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Title: Sunday at Iridium Condition: New Format: CD EAN: 0780941130522 Genre: Jazz Description: EDITORIAL REVIEWS Bob Dorough rose to fame as composer of many tunes on School House Rock included here with so many others he composed and sings. He recorded more than 25 albums in his career and recorded/performed with some of the best known musicians of the time.
Bob Dorough, a jazz musician who taught generations of children their multiplication tables and the history of the American Revolution via the hit cartoon series ''Schoolhouse Rock!,'' died Monday of natural causes in Bethel, Pa., his son said. He was 94.
The Arkansas-born, Texas-bred Dorough kicked off his career by playing in his high school band, and later in a special services army band unit, as an arranger, clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist.
In 1949, he headed to New York City to attend Columbia University after a brief stint at University of North Texas, but instead embraced a full-time music career, putting out his own record in 1956 and recording two collaborations with the legendary Miles Davis.
It wasn't until 1971 that Dorough's legacy would be cemented. According to his biography, it was that year that the musician received a commission to set the multiplication tables to music by a New York advertising executive who noticed that his son was struggling with his math homework.
The assignment's result ''Three Is a Magic Number'' paved the way to ''Schoolhouse Rock!,'' which originally aired on ABC from 1973 to 1985.
''When they explained that they didn't want it to be too simple or too 'writing down' for kids, I got a great thrill out of that,'' Dorough said in an interview from the '90s that was recently unearthed by Yahoo! ''After I'd been on television for a year, I got to thinking, 'Gee, is anybody watching this?' So I went to some elementary schools in Manhattan and volunteered to do a ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' assembly for the kids... I would always start with ''Three is a Magic Number...'' and you could see the kids going, ''Oh, it's him!'''
The series, with Dorough as musical director, was a hit. Some of his most famous numbers include ''My Zero, Hero,'' ''Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here,'' ''Busy Prepositions,'' ''The Shot Heard Round the World,'' and ''The Check's in the Mail.''
''It was designed to educate, but I attempted to write songs that would entertain anyone, from ages 2 to 92,'' he said.
The series was revived for six years in the '90s, and Dorough released three albums that decade...NY Daily News 4/24/2018
AMAZON Best known as one of the principal voices of Schoolhouse Rock (and less known as one of the series' principal composers), Bob Dorough has also had a career as a jazz pianist-singer. Sunday at Iridium captures a 2004 date wearing that particular hat, as Dorough and the rest of his quartet, plus guest stars Joe Wilder and Daryl Sherman, barrel through a number of originals plus some standards ("Down St. Thomas Way," "We'll Be Together Again"). Dorough's songs tend to examine the theme of love and lack the wit of, say, a Dave Frishberg, and his piano-playing is rather on the wild and sloppy side, but his folksy charm easily wins over his live audience, especially when he leads them on a sing-along version of "Three Is a Magic Number." --David Horiuchi Country/Region of Manufacture: USA No Of Discs: 1 Artist: Bob Dorough Record Label: Arbors Records
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