Jazz Harp? Say What?
Sometimes you start following an idea and you don’t know where it will end up…
Following up on my diary a few weeks back on Alice Coltrane, I decided to pick up another of her CDs on EBay, a work from 1970, Journey in Satchidananda. More on that in a minute. But one of the surprises on the CD was that Ms. C. not only played piano, she also played harp. Now you might be saying to yourself “Jazz harp?” but in fact such a thing had previously been pioneered several years earlier by Dorothy Ashby (which I had heard on a CD from the Knox County Public Library, to give credit where it’s due: They have a better jazz selection than you might expect from a smaller-sized city in eastern Tennessee…). This got me wondering – is this just lightning hitting the same spot twice, or is there a whole tradition of jazz harp that I know nothing about? So off to Google I went…
In fact, Googling “jazz harp” turned up 8,520,000 (20,300 if you put quotes around it) entries! So apparently there’s a whole jazz harp counterculture I knew nothing about. Who would have thought?
My first stop in this terra incognita was jazzharp.com. This turned out to be the website of Park Stickney, a jazz harpist. The website would be worth a visit just to see the photos of him on a motorcycle with his harp in the sidecar. If you’re going to be in Switzerland this August (What? No? But everyone who’s anyone goes to Switzerland in August!) you can take a jazz harp seminar with him and a tai chi seminar (a two-for-one deal I guess). Since coincidentally I’m in the second week of a tai chi class myself, I can’t throw snarky rocks over that. I know you’re disappointed. 😉
Mr. Stickney is a graduate of the Julliard School and a world-traveling performer and teacher of the jazz harp with several CDs available (details on the website). He has an inordinate fondness for black cherry yogurt.
I’m sure that last factoid adds immeasurably to your enjoyment of this diary.
Before I lapse totally into dadaism, causing left brain implosion, I better get back on topic. According to wikipedia, jazz harpists in addition to Dorothy Ashby, Alice Coltrane, and Park Stickney include Edmar Castañeda, Zeena Parkins, and Deborah Henson-Conant. Since I’m insatiably curious, I may track them down someday for a listen too. So here are a collection of mini-biographies to whet your curiosity.
Dorothy Ashby was born in 1932 in Detroit. Her father was a jazz guitarist. She attended Cass Technical High School where fellow students included such future musical talents and jazz greats as Donald Byrd, Gerald Wilson, and Kenny Burrell. While in high school she played a number of instruments including the saxophone and bass before coming upon the harp. She attended Wayne State University and began playing jazz piano in the Detroit area in the 1950s. She attempted to interest others in harp as a jazz instrument, but met resistance – so she formed her own trio, gradually opening people’s minds to the possibilities of the instrument in jazz. Her albums include The Jazz Harpist, In a Minor Groove, Hip Harp, Fantastic Jazz Harp of Dorothy Ashby with (Junior Mance), Django/Misty, Concerto De Aranjuez, Afro Harping, Dorothy’s Harp, The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, and Music for Beautiful People. Between 1956-1970, she recorded 10 albums for such labels as Savoy, Cadet, Prestige, New Jazz, Argo, Jazzland and Atlantic.
You can hear clips from “In a Minor Groove” at Amazon; as reviewer Peter Johansen there put it, “If I had to make a list of favorite obscure CDs this would surely be on it. I’d recommend this to just about anyone with an interest in jazz, especially since this is really two great albums compiled on one CD. I’ve never heard the harp played anything like this, like some sort of otherworldly guitar.”
Dorothy Ashby is noteworthy for her talent and her contributions to contemporary jazz. There have been very few jazz harpists in history, and Dorothy Ashby was one of the greatest. Prior to Ashby, the harp had been part of the music scene only in terms of big bands and as a “swing” instrument. For example, Oscar Reardon played the harp for Jack Teagarden’s octet in 1934, and Duke Ellington added Betty Glamann to his orchestra, but again the emphasis was upon swing music for dancing to the big bands. Prior to Ashby no one in the 1940s and 1950s had adapted the harp to jazz so successfully nor had integrated into such a broad array of musical styles, including soul-jazz harp. Ashby is also important as an African-American woman and musician who was a groundbreaking influence in the history of the harp in contemporary music. She was one of the first harpists to contribute to the classic hard bop and jazz-funk recordings of the mid-20th century, and she was also an important figure in the history of African-American women musicians. Her influence certainly opened doors for such contemporary harp jazz musicians as Deborah Henson-Conant.
— Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Ashby”
Alice Coltrane was previously profiled here; as I mentioned above, in addition to her piano work she also performed jazz harp on the 1970 album, Journey in Satchidananda. Satchidananda means knowledge, existence, or bliss, and the album is deeply influenced by Coltrane’s exploration of eastern thought, especially after the death of her husband John. The following review by Michael Stack at Amazon (where sound clips are also available) sums this album up really well. I can’t think of a thing to add, so I’ll just quote him:
Perhaps the best album Alice Coltrane recorded, “Journey in Satchidananda” is one of those records where everything comes together– Alice Coltrane took her late husband’s final bands and their spiritual sounds and eschewed the frantic extended improvisations in favor of a more tame and subtle spiritual groove. The results here are stunning.
The majority of the album is made of from a studio session recorded in November of 1970– Coltrane, heard on harp and piano, is joined by Pharoah Sanders (heard exclusively on soprano sax), Tulsi (playing tamboura, an Indian droning instrument), Cecil McBee (bass), Rashied Ali (drums) and Majid Shabazz (percussion). The pieces are all set up in a deep spiritual groove by the rhythm section (particularly McBee, who really finds a pocket throughout), with an air added to the pieces by the presence of the tamboura. Coltrane’s framing, on either piano or harp, is lovely, reminiscent of her works with John Coltrane, and her harp playing has evolved greatly even since “A Monastic Trio” (1968) to become very unique and exciting. Sanders, for his part, solos lyrically and rather restrained, and is far more melodic than he often was at that time. It’s difficult to discuss highlights– the whole thing is utterly superb.
The closing track is a less performance from July of the same year, with Coltrane on harp joined by Sanders (again on soprano) and Ali again, but also joined by Vishnu Wood (on oud) and Charlie Haden (on bass). The sound is remarkably different, with Wood providing the driving rhythmic figures and Sanders soloing even more delicately then he does on the studio track, and it makes for a fitting coda for the record.
I can’t really recommend this album enough, it is one of the great spiritual jazz records. It belongs in the collection of anyone interested in this sort of music.
Here’s a good summary of Edmar Castañeda, (link to his website) from a review of a 2005 concert in New York:
Edmar Castañeda, a 27-year old, Colombian native, has taken harp playing to new and elevated heights. He has combined the styles of Jazz and South American music and has created a hybrid style that is captivating and often jaw-dropping. He has put together a unique trio with Marshall Gilkes on the trombone and Dave Silliman on the drums and percussion.
The absence of a bassist is more than compensated by the fact that the harp contains a wide range of strings that go as low as a bass and as high as a piccolo. With that range, it seems that Edmar Castañeda is playing two instruments at the same time, playing bass lines with his left hand, while the right hand takes care of the melody lines. But when he solos, both hands come into play.
Zeena Parkins, also from Detroit, performs in both the rock and jazz idioms. Wikipedia says: “…she has recorded or performed with Björk, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Ikue Mori, Butch Morris, Jim O’Rourke, Fred Frith, Lee Ranaldo, Nels Cline, Pauline Oliveros, and others. She has also worked with choreographers including Neil Greenberg, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, Jennifer Lacey, and video artist Janene Higgins.” (Yeah, I’ve only heard of one or two of those people either. Guess I’ve lost my license as a cool cherry-yogurt-eating, tai-chi-doing traveller to Switzerland…).
From her website:
Zeena makes use of anything within reach as a possible tool with which she can enhance the sonic capabilities of her harps. She accurately describes her harp as a “sound machine of limitless capacity” and has used, household objects and hardware store finds, including: alligator clips, nails, rubber erasers, rubber tubing, felt, bows, metal candy lids, oversized metal bolts, hair clips, glass jars, discarded strings, as well as more conventional: leslie cabinets, guitar pedals, and numerous other digital processing hardware and assorted and varied software.
To close things out, a look at Deborah Henson-Conant a harpist (according to wikipedia) “known for her flamboyant stage presence and refusal to fit the stereotype of a harpist as an angelic blond woman in a long dress.” She describes herself on her website as “cross-genre: jazz-pop-comedy-folk-blues-flamenco-celtic.” She put out 13 albums between 1985 and 2004 (not all jazz), and is certainly a significant figure in the world of harp music, so it seems. The quotes on her website certainly piqued my curiosity:
“…a combination of Leonard Bernstein, Steven Tyler, and Xena the Warrior Princess…”
— Ed Siegel, The Boston Globe“She may look like an angel, but she plays devilishly well!”
— Joan Rivers” Imagine the talented love child of Andre Previn & Lucille Ball….”
— Scott Simon, National Public Radio“You play the !@%# out of that thing!”
— Doc Severinsen
So – Have you heard any harp jazz? What did you think of it? Or should I just go back under my rock until next week?
