Starverb
◇ image via Wikipedia
Artist

Dorothy Ashby

Dorothy Ashby is an act on the Starverb influence map. Their sound grew out of Donald Byrd, Gerald Wilson, Kenny Burrell and Alice Coltrane. Those roots explain a lot about how Dorothy Ashby arrange songs and choose their tones. They run in the same orbit as Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes, Mulatu Astatke, Weldon Irvine, Idris Muhammad and Lonnie Liston Smith, sharing audiences, venues and reference points rather than a straight line of influence. Their influence carried into Drake, Ugly Duckling, JAY-Z, Mac Miller and J Dilla, where the same ideas turn up rearranged for a later generation. Altogether the chart holds 29 connections around Dorothy Ashby, reaching back through Donald Byrd and forward to Drake. Follow any of those threads to keep travelling the influence between bands and genres on Starverb.

Background

Dorothy Jeanne Thompson, better known as Dorothy Ashby, was an American jazz harpist, singer and composer. Hailed as one of the most "unjustly under loved jazz greats of the 1950s" 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.

◇ Text via Wikipedia · cached · source
Listen
Listen on Spotify
Roots — what shaped themLegacy — who they shapedKindred — same orbit
Dorothy AshbyDonald ByrdGerald WilsonKenny BurrellAlice ColtraneDrakeUgly DucklingJAY-ZMac MillerJ DillaMadlibPete RockRahzelLonnie Liston Smith …Mulatu AstatkeWeldon IrvineIdris MuhammadLonnie Liston SmithMenahan Street BandDavid AxelrodRoy Ayers Ubiquity

Hover or focus a star to read the connection. Click any star to make it the new centre.

Dorothy Ashby connections

Dorothy Ashby grew out of Donald Byrd, Gerald Wilson, Kenny Burrell and Alice Coltrane, shares an orbit with Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes, Mulatu Astatke, Weldon Irvine and Idris Muhammad, went on to shape Drake, Ugly Duckling, JAY-Z and Mac Miller. 29 connections mapped across roots, kindred and legacy.

Ideas. Vote for what you want to see next

Shapes the roadmap
  • Music Personality

    Your taste as a shareable persona card, with a witty roast.

  • Quizzes & badges

    Music quizzes that earn badges and climb a leaderboard.

  • Friend / taste matching

    Match your taste with friends and see your overlap.

  • Gaps

    Bands you've missed that listeners with similar taste already love.