Ashby had to overcome many obstacles during the pursuit of her career. As a black woman musician in a male dominated industry, she was at a disadvantage. In a 1983 interview with W. Royal Stokes for his book Living the Jazz Life, she remarked of her career, "It's been maybe a triple burden in that not a lot of women are becoming known as jazz players. There is also the connection with black women. The audiences I was trying to reach were not interested in the harp, period—classical or otherwise—and they were certainly not interested in seeing a black woman playing the harp." Ashby successfully navigated these disadvantages, and subsequently aided in the expansion of who was listening to harp music and what the harp was deemed capable of producing as an instrument.
Ashby's albums were of the jazz genre, but often moved into R&B, world music, and other styles, especially her 1970 album The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, where she demonstrates her talents on another instrument, the Japanese koto, successfully integrating it into jazz, with Stu Katz on vibes and kalimba, Lenny Druss on flutes, and Cash McCall on guitar.
Dorothy Thompson grew up around music in Detroit, where her father, guitarist Wiley Thompson, often brought home fellow jazz musicians. Even as a young girl, she would provide support and background to their music by playing the piano. 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 string bass) before coming upon the harp.
She attended Wayne State University in Detroit, where she studied piano and music education. After she graduated, she began playing the piano in the jazz scene in Detroit, though by 1952 she had made the harp her main instrument. At first her fellow jazz musicians were resistant to the idea of adding the harp, which they perceived as an instrument of classical music and somewhat ethereal in sound in jazz performances. So Ashby overcame their initial resistance and built support for the harp as a jazz instrument by organizing free shows and playing at dances and weddings with her trio. She recorded with Jimmy Cobb, Ed Thigpen, Richard Davis, Frank Wess and others in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During the 1960s, she also had her own radio show in Detroit.
Ashby's trio, including her husband, John Ashby, on drums, regularly toured the country, recording albums for several record labels. She played with Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman, among others. In 1962, Ashby won Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' awards for best jazz performers. Extending her range of interests and talents, she also worked with her husband in a theater company, the Ashby Players, which her husband founded in Detroit, and for which Dorothy often wrote the scores. In the 1960s Dorothy Ashby, together with her husband, formed a theatrical group to produce plays that would be relevant to the African-American community of Detroit. This production group went by several names depending on the theater production.
They created a series of theatrical musical plays that Dorothy and John Ashby produced together as this theatrical company, the Ashby Players of Detroit. In the case of most of the plays, John Ashby wrote the scripts and Dorothy Ashby wrote the scores. Dorothy Ashby also played harp and piano on the soundtracks to all of her plays. She starred in the production of the play "3–6–9" herself. Most of the music that she wrote for these plays is available only on a handful of the reel to reel tapes that Dorothy Ashby recorded herself. Only a couple of the many songs she created for her plays later appeared on LPs that she released. Later in her career, she would make recordings and perform at concerts primarily to raise money for the Ashby Players theatrical productions.
The theatrical production group "The Ashby Players" not only produced black theater in Detroit and Canada but provided early theatrical and acting opportunities for black actors. Ernie Hudson (of Ghostbusters 1 actor, credited as Earnest L. Hudson) was a featured actor in the Artists Productions version of the play 3–6–9. In the late 1960s, the Ashbys gave up touring and settled in California, where Dorothy broke into the studio recording system as a harpist through the help of the soul singer Bill Withers, who recommended her to Stevie Wonder. As a result, she was called upon for a number of studio sessions playing for more pop-oriented acts.
Ashby died from cancer on April 13, 1986, in Santa Monica, California. Her recordings have proven influential in various genres. The High Llamas recorded a song entitled "Dorothy Ashby" on their 2007 album Can Cladders. Hip-hop artists have sampled her work often, including Jurassic 5, on their album Feedback, as well as Andre Nickatina on his song "Jungle". Bonobo included the track "Essence of Sapphire" on his mix album Late Night Tales.
Discography
As leader
1957: The Jazz Harpist (Regent)
1958: Hip Harp (Prestige) – with Frank Wess
1958: In a Minor Groove (New Jazz) – with Frank Wess
1961: Soft Winds (Jazzland)
1962: Dorothy Ashby (Argo)
1965: The Fantastic Jazz Harp of Dorothy Ashby (Atlantic)
1968: Afro-Harping (Cadet)
1969: Dorothy's Harp (Cadet)
1970: The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby (Cadet)
1984: Django/Misty (Philips)
1984: Concierto de Aranjuez (Philips)
As sidewoman
With Bill Withers
+'Justments (Columbia, 1974)
With Bobbi Humphrey
Fancy Dancer (Blue Note, 1975)
With Minnie Riperton
Adventures in Paradise (Epic, 1975)
With Wade Marcus
Metamorphosis (ABC/Impulse!, 1976)
With Stanley Turrentine
Everybody Come on Out (Fantasy, 1976)
With Stevie Wonder
Songs in the Key of Life (Motown, 1976)
With Sonny Criss
Warm & Sonny (Impulse!, 1977)
With Gene Harris
Tone Tantrum (Blue Note, 1977)
With Freddie Hubbard
Bundle of Joy (Columbia, 1977)
With Billy Preston
Late at Night (Motown, 1979)
With Bobby Womack
The Poet (Beverly Glenn, 1981)
The Poet II (Beverly Glenn, 1984)
With Osamu Kitajima
The Source (1984)
The Windmills of Your Mind
Dorothy Ashby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
The song "The Windmills of Your Mind" by Dorothy Ashby is a poetic description of the workings of the human mind. The lyrics are written in an imaginative and metaphorical language that draws an analogy between the cycles of thought that our mind creates and various objects in the world around us. The repeated use of circular imagery such as the spiral, wheel, carousel, clock, and tunnel reinforces the idea of recurring and infinite thoughts that people experience. The line "Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel" emphasizes the idea that thoughts are always happening, and they don't have a definite starting or ending point.
The second stanza continues the theme of circular thoughts and shifts to another set of images. The lines "Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone/Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream" illustrate the idea of the mind exploring the unknown and mysterious. The lyrics also touch on the idea of memory, with lines like "Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?" The last stanza shifts to a more introspective and emotional tone, with the singer reflecting on past memories and relationships. The line "When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware/That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair" is a poignant image of sadness and nostalgia.
Line by Line Meaning
Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Things often found to be interconnected and cyclical in a complex way.
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
Without a definite start or end, continually in motion.
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
An idea or thought that's uncontrollably growing and expanding.
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
A sense of being caught up in a never-ending cycle or routine.
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
Time moving swiftly and without pause.
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
The universe is vast, complex, and in constant motion, with all elements interconnected and cyclical.
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
Life's complexities and cycles that we experience in our own minds.
Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Life's paths often seem to lead to another or deeper unknown path.
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Journeys to the unknown or unfamiliar or even into one's subconscious mind.
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Memories or thoughts that are elusive and keep returning to the mind.
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Small actions or decisions that have far-reaching consequences.
Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Noise or distractions that may seem insignificant but affect our thoughts and decisions.
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
Questions arising from the passing of time and our own experiences.
Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Memories and marks left behind by people that have come into our lives.
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Doubts about reality and perceptions.
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Memories that are significant and traceable to specific events or people.
Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
Fading memories that are only partially retained and whose significance may be lost over time.
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
Realizations about endings after a long period of denial or avoidance.
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Symbolism and significance to things that were previously unnoticed.
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
Life's complexities and cycles repeating themselves, slowly unravelling and becoming clearer over time.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@matt.pma.kresnaputra5458
Im happy ppl are able to discover great musicians like Ashby through hip hop. Love
@lacedwithspace
I'm hearing Dorothy for the 1st time right now...sounds to me like a mixture of multiple kinds of soulful expression of the stars.
@itsnotme9323
Same! But 10 years later it’s a complicated world
@craigdavis5407
Miss Dorothy Ashby was ahead of her times man.
@jazzbuff630
I stumbled onto Dorothy Ashby's music quite by accident about a year ago. I am hungry for any recording she ever made. Didja know she played harp on a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire recordings in the '70's? But her jazz playing is where you can hear what an accomplished and nuanced player she was.
@craigdavis5407
R.I.P. Miss Dorothy Ashby!!!🎼🎼🎼🎤🎤🎤🎧🎧🎧❤❤❤🌹🌹🌹💎💎💎🙏🙏🙏
@shadyron6899
Dorothy Ashby soothes my soul....everytime x
@dash132
How have I not heard of Dorothy Ashby until now? This is great
@itsvertx
i ask myself the same thing
@sock2828
This is like pre hiphop chillhop.