Dorothy Ashby

Dorothy Ashby (Dorothy Jeanne Thompson, August 6, 1932 – April 13, 1986) was an American jazz harpist and composer. Hailed as one of the most "unjustly under-loved jazz greats of the 1950's/60's" and the "most accomplished modern jazz harpist," Ashby established the harp as an improvising jazz instrument, beyond earlier use as a novelty or background orchestral instrument, proving the harp could play bebop as adeptly as the instruments commonly associated with jazz, such as the saxophone or piano.