Youthful Wit and Whimsy of Bob Dorough

Listening to the high-spirited opening-night performance of Bob Dorough at the Jazz Spot on Thursday night, one insistent thought kept coming to mind--a paraphrase of Estelle Reiner’s classic line from “When Harry Met Sally”: “I’ll have what he’s having.” Because if anyone can discover the secret to Dorough’s effervescent youthfulness, the joy he brings to his music, it should be distilled into an elixir for the sheer enjoyment of life.

Dorough has always been a marvelously gifted pianist-singer-songwriter, despite the relatively low level of recognition he has received (too few people are aware that he was one of the primary composers and voices of ABC-TV’s “Schoolhouse Rock”). But, at 76, touring in support of only his second album (“Too Much Coffee Man”) for a major label (Blue Note), he was in rare form, obviously enjoying every minute on stage, and eager to meet and greet his enthusiastic audience between sets.

Wit and whimsy are essential to Dorough’s music, as they are to his frequent musical companion, Dave Frishberg. But Dorough applies his sly sense of humor to much more than his own material.

In Thursday’s program, for example, he started with a romping version of the Mercer-Mancini hit, “Moon River,” adding, over the course of the set, his idiosyncratic renderings of the droll Loesser-McHugh number “I Get the Neck of the Chicken,” Hoagy Carmichael’s “Memphis in June” and Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite.”

*

Each became instant entries in the Dorough lexicon, delivered in his spoken/sung style, tinged with blues phrasing, intimately blended with accents from his bebop-based piano playing.

His capacity to own every piece of music he touches was even more apparent, logically enough, with his own tunes--”Right on My Way Home” and “Too Much Coffee Man.” And with the lyrical love song “There’s Never Been a Day,” Dorough revealed a less-often-seen capacity to write affecting songs with the very real potential to become standards.

The piece’s deceptively modest combination of elements--an almost immediately memorable melody and lyrics that reveal their multilevel meaning with the ease of conversation--represented the essence of fine songwriting.

Dorough’s opening set, despite the high quality of his presentation, clearly suffered a few glitches from working with musicians who, for the most part, were not completely familiar with his material.

Still, the music--aided especially by drummer Bill Goodwin, who produced both of Dorough’s Blue Note albums--generally came together well, with guitarist John Chiodini and bassist Jim Hughart making first-rate ensemble and solo contributions.

* Bob Dorough at the Jazz Spot in the Los Feliz Restaurant, 2138 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz. Tonight at 8, 9:30 and 11. $20 cover charge. (323) 666-8666.