Doors co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek died today in Rosenheim, Germany after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74.
“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” Doors guitarist Robby Krieger said in a statement. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”
I saw The Doors only once, in Los Angeles, the Aquarius Theatre in 1969. I had yet to realize their amazing significance and the importance of their music.
Ray Manzarek was responsible for a massive portion of “the sound” of The Doors, ala the perfect keys of 1971’s “Riders on the Storm.” Few realize he was also responsible for the bass sound whilst playing live. From Wikipedia:
The Doors lacked a bassist, so Manzarek usually played the bass parts on a FenderRhodes piano. His signature sound is that of the Vox Continentalcombo organ, an instrument used by many other psychedelic rock bands of the era. He later used a Gibson G-101 Kalamazoo combo organ (which looks like a Farfisa) because the Continental’s plastic keys frequently broke, according to Manzarek.
“Ships With Sails,” from the 1971 album Other Voices, the first after the death of vocalist Jim Morrison (recorded three months after). The song features Ray Manzarek on vocals, keyboards and keyboard bass, Robby Krieger on guitar and John Densmore on drums. Other players included Jerry Scheff on bass guitar (studio bass player on LA Woman, my favorite The Doors album).
