If the soul of the Doors was singer and resident pop shaman Jim Morrison, the musical architect of the legendary band was keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who died May 20 at 74. It was Manzarek's swirling Vox Continental organ, as well as his imaginative use of piano, harpsichord and tack piano, that gave the group its mysterious sound on recordings. In performance, his keyboard bass--substituting for the accustomed bass guitar--further lent the Doors a distinctive texture.
His vision matched his musicianship. Running into the creatively scattered Morrison, a film-school acquaintance, on Venice Beach in 1965, Manzarek heard the potential in some Morrison...
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