Customer Reviews

Bob Dorough

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of Bob's best albums. The coffee song is especially refreshing. With an all star lineup and a great performer like Bob, it can't fail. With a combination of old favorites and some new material, along with excellent recording quality, this is a must have for any Dorough fan.

Bob Dorough is an original, a musician so complete, he has no equal. He is jazz, he is piano, he is mood, he is a poet in diguise. Who else could conjure up such musical expression and still in his unassumiing way have us sharing emotions and leave us dancing around the room! Who else could do OKLAHOMA TOAD? Bob always pays tribute to his musician buddies in so many ways and in Too Much Coffee Man seems to remember Bill Takas with good humor. WAKE UP SALLY IT'S SATURDAY is another piece of work that just pings at my heart. Just listen to it! These songs are about everyday life, love and what's happening. WHERE IS THE SONG leaves me a little breathless and frantic, getting caught in the mood of it. An unlikely type for a genius, Bob lets his soul come roaring out. He's no aging hippie, as someone suggested - don't let his pony tail fool you. I want him to live forever.

I was thrilled to see Bob Dorough perform recently in a local jazz club (The Jazz Spot) here in LA. His joyful energy is even more evident in person! He sings of joy, hope, life, love, and humor with perfect lyrics and perfect notes -- how exciting to hear him hit even the highest note he chooses to reach for and bring it, like a star, to his listeners. His lyrics and melodies have such depth, they may be too much for some listeners to grasp ("I don't get it" is right -- he doesn't). When I want to feel that life is filled with joy and possibilities, that there are still songwriters who can rhyme and still make sense, I put on Too Much Coffee, Man. I also love Right On My Way Home -- Bob Dorough's years of living and playing and singing have taught him something of life that can touch each of us, if we have ears to hear and hearts to spring open at the magic of his music. Up Jumped the Bird (Right On My Way Home) is a musical and lyrical masterpiece. It is a perfect song, the philosophy of life in a lyric and, Bob said that night at the Jazz Spot, it is not about Charlie Parker, but about a bird in Bob's garden. Thank you, Mr. Dorough

I had to write a review after reading that last one. First of all his name is DOROUGH! Man-o-man. Bob has to be one of the most influential people of my generation. Schoolhouse Rock is as important to my early education as anything. I still recall those lyrics when I need to understand the our history, or math, or grammar, or science.
Too Much Coffee Man is a wonderful exercise in free spiritedness. Yesterday, I Made Your Breakfast is heartwrenching. And this from a 78 year old! Wake Sally It's Saturday is still hummed every weekend between my wife and I. Love (Webster's Defnition) is an amazing classic. Get this CD and listen to it 10 times. You'll be hooked. Then go to NYC and catch him on Sunday mornings at the Iridium. But whatever you do, thank your personal god that this man is alive and well and still making important American music.

So much joy, intelligence, and creativity in one person. I am honoring Bob Dorough on his birthday by purchasing 6 of his CDs. He is somebody very special. Thanks for the great gift of yourself, Bob.

Jon Weber in Chicago

The first time you listen to this, you will laugh out loud several times. This is an example of the reason American music is great: startling creativity. So it seems to me. You might need to listen to it a few times to get used to it, but soon you will like it. Your friends may think you're crazy, or they may come to admire your dashing tastes. Hey, just relax and enjoy it because that's what it's meant for and what it's great for. In any case, it makes a great gift. Personally, I genuinely like this both as music and as comedy.

BTW, Bob Dorough's most famous for "Conjunction Junction, what's your function?"

Consumate composer, lyricist, pianist, and YES, SINGER, Bob Dorough carries on the truest essence of Charlie Parker's bebop soul and beyond. Listen to the total package of *music*, and I think you'll agree he's a true original and national treasure. Not only that, a genuine sweetheart! Who else could write "Three is a magic number"? God Bless Bob Dorough's magic, and thank heaven for this latest Blue Note recording!

I'd heard that Bob Dorough was "pixyish" and "winsome" and "charming," but when I listen to this CD it all boils down to diabetes-inducingly "cute." Dorough has a singing voice that, to me, is the equivalent of nails on a blackboard, although the playing is fine (which accounts for two stars instead of one). The problem is that Mr. Dorough spends most of the time singing. The closest I can describe his voice is that of a male Carol Channing, and his original songs are also, well, cute.

You may very well adore this CD, as Mr. Dorough does have a following, but do yourself a favor and listen to the samples above first. What you hear is what you get.