Robby Krieger knows that when you assemble the right bunch of musicians, and trust in the creative process, magic happens. As a founding member of The Doors, the guitarist intuitively understands the beauty of free-flowing collaboration and telepathic group interplay. This is evident on Robby’s self-titled debut release from his new band, Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages, out January 19, 2024 on The Players Club / Mascot Label Group.

Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages was recorded old school style with a bunch of friends jamming and recording in a relaxed studio setting. Tracked at Robby’s own Love Street Studios in Glendale, California, it finds Robby stretching out over cinematic groove music inspired by classic soul, 1960s jazz, blues, rock, psychedelic rock, and beyond.

“I’ve had this studio for the last 6 or 7 years, and it’s really made me branch out as a musician,” Robby says. “We wrote together, and soul music became a big part of this album. These guys are world-class players—they’ve worked with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Lenny Kravitz—they have that great groove pedigree.”

Robby is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and he is listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. He wrote or co-wrote many of The Doors’ most enduring compositions, including “Light My Fire,” “Love Me Two Times,” “Touch Me,” and “Love Her Madly.” Since the 1970s,  Robby has emerged a successful jazz-fusion guitarist with a well-received catalog of solo albums, including the Grammy-nominated record, Singularity. Robby has also stayed active jamming with artists such as Gov’t Mule and Alice In Chains. Recently, he released the revealing memoir, Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar With the Doors.

Fans of the guitarist’s singular style will rejoice that his latest album is filled with Robby-isms. Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages brims with his celebrated fingerstyle fretwork, including Robby’s adventurous jazzy and microtonal slide guitar playing; his slinky, funk-inspired rhythm work; and his silky Wes Montgomery-style octave playing. The 10-song album explores the soul-jazz, dirty blues, and noir-ish roots of The Doors while also furthering Robby’s career as a jazz-fusion guitarist.

“This band inspired a style of playing I hadn’t done in a while, and it also inspired me to do new things. For example, in the past, I reserved my slide playing for more of the bluesy stuff, but I stretched out on the album playing slide over jazz, funk, and soul grooves. I want to keep evolving, and these guys really inspire me.”

Joining Robby on this all-instrumental odyssey of psych-rock soul are top-shelf composers, instrumentalists, and bandmates. Bassist-songwriter Kevin “Brandino” Brandon co-wrote and recorded with Robby on the Singularity album, and he has won over half a dozen Grammy awards as well as three Emmy awards. His extensive resume includes credits with James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, and Beyonce. Keyboardist-songwriter Ed Roth is a Grammy-nominee known for his work in jazz, rock, and pop, and a robust resume that includes working with Ringo Starr, Brothers Johnson, Coolio, Shuggie Otis, and Annie Lennox. And drummer-songwriter Franklin Vanderbilt brings savage to the band’s soul with his fatback groove and jazzy nimbleness. Among others, his credits include drumming for legendary Chaka Khan, recording with fusion jazz pioneer Stanley Clarke, and touring worldwide with Lenny Kravitz.

Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages opens with “Shark Skin Suit,” a bracing dose of lysergic-laced funk that recalls P-Funk, Jimmy Smith, and The Doors. Here, Robby’s slide guitar parts are wildly melodic, touching upon blues, jazz, Indian sitar music, and 1960s acid rock with technical precision and imagination. The keys here recall Bernie Worrell’s color-swirling P-Funk work, as Ed keeps things infectiously funky and technicolor-ly textured. The rhythm section lays down meaty and uncluttered grooves to support the fertile improvisations.

Robby reveals that the quartet found their stride on the cinematically funky  “Day In L.A,” and it definitely feels like a flag-planting moment. “Ricochet Rabbit” finds Robby in fleet-fingered jazzer mode, playing beautiful octave jazz lines inspired by the late Wes Montgomery over some modern jazz-funk stylings. The groovy but odd-metered “Math Problem” is aptly named with its playfully shifting time signatures. Robby effortlessly plays bluesy licks and serpentine jazz-influenced lines over the challenging time changes.

Look for Robby Krieger And The Soul Savages on vinyl and onstage in the near future. “Once people hear this music, they get really into it,” Robby says. “When the record comes out the connection with the audience will be even stronger.”