Robby Krieger at the Grammy Museum
Friday, January 14, 2011

photo credit: Beverly K.

http://dailytrojan.com/2011/01/19/robert-krieger-at-the-grammy-museum/

http://hardlynews.org/2011/01/18/the-doors-robbie-krieger-has-grammy-museum-spotlight/

Robby Krieger and his jazz quartet played to a capacity crowd on Friday night at L.A. Live's Grammy Museum.  The evening began at 8:10 with an interview conducted by Grammy Foundations V.P. Scott Goldman, who started by asking Robby about the origins of his flamenco playing.  Robby's dad had flamenco LPs in his album collection, so Robby was exposed to that music early on and his first guitar was flamenco.

Robby's own musical tastes developed with boogie woogie and Elvis Presley.  Then in 1963 he saw Chuck Berry at the Santa Monica Civic, along with Big Mama Thornton and the Chambers Brothers.  Impressed with Chuck Berry's stylings, he traded in his flamenco guitar for a red Gibson the next day!

When it came to blues influences, Robby summarized those by citing the Johnsons (Robert, Willie, Jimmy) and the Kings (B.B., Albert).  Robert Johnson inspired his interest in the slide, which Robby sought to emulate by cutting various bottle necks until he found just the right one that made the best slide: a California champagne bottle.

During high school, Robby and John Densmore and others formed a band called the Psychedelic Rangers.  Robby said he is not sure they could really be called a band, as they never played anywhere. :=)

During the early rehearsals with The Doors, Robby said they "just gelled".  Regarding his first composition, 'Light My Fire', Robby said he doesn't listen to their music but likes to hear it on the radio.  (Me too!).

Robby did not like Jose Feliciano's version of LMF at first.  (I still don't).  He commented about the strength of that song in that it was a hit for, and made the careers of, both The Doors and Jose Feliciano.

He talked about playing methods, that all the band members were influenced by and loved jazz, and saw the band as a combination of poetry and jazz.  Robby and Goldman discussed his finger picking method and Wes Montgomery's method, who used his thumb as a pick!

During a discussion about bass lines in the music, Robby said he played bass on the first LP on 'Back Door Man', 'Soul Kitchen', and (he thinks) '20th Century Fox.'   He discussed Ray's hypnotic left hand bass playing, and how that allowed Robby to play some bass lines along with John's jazzy drum fills.

In response to a question from Goldman, Robby said they were not really aware at the time of the impact they were having on music; they were trying to keep up with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

When questioned about the new releases that the band continues to put out, Robby said people still send them stuff!

Enough about The Doors, and on to discussions about 'Singularity' and his jazz band.  Of course, Robby is happy about the Grammy nomination. The band got a life-time achievement award a few years ago, but had never been nominated or awarded as a band. 

His long-time friend and collaborator Arthur Barrow came from Texas with the express purpose of joining Zappa, which he did!  At 8:35, the band members joined Robby on the stage:  Arthur Barrow (bass), Larry Klimas (brass & woodwinds), Tommy Brechtlein (drums), Tommy Mars (keyboards). 

Several years ago, Robby and Arthur Barrow began re-writing and recording 'Russian Caravan', which they had started 15 years earlier.  They did much of the recordings with a drum machine beat, then re-recorded them later with the musicians.  'Solar Wind' has a lot of Charlie Parker licks, and was written with Dale Alexander (who used to play keyboards in an earlier Robby band).  'Russian Caravan' and 'Event Horizon' use flamenco introductions to the songs.

Regarding touring, Robby said they hope to play some jazz festivals in Europe this summer.  He expressed regret about the possibility of losing future musicians, because these days kids would rather play video games than practice a musical instrument.  (The Grammy Museum is big in supporting music education for school kids).

At 8:45 the musicians began their live set.  Robby commented that this was the last show with Larry Klimas for 7 weeks, as he sets out on tour with Neil Diamond.

The 7-song set was:
  Let It Slide
  Snake Oil
  House of Bees
  Russian Caravan
  Southern Cross  (which belongs on a movie soundtrack!)
  You're Lost Little Girl  (the 2nd song he wrong after LMF)
  Trane Running Late

The program ended at 9:40.  Photography and/or filming is not allowed inside the theater, although all events are filmed for museum archive purposes.  However, I found a link for some authorized photography from the interview:  http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx?ipp=120&igi=474093&nbc1=1

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