" sat in my CD shelf after it arrived, until I was ready to take it in. That was maybe a year ago?
Well, the time came a couple of days ago to give it a listen and.........OH. MY. This disk is like "WHOA"....she was WAY ahead of her time...i mean, I can't even think of anyone else out now who is doing anything she was doing on this particular disk I have. As soon as it starts its like BAM! Big drums, rim shots that snap...percussion slapping away on either the right of left channel...DEEP electric bass that GROOVES.....hit hat ticking away steadily and......that wonderful harp front and center! It's Jazzy, but also has elements of world music, funk. There's some strings on some tracks (I love strings). It's just some awesome stuff that contains slower and uptempo songs.
The music is
spectacular. The sound (for you audiophiles haha) is TOP NOTCH. On my little Trapezium desktop speakers I can literally follow every aspect of the sound I want (there is really great depth and texture to the sound).....or just sit back and take it all in. If I was demoing these speakers for a possible sale...and it was the potential buyers cup of tea music wise? I'd play this disk. It sounds great at low levels...though raising the volume is proving to be addictive because I just wanna swim in the music. All this ranting and raving is because I'm having an emotional connection with this disk and I'm SO happy when that can happen. Because, as most of you know by now, that's not always the case....no matter what kind of gear your using. But when the SOUND and the actual MUSIC itself is of this caliber.....I'm rarely happier. I almost fell off my seat, bopping along to the music hahaha..
Lon, thanks SO SO MUCH for mentioning this amazing artist! And thank you all for continuing to contribute to what I feel is the most valuable thread in these here Decware forums. Keep the suggestions coming! And maybe I'll start posting a bit more about what I'm listening to if I can.......it's always something that makes me happy and can maybe make someone else happy if they don't know the artist.
Oh and lastly......if ANY of what I wrote about "Afro Harping" by Dorothy Ashby sounds appealing to you.
Just buy it. Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Afro-Harping-Dorothy-Ashby/dp/B00008LKG0Really......I really can't see how you'd be sorry! If it sounds this good on my Traps, then you guys with larger speakers (Decware or otherwise) will really have some sound to "sink into"