Excerpt from the July-August 2020 SOUNDING BOARD, from HarpColumn website (full article can be read on the HarpColumn.com/blog/lessons-with-a-legend/ website, subscription required)
I was a teenager when I met Dorothy. I had been playing piano since I was a toddler in Chicago and, after moving to Los Angeles, I had started classical harp lessons at age 9. I was playing and singing rock and jazz on both piano and harp. I heard that the great Dorothy Ashby had moved to Los Angeles. How incredibly exciting. If only she would be willing to take me on as a student! I obtained her phone number. She was staying with her husband, John, at Hotel Drake in Santa Monica. I gathered the courage to call her. I told her who I was and related my extreme admiration of her. I timidly asked whether there was any chance she would be willing to teach me.
