Bob Dorough Dies at 94

[BeBop]

RIP, Bob Dorough

[sgcim]

Very sad to hear. I saw him at the Phil Woods Memorial Concert in Penn., and I had no idea he was in his 90s. He was jumping around all over the stage. RIP.

[sidewinder]

Very sad news - I think he did a gig over here in London only about a month ago so very active until the end. RIP.

[soulpope]

R.I.P ....

[Teasing the Korean]

Schoolhouse Rock was a huge part of my childhood.

RIP.

[Hardbopjazz]

18 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Schoolhouse Rock was a huge part of my childhood.

RIP.

Same here.

RIP, Bob

[jlhoots]

Devil May Care - R.I.P.

[brownie]

How sad....

What a nice man and à superb entertainer   he was. Spent à great evening listening to him when he was at NY's Iridium club back in 2004. He had amusing reminiscences of playing in Paris decades earlier. He introduced me to the great Barbara Lea who was at the club. He will be missed!

His vocal on Miles Davis 'Blue Christmas' is a minor masterpiece!

[JSngry]

Never that much of a "fan" myself, but I have come to appreciate his multi-faceted skills and contributions. RIP.

The one facet of his work that I appreciated immediately (and before I knew anything about else who he was) was his contributions to Spanky & Our Gang. The album with the bright yellow cover that was packaged like a 45 is a particularly good record.

[Peter Friedman]

I met Bob Dorough once in August 1996. It was at the Red Rock recording studio in the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania. I was with my good friend John Norris who was producing the Sackville recording - Danny D'imperio - The Outlaw. Bob dropped by to say hello to the musicians. He seemed to be a very warm and friendly guy.

I always particularly enjoyed  the Dorough album - Devil May Care.

[JSngry]

 

 

 

[Rooster_Ties]

I imagine he must have performed some of his Schoolhouse Rock material at gigs, one would have to think. I'd be curious to hear some of those live versions. May have to go searching on YouTube later and see what I can find.

[Teasing the Korean]

2 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I imagine he must have performed some of his Schoolhouse Rock material at gigs, one would have to think. I'd be curious to hear some of those live versions. May have to go searching on YouTube later and see what I can find.

He most certainly did at Iridium, and he would bring people up from the audience who knew the songs to sing backup!

My fave Bob Dorough tune:

 

[duaneiac]

I'm very saddened to hear this.  I've long been a fan of his music.  I'm grateful I got to see him perform twice, once with Dave Frishberg and once with Dan Hicks as part of one of his "Holidaze In Hicksville" shows.  He was a great live performer, always full of energy, joy and humor. 

Thanks Mr. Dorough for decades of great music

[sgcim]

On 4/24/2018 at 4:53 PM, JSngry said:

 

 

 

Wow!! Shades of Chris Dedrick and Gene Puerling! 

I knew that the jazz/studio guitarist Stuart Scharf had something to do with Spanky & Our Gang, but I never knew Bob did, also.

Did Bob do the vocal arrangements? Did they also write and arrange, 'I'd Like To Get To Know You'?

I love finding jazzers involved with some of the groups of the 60s, like I mentioned in the Tandyn Almer thread about that guy from the Hi-Los doing the vocal arrangements on the Association's album.

I loves me dat 'sunshine pop'- Free Design, High Llamas, Judee Sill, etc...

[JSngry]

Not sure of the extent of his total involvement, but he's got some credits from the first album on (there were just three initially), arranger, producer, etc. usually in tandem with Scharf.

This was on the first album, but I don't see full production credits until the second.

This was also on that record, no Dorough in site credit-wise, but I've always had a soft spot for it, just too damn cute to be really good, but as far as cute goes, this is the real deal.

 

[king ubu]

Very sad - but what a long life!

This then might be his final album - and it's a fine one!

[Rooster_Ties]

Just listened to the sides with Miles this morning, first time in years. They could have made a really fine full-length album together.

I need to dig into my Miles & Gil box liners and see, but it seems so unlikely that Miles' and Bob's orbits would have ever intersected.

But I must say the irregular form of those tunes, and Dorough's wild phrasing really put Miles in a unique context.

Nice obit in the Washington Post yesterday too (or was it the day before). I'll have to post that too.

Interesting guy, who really found his calling.

[duaneiac]

"The Winds of Heaven", a Bob Doroguh - Fran Landesman composition:

 

or the version which millions of people -- at least, those millions of people who bought this LP back in the day -- likely had but seldom listened to:

 

[medjuck]

He did a couple of records of  Fran Landesman compositions. They're good. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by medjuck

[JSngry]

Bob Dorough actually died in 1959, shot by Palladin:

also w/James Coburn & Stother Martin.

[B. Clugston]

RIP. Quite a multi-talented guy. Not too often you see someone with credits on Blossom Dearie, Miles Davis and John Zorn albums. He was also an accomplished recorder player and did some classical albums with recorder heavyweights such as LaNoue Davenport as well as the Medieval Jazz Quartet album, which is quite a blast.

[JSngry]

17 hours ago, JSngry said:

Bob Dorough actually died in 1959, shot by Palladin:

also w/James Coburn & Stother Martin.

written by Bruce Geller as well. Did Dorough do acting as well, or was this just a one-off for him?

[Bill Nelson]

In 1970, Dorough and guitarist Stuart Scharf, got a contract for a 4-song EP for Scholastic Magazines.  They covered 'hit' songs of the time, with socially relevant themes.  However, they did a wild treatment of 'Runaway Child, Running Wild', with Dorough imitating ALL the voices of the Temptations.  If this isn't crazy enough, Steve Swallow plays bass and keyboards and Bill Goodwin handles funky drums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoRwZui_KHc    

 

Sorry, it was an upper case for one letter.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoRwZUi_KHc

 

[B. Clugston]

Bob Dorough has been named one of this year's NEA Jazz Masters, along with Abdullah Ibrahim, Maria Schneider and Stanley the Grouch.