Remembering Schoolhouse Rock! musical director Bob Dorough

You may not know the name Bob Dorough, but there is a very good chance you know his music.

The jazz musician and composer, who passed away this week at the age of 94, is perhaps best-known for his contribution to ‘Schoolhouse Rock!’, the beloved children’s television program that used music to teach children everything from math and grammar to civics.

“[He] was so influential, in my understanding not only of these sort of concepts… mathematics… grammar, history and science, but also sort of taught me about music,” says KCRW DJ and music historian Eric J. Lawrence.

“They called it ‘multiplication rock,’ but it wasn’t even really limited to rock. It used a whole slew of different music genres to teach these lessons.”

Listen to Lawrence’s remembrance – music and all – with KCRW’s host of All Things Considered, Steve Chiotakis, below:

Dorough worked with jazz legends such as Miles Davis and Blossom Dearie, and his adventurous style was considered a big influence for Mose Allison.

He died at his home in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania.