Ray Manzarek
Organ Solo on
L'America

About

Ray Manzarek's organ solo is the sole improvisation on this brooding, mid-tempo rock track from The Doors' 1971 album L.A. Woman. Entering at approximately the 2:32 mark, Manzarek takes flight over the song's E-major tonality at 140 BPM, his organ tones adding a dark, swirling quality to the track's atmosphere of escape and frontier mythology. The solo spans about 22 seconds, a concise but evocative passage that draws on the droning, hypnotic quality that characterized much of Manzarek's keyboard work with the band.

Ray Manzarek was 31 to 32 years old at the time.