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Bob Dorough
After earning a Bachelor Of Music degree at the University of North Texas (1949), he made a bee-line for New York City where he took classes at Columbia University and immersed himself in the volatile jazz scene then taking place there -the BeBop revolution. In 1952 he turned his back on the academic scene to devote himself to jazz performance, specializing in piano/vocals. After years of accompanying, conducting, arranging, and playing, he made his first recording as a leader (1956) for the Bethlehem label....DEVIL MAY CARE, having written the title tune three years earlier. He is known as "the only singer to record with Miles Davis". While this may not be 100% true, he did record two vocals with Davis, in 1962, "Nothing Like You" and "Blue Xmas," both of which he composed.
Davis also recorded an instrumental version of Bob's classic song, "Devil May Care," that same year.
In 1971 he received a commission to "set the multiplication tables to music." This led to a small industry, being the beginning of ABC-TV's SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, Saturday morning cartoons that entertained and instructed unsuspecting children during the years 1973-1985. The impact of this media exposure was unpredictably immense. The show came back for another five years in the 90's and is now enjoying its 40th anniversary with a DVD edition of the entire, five-subject series, for which Dorough worked as the Musical Director.
In 1995 he signed a contract with the prestigious jazz label - Blue Note Records - and has done three CDs for them ("Right On My Way Home," "Too Much Coffee Man" and "Who's On First").
Now residing in Pennsylvania, he has received honors from that state (the Governor's Artist of the Year Award) and from his native state (the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame.)
In 2002 his trio was chosen to represent the State Department and Kennedy Center, as an Ambassador of Jazz and Blues. The one-month tour saw them play some 22 workshops and concerts in thirteen cities in six different countries.
Currently recording on Arbors, Candid and his own label, Bob Dorough continues to perform, often for children too, in Jazz Clubs and Schools, wherever he can.
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Roseanna Vitro: Sing a Song of Bird
by Pierre Giroux
Roseanne Vitro is one of those jazz singers who falls into the category of I recognize the voice, but I just can't seem to place her." She has more than a respectable discography which stretches back to 1982, when she released her debut album Listen Here for the Texas Rose label. Her fall 2021 album, Sing A Song Of Bird, is a combination of abundance of attitude and perseverance, since it is composed of two separate sessions (one recorded in ...
read moreSaluting the 2019 Jazz Masters Maria Schneider and Bob Dorough
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new releases from vocalist Lauren White, pianist Sarah McKenzie and saxophonist Cory Weeds with birthday shout outs to Carmen McRae, Herbie Hancock, Marie Goudy, Marilyn Maye and Barbara Lea, among others, with a nod to the upcoming Jazz Masters Bob Dorough and Maria Schneider. Also who's in town this week and playing the clubs.Playlist David Murray, Geri Allen and Terri Lyne Carrington Power Trio Geri-Rigged" from Perfection (Motema) 00:00 Marilyn Maye You're Gonna Hear From ...
read moreBob Dorough: NEA Jazz Master & More
by Marc Cohn
We salute the late Bob Dorough, play a game, celebrate Newk with Miles from 1954, and have Tatum and Bud face off on Yesterdays." There's recent music and a few gems from the vault, too. Enjoy the show. Playlist Carl Allen, Rodney Whitaker What's Going On" from Work To Do (Mack Avenue) 00:00 Jeff Coffin The Evil Boweevil" from Live! (Ear Up) 05:33 Thomas Marriott The Tale Of Debauchery" from Urban Folklore (Origin) 15:18 Melissa Aldana Visions" from ...
read moreFor Today, Tomorrow and Always - A 2018 Retrospective
by Mary Foster Conklin
The final broadcast of the year remembered some of the great artists that left us in 2018, with birthday shout outs to Una Mae Carlisle, Cab Calloway, Rebecca Parris, Nancy LaMott and Annie Lennox, among others, plus a nod to more Grammy nominees. Happy New Year! Playlist Janice Friedman Get Set" from Live at Kitano (Self released) 00:00 Tom Waits New Year's Eve" from Bad As Me (Anti) 03:45 Una Mae Carlisle Oh I'm Evil" from Divas, Vol. ...
read moreBob Dorough Trio featuring Michael Hornstein: But For Now
by Dan Bilawsky
When But For Now first landed in 2015, it was a reminder of the good-natured brilliance behind the artistry of one of America's greatest living treasures. But with Bob Dorough's passing in April of 2018, the album's second coming plays more like a parting gift. Recorded in 2014, when Dorough was already a spry nonagenarian, this drummer-less trio date emphasizes his craggy cool. Right from the start, on an attractive Baltimore Oriole," he matches those beloved pitted ...
read moreBob Dorough: 1923-2018
by C. Michael Bailey
"The South is what we started out with in this bizarre, slightly troubling, basically wonderful country--fun, danger, friendliness, energy, enthusiasm, and brave, crazy, tough people." --Bill Maxwell The American South has always existed in a most peculiar and conflicted dimension culturally. I believe that this state of being is what has enabled the South to act as that fecund and creative environment for developing every major popular music genre: jazz, blues, county, R&B, soul, and rock; each being ...
read moreJazz Bursts Forth in Delaware Water Gap, PA
by Debbie Burke
The following is an excerpt is from Chapter 1 of The Poconos in B Flat by Debbie Burke (Xlibris, 2011). All Rights Reserved. The iconic image of your approach from Interstate 80 coming from New York City and going west is of the negative space between two massive mountains that form a backdrop behind the Delaware River. Delaware Water Gap--the first stop on the Pennsylvania side of the Interstate coming from New Jersey and NYC--has ...
read moreFamed Vocalist Roseanna Vitro Releases 'Sing A Song Of Bird Feat. Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough, Marion Cowings
Source:
Mouthpiece Music
Vocalist Roseanna Vitro is a favorite among jazz aficionados and musicians alike. That’s why Cedar Walton has said, “Roseanna Vitro, one of my favorite vocalists, sings with a great feeling for jazz. Her readings on major compositions are monumental.” Her outsized talents and passion for the music are matched only by the generosity of her spirit, which shines beautifully on her newest recording Sing a Song of Bird, a celebration of the great and inimitable Charlie Parker. Vitro conceived this ...
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Bob Dorough (1923-2018)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bob Dorough, who began his jazz career in the early 1950s as a pianist and arranger and expanded to singing and songwriting laced with sardonic wit and puns, died on April 23. He was 94. Dorough in the late 1950s was part of an ever-expanding group of clever writers who wound up in comedy, television and advertising. Steeped in jazz, either as players or aficionados, and deft with words and dry observational humor, this generation of pithy writers included Dave ...
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Bob Dorough Is Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Word has arrived that Bob Dorough died today at his home in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania. He was 94. Dorough’s greatest fame in popular culture stemmed from his central role in the enormously successful television series Schoolhouse Rock. The program informed and entertained children, and many adults, from 1973 to 1985. Within the jazz community, Dorough was a beloved singer of literate and witty songs that he wrote and performed, usually accompanying himself as a skilled and harmonically adept pianist. In ...
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Bob Dorough to Perform Sunday, January 15 at the Bistro at Grand Center
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Singer, pianist and songwriter Bob Dorough (pictured), known for being one of the few vocalists ever to record with Miles Davis as well as for his compositions for the ABC-TV children's program Schoolhouse Rock, is returning to St. Louis to perform at 7:00 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Sunday, January 15 at the Bistro at Grand Center, 3536 Washington Boulevard. The show is billed as a tribute to Fran Landesman, the late poet, songwriter and former St. Louisan who, with her ...
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Devil May Care: The Bob Dorough Movie
Source:
The Business Musician by Craig M. Cortello
We've written about Bob Dorough several times here before. Bob is a unique and wonderful jazz singer/songwriter, but he's best known as the musical director of Schoolhouse Rock, the cartoon vignettes set to music that taught children Grammar, Math, Science, Multiplication, History. Economics, and Environmental lessons. Bob composed such wonderful songs as Conjunction Junction" and Three is a Magic Number," and through DVDs his music is being passed along to future generations. He continues to perform well into his 80's. ...
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'Oliver!' Like You've Never Heard It Before
Source:
All About Jazz
Inner City/Classic Jazz is proud to announce the re-issue of Bob Dorough's 1954 album An Excursion Through 'Oliver!'
While the arrangements and conceptions are credited chiefly to Dorough, a great deal of integrated creativity was brought to bear by quartet members Al Schackman (guitar), Ben Tucker (bass), and Bobby Thomas (drums).
Working at the time in (of all places) the Dickens Room in New York, they played through the music of 'Oliver!' each evening, weighing and shifting approaches, until arriving ...
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Singer/Pianist Bob Dorough Plays Jazz at Pearl's May 4-6
Source:
Rocket Words
Swinging, whimsey and the beloved songs of Schoolhouse Rock" on tap in North Beach
[Bob Dorough] is one of the great joys of modern music. A true force of nature, standard bearer of the concept of 'heart and soul' - hipster saint . . . and all around righteous teacher. He's like some kind of giant smile that rose with the sun seventy-some years ago and stayed up there in the sky, shining down for all to see"--Mike Zwerin, International ...
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The Great Bob Dorough at Sweet Rhythm Tonight! Tuesday, March 20th
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
"One of the last hipsters standing"--Gary Giddins, Village Voice
One of many Bebop emigres who flocked to NYC from all over the country, Bob hit the Apple in the summer of 1949 after receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from North Texas University. While taking more classes at Columbia, he practiced the new repertoire with his peers, and sometimes with the Masters. By 1952 he was through with the academic world and became a pro," devoting his talent to piano/ ...
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Bob Dorough & Skip Heller Pay Tribute to Phila Pianist Eric Spiegel in Podcast
Source:
All About Jazz
TO ERIC SPIEGEL WITH LOVE FROM SKIP HELLER & BOB DOROUGH should be a disc, but some things are done for love, not money. The venerated singing pianist (83 years young) and the critically-lauded maverick jazz guitarist play a handful of tunes performed often by Spiegel and Heller, when the latter was making his bones under the former's watchful eye.
Spiegel, who was one of Philadelphia's great jazz talents, died last summer after years of failing health. Both as jazz ...
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