Bleep

UMR brings one of the most sought-after albums of progressive jazz back to vinyl for the first time in a while with this reissue of Dorothy Ashby’s 1968 LP Afro Harping. A virtuosic player on the harp as is, Ashby’s blend of sumptuous jazz and airtight funk may have been slightly ahead of its time, perplexing both the more traditional jazz audiences of the era while also landing with little fanfare wit the soul and funk crowd despite the trust from the revered Cadet Records stable. However, Ashby’s legend grew slowly over time, and the retrofuturist sound of Afro Harping went on to become a bedrock of so much golden era hip hop via sampling from the likes of Pete Rock, J Dilla, and Madlib among others. Now rightfully seen as a crucial missing link in the chain of Black art, UMR adds a some never-before-heard bonus material to round out the affair.