THE DOORS' "LIGHT MY FIRE" AND JAZZ: ROBBY KRIEGER'S SOLO

 

The deep interest that the members of The Doors had in jazz is evident in some of their music, particularly from their early years (1966–1967).

This is reflected in both their concerts and some of the songs recorded for their first two LPs.

The group's debut album (“The Doors”, released in January 1967), contains one of the clearest examples of their initial inclination to incorporate jazz elements into rock, the genre to which they belonged.

This song was "Light My Fire", a seven-minute tune that became famous in 1967 and remains so to this day.

One aspect of this wonderful song that highlights its connection with jazz is Robby Krieger's electric guitar solo.

This striking instrumental section begins a few seconds after the three-minute mark, following Ray Manzarek's electric organ solo, which is analyzed in detail in the article at this link).

The total duration of the path drawn on the strings of Krieger's Gibson SG guitar is a considerable amount of time for a composition recorded in August 1966: about sixty seconds.

The guitarist does not apply any noticeable distortion to the instrument, allowing the flow of the notes to be clearly heard.

The guitar style that Krieger adopts here consists of melodic, extended themes that subtly hint at the traditional Spanish music that formed part of his musical training.

However, the languid melodies played on the guitar are interspersed with short, sudden phrases.

These sharp changes of direction create effective contrasts with the solo's more relaxed progression as a whole.

The fast, compressed figures in the solo conceived and executed by The Doors' guitarist are reminiscent of the instrumental solos typical of a jazz genre popular between 1952 and 1964: hard bop jazz.

We would like to point out three such passages in Krieger's solo in “Light My Fire”.

1. From min. 3:34 to min. 3:40.

2) From min. 3:46 to min. 3:52.

3. From min. 4:30 to min. 4:37.

The sudden turns that the electric guitar makes with agility and creativity denote a similarity with the conceptual innovations developed in the early and mid-1950s by hard bop saxophonists Jackie McLean and Sonny Rollins.

This is no coincidence, but rather a practical demonstration of how effectively and passionately The Doors were able to merge jazz into their songwriting process.

Thanks to Krieger’s technique and imagination, the unpredictable flair inherent in Hard Bop jazz improvisations spills evocatively over into rock.

The song we are discussing gains a fascinating nuance that is highly distinctive from other groups of the period thanks to the insertion of dynamic and unexpected ideas along the guitar solo development.

It is also worth noting that, with “Light My Fire”, the band anticipate the adoption of jazz elements in rock music, a musical trend that would reach its full potential in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Krieger’s hard bop-influenced solo in this composition is truly interesting and confirms the originality and quality of The Doors’ 1966–67 music.

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days", the most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is available on Amazon.com, .uk, .mx, .it, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”