Bob Dorough - Sunday at Iridium

2004

 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.