Dorothy Jeanne Thompson (August 6, 1930 – April 13, 1986), better known as Dorothy Ashby, was an American jazz harpist and composer. Ashby established the harp as an improvising jazz instrument, beyond earlier use as a novelty or background orchestral instrument, showing the harp could play bebop as adeptly as a saxophone. Her albums were of the jazz genre, but often moved into R&B, world music and other styles, especially on her 1970 album The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby, where she demonstrates her talents on another instrument, the Japanese koto, successfully integrating it into jazz.