Robby Kreiger and his Jazz Kitchen at Johnny D's
by DoorsFan1968 on 12/9/12Johnny D's Uptown Restaurant & Music Club - SomervilleWhat an amazing night! Yesterday I discovered Doors guitarist Robby Krieger was performing tonight at a local club called Johnny D's, which is just down the street from my abode. I bought my ticket online and had an amazing time. My love for the music of the Doors a lifelong obsession, and I always make it a point to see any of the surviving Doors perform when the come to Boston. Johnny D's a small club, the stage is not even a foot off the ground, so I was standing right in front of Robby the whole time, not even 3 feet away. I danced as I used to dance when attending Grateful Dead concerts back in the 90s. Robby's new group Jazz Kitchen consists of former members of Frank Zappa's band, and an x War band member. The setlist was a mix of new tracks off their new cd, Frank Zappa songs and a couple Doors numbers- t Most of the songs were instrumentals, pure jazz with extended improvisation. This pure jazz music was a surprising avenue for Robby to pursue, as I always thought of Ray Manzarek and John Densmore as being the Doors members into jazz- Robby was more into his flamenco sound- But he clearly caught the jazz bug. STUNNING performance After the show I was hoping Robby would come out and chat with fans- I was crestfallen whilst trapped in a conversation, when i noticed accross the room his manager or promoter leading a group of Doors fans downstairs to meet with Robby. Shit, i missed my chance. But luckily Robby reemerged, and chatted with a group of us for at the bar for about 10 minutes, talked about music, plus he signed my ticket stub, and was a genuinely cool guy. I told him I hoped he would one day put his fine 'No Habla' instrumental cd back in print, he said that is in the works. I also suggested the two post-Morrison Doors albums ('Other Voices' and 'Full Circle' ) had some good songs, namely 'Ships With Sails' and Tightrope Ride, and he and Ray should play them live when they next go on tour. He said they have done the Fill Circle lp track 'The Mosquito' live on the recent tours, but Ray wants to dust off Ships With Sails. I shook Robby's hand, thanked him for his music and left him at the bar. What a fantastic night, and on the eve of Jim Morrison's 69th birthday