Born in Cherry Hill, Arkansas, but brought up in Plainview, Texas, Bob Dorough (1923-2018) is one of a handful of songwriters who were able to continue the legacy of the Great American Songbook into the latter part of the 20th Century. His songs have been recorded by everyone from Miles Davis and Diana Krall to Elliot Smith and De La Soul. To a generation of Americans, his music was literally part of their education, through his work as the musical director of Schoolhouse Rock.
He played and arranged music for army bands during World War II, before studying piano and composition at North Texas State University. After moving to New York in the late 1940s, he ended up as musical director for boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, who was pursuing a career in music at the time. The tour came to Europe and Dorough elected to stay on in Paris, where he first met and began to work with Blossom Dearie.
On returning to USA, he settled in Los Angeles, releasing his debut album Devil May Care in 1956. The album introduced one of his most successful songs ‘Devil May Care’ as well as his lyric to Charlie Parker’s ‘Yardbird Suite’. Miles Davis liked the album enough, so that when he was asked to contribute a track to a Columbia Records compilation ‘Jingle Bell Jazz’, he asked Dorough to write and perform it with him. The result was ‘Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)’. The recording session also resulted in a second track, ‘Nothing Like You’, with a lyric by Fran Landesman, which Miles included on his ‘Sorcerer’ album in 1967.
Dorough was one of the first to realise the potential for jazz interpretations of Lionel Bart’s musical ‘Oliver’ with his 1963 ‘Excursions Through Songs from the Hit Show “Oliver!”‘. In 1966 he released another album that included his own songs, ‘Just About Everything’, which introduced the title song and his ballad ‘But For Now’. His writing partnership with Fran Landesman would also produce ‘Small Day Tomorrow’ and ‘Winds Of Heaven’, which was recorded by Fifth Dimension in 1969.
The 1970s were dominated by Dorough’s work as musical director for the popular animated TV series Schoolhouse Rock, where he was able to employ old friends like Blossom Dearie and Dave Frishberg. Among Bob’s own songs from the series are ‘Three Is The Magic Number’, ‘Conjunction Junction’ and ‘Figure Eight’.
In 1981, he joined Barbara Lea in celebrating one of his musical heroes, Hoagy Carmichael on two volumes of ‘Hoagy’s Children’. From the 1980s and well into his 90s, Dorough would tour Europe, often performing at London’s Pizza on the Park and PizzaExpress Jazz Club.
Key Songs:
‘Devil May Care’ (1956)
‘Comin’ Home Baby’ (1961)
‘Nothing Like You’ (1961)
‘But For Now’ (1961)
‘Love Came On Stealthy Fingers’ (1965)
‘Three Is The Magic Number’ (1970)
‘There’s Never Been A Day’ (1983)