Ray Manzarak


Ray Manzarak has participated in keeping THE DOORS open by occasionally being in the company of poet Michael C Ford. Since their milestone appearances at McCabe’s (1986-1989) they’ve been collaborating on several voice and piano recording dates {the most recent being a specially conceived track titled “Extreme Unction For James Douglas Morrison” on Hen House Studios Anthology 4 (CD).

Raymond Daniel Manzarek, born February 12, 1939, in Chicago, was The Doors keyboard player. He attended UCLA Film School.

“I grew up in Chicago and left when I was 21 for Los Angeles. My parents gave me piano lessons when I was around nine or ten. I hated it for the first four years-until I learned how to do it-then it became fun, which is about the same time I first heard African American music. I was about 12 or 13, playing baseball in a playground; someone had a radio tuned into a African American station. From then on I was hooked. I used to listen to Al Benson and Big Bill Hill-they were disk jockeys in Chicago. From then on all the music I listened to was on the radio. My piano playing changed; I became influenced by jazz. I learned how to play that stride piano with my left hand, and knew that was it: stuff with a beat-jazz, blues, rock.

“At school I was primarily interested in film. It seemed to combine my interests in drama, visual art, music, and the profit motive. Before I left Chicago I was in theater. These days, I think we want our theater, our entertainment to be larger than life. I think the total environmental thing will come in. Probably Cinerama will develop further.

“I think The Doors is a representative American group. America is a melting pot and so are we. Our influences spring from a myriad of sources which we have amalgamated, blending divergent styles into our own thing. We’re like the country itself. America must seem to be a ridiculous hodgepodge to an outsider. It’s like The Doors. We come from different areas, different musical areas. We’re put together with a lot of sweat, a lot of fighting. All of the things people say about America can be said about The Doors.

“All of us have the freedom to explore and improvise within a framework. Jim is an improviser with words.”
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images-2.jpg Extreme Unction For James Douglas Morrison

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Visit the “The Doors” drummer John Densmore artist page.

Ray Manzarak also appears on:

Hen House Studios Anthology Volume 2-2002Hen House Studios Anthology 4 (CD/Mp3) is the fourth installment of four from our Hen House compilation series featuring bands from in and around southern California who recorded in our studio for free in exchange for the right to be filmed. Highlighted on this CD are Fan Fiction, Badfish, Boom Shaka and Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarak with poet Michael C Ford.

Purchase /Preview Hen House Studios Anthology 4 (CD/Mp3)