Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Vocalist Andy Bey Dies at 85
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Bob Dorough (1923–2018)
(Photo: Courtesy bobdorough.com)Bob Dorough, the jazz singer, pianist and arranger who reached generations of fans with his compositions for the Schoolhouse Rock! educational video series, has died. He was 94. NPR reported that he passed away on April 23 in Mt. Bethel, Pennsylvania, according to his wife, Sally Shanley Dorough.
A native of Arkansas, Dorough played in a U.S. Army band during the early 1940s and later earned a bachelor of music degree from what now is the University of North Texas.
His debut album, Devil May Care, was released on the Bethlehem label in 1956. The title track became a widely recorded jazz standard. Other leader albums in his discography include Just About Everything (1966); Multiplication Rock (1973); Skabadabba (1987); a collaboration with Dave Frishberg released by Blue Note, Who’s On First? (2000); and But For Now, a Bob Dorough Trio album featuring Michael Hornstein, released by Enja in 2015.
Dorough famously provided the vocals for the version of “Nothing Like You” on Miles Davis’ 1967 album Sorcerer.
Among Dorough’s composition that were used in the Schoolhouse Rock! educational cartoons are “Conjunction Junction,” “Three Is A Magic Number,” “Electricity, Electricity” and “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here.”
Dorough continued performing concerts until shortly before his death.
DownBeat contributor Allen Morrison reviewed the singer’s Aug. 16, 2014, concert at Kitano in New York. To read this archival story, click here. DB
“It kind of slows down, but it’s still kind of productive in a way, because you have something that you can be inspired by,” Andy Bey said on a 2019 episode of NPR Jazz Night in America, when he was 80. “The music is always inspiring.”
Apr 29, 2025 11:53 AM
Singer Andy Bey, who illuminated the jazz scene for five decades with a four-octave range that encompassed a bellowing…
Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.
Jun 3, 2025 11:25 AM
Al Foster, a drummer regarded for his fluency across the bebop, post-bop and funk/fusion lineages of jazz, died May 28…
Davis was a two-time Grammy winner for liner notes.
Apr 22, 2025 11:50 AM
Francis Davis, an august jazz and cultural critic who won both awards and esteem in print, film and radio, died April…
“Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”
May 20, 2025 11:58 AM
Branford Marsalis was on the road again. Coffee cup in hand, the saxophonist — sporting a gray hoodie and a look of…
“What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.
May 13, 2025 12:39 PM
Part of the jazz vibraphone conversation since her late teens, Sasha Berliner has long come across as a fully formed…
