R.I.P. Jon Lord

[uwe]

Ah, I admire you for seeing them around that time! They were spoiled, cocaine-driven rock gods by then, Blackmore had a nasty divorce from his German wife and was thinking of other things when he should have been thinking about the music (come 75 he knew that he would be leaving DP and poaching little Ronnie from Elf to start something else), new boys Coverdale and Hughes, after a hesitant to shy start, thought they could turn DP into something else. Lord and Paice knuckled down and pretended things were as always when they were not. But at the same time that line-up on that tour had a real aggressive edge playing with and against each other, very The Who-ish.

[gweimer]

I saw them on the Perfect Strangers tour, from the sound board.   It was an outstanding show, and I'm certainly glad I got to see the most famous line-up.  I always think that texture and mood speak volumes over notes, and Lord was the best.

[gweimer]

Ironically, if I had to pick my two favorite Deep Purple albums, they would be Fireball and Burn.  Before the coke kicked in, and the band was crashing at Linda Blair's house, they put a lot of effort into Burn, and I think it paid off.

[gearHed289]

This was a big one for me. Very sad. One of the greats for sure. I got to see DP on the Perfect Strangers tour. Their classic stuff was a big part of my childhood in the 70s. 

[uwe]

Not a bad choice (albeit indicating some pyromanic leanings!), Fireball is, save for the very early ones when they were still finding their way, perhaps the most experimental DP album (and Gillan's fave for that reason) and Burn was a resurgence and statement in new sound. Even if Rolling Stone snapped at the time "enter new singer and bassist, yet they still sound as Yuröpean as a vampire movie!!!". They were on to something with that comment, Blackmore's and Lord's background in classical and European folk music always made DP sound less American than, say, Led Zep. Stormbringer and of course Come Taste the Band were the two most American sounding albums of DP, both having little (Stormbringer) or no (Come Taste the Band) Blackmore input.

[gweimer]

This was a big one for me. Very sad. One of the greats for sure. I got to see DP on the Perfect Strangers tour. Their classic stuff was a big part of my childhood in the 70s. 

By any chance was that the show at the UIC Pavilion?  That's the show I saw.  I was also told that I was backstage.

[gweimer]

[mc2NY]

If I had to pick one member of Deep Purple who was key to the band's sound, I would pick Jon Lord.

When DP decided to reunite the first time back in the 80s, they actually held the initial meeting at a club named Sparks in Huntington, Long Island near where Blackmore was living. It was one of those small clubs tucked away, that was known for its live music and celebs always felt comfortable showing up to hang and even jam. Blackmore, Billy Joel, Foghat, etc. all would come by.

We used to play there and apparently Blackmore had been in to see us because when we were looking for a new guitarist his main guitar tech (a Brit) called us and said "Richie said I should audition." Blackmore loaned him one of his Strats and a Pignose-sized black amp with melted purple wax all over it that the tech said he used to record all of Machinehead with. It was so cool to have that little amp in my studio, even for a few hours.

[uwe]

That is btw Andy Summers playing the lead guitar. "Every Breath you Take"-Andy Summers. He plays all guitar on that album and he does that - sans bottled blond hair yet - beautifully. The director of that classical orchestra (a Hungarian one that never returned to Hungary during the Cold War, but preferrd to stay in the West/Germany following a tour there, every single one of them!), Eberhard Schoener (and co-composer of the album's music) would later on get to know an English bassist kicking his feet, likewise initially non-blond, and incidentally similarly called (Gordon) Summer and bring him together with Andy, collectively they found a prog drummer from Curved Air named Stu and you don't have to put on the red light for the rest. An early incarnation of Whitesnake (already with Lord) would then have a little newcomer band (of mostly old hands) called Police as an opening act on a club tour.

Watch out for the blond replicant playing bass in the background here, that is NOT Rutger Hauer:

[gweimer]

And someone on my FB list just posted a link to what Steve Morse posted:

"Jon just died. I'm shocked and don't know what to do, so I'm going to try to tell you a little about Jon.

Jon was the powerhouse keyboard player that brought rock and classical directly together many times. The first was his timeless organ solo on "Highway Star". The next was his "Concerto for Band and Orchestra". I was able to perform with the whole band as it was played at Albert Hall before we toured extensively with it. Just weeks ago, I was able to play on a studio recording of Jon's concerto and share some heartfelt thoughts and words with him.

Jon was the guy that would stop us from giving up on an idea in songwriting because it wasn't immediately obvious. I remember him encouraging me in the studio to keep doing what I was doing as I played around with an idea that I was intrigued with. After writing something as amazing as his concerto, he still had the imagination to hear ideas on top of anything I suggested. He always had a regal, gentlemanly manner. Like any of us, he could get annoyed, but he would only show it with his wry and dry wit.

Mostly, he was upbeat and a pleasure for anybody to be around. His humor was right up my alley, with us exchanging ridiculous thoughts like,"If Brenda Lee married Tommy Lee, her new name would be Brenda Lee......" Or having him finish the tune when an announcement at an airport would start with several musical notes to get your attention. It's hard to give anecdotes that convey an ease that somebody could give you, but he sure had that ability. We all love people that will pay attention to our kids, and years ago he charmed my (then) 5 year old son, Kevin with a Donald Duck imitation even while he was being hurried to get out of the dressing room and go to the green room for after show greetings.

Jon retired from the endless DP tour schedule, but continued to do appearances with original material and performances of his concerto. I knew he missed the band he helped start, but at the same time couldn't stand the relentless travel. From time to time, we would see him on tour, and he would sit in with us. The last time we played, less than a year ago, at the Sunflower Jam at Royal Albert Hall, he had just come offstage from performing with Rick Wakeman. Later I talked with him and his wife about how strange it felt to look around at the keyboards and not see him there at Albert Hall. We promised to do something together. Soon thereafter, we all learned of his battle with Pancreatic cancer. I kept hearing hopeful, positive reports that they might be making progress, but this sudden death caught me totally unaware. I thought we would meet and do a recording project in the future when he recovered from the chemotherapy. Well, we sort of did, but I had to record it and send it to him, as we were in different countries.
If you have friends, family, especially kids, don't ever miss a chance to do or say something special....or simply appreciate the fact that they are there. One day, they won't be. "

[uwe]

Nicely put by Morse and you can tell that DP's tour schedule is becoming an issue for him too (he has repeatedly complained about it in the past and that he doesn't have time for his other projects anymore; joining Purple and touring with them for nearly 20 years has made him financially comfortable though, no need to work as an airline pilot anymore!). If he leaves, that will probably be the end of the band. Ian Gillan otoh will most likely one day die in a hotel room, he's a touring addict.

[Highlander]

It's a shame Bret's busy at present (I presume) - iirc he got to play with him in Sydney one time but I may have crossed wires - he certainly successfully played in a DP trib for some years...

Uwe... I can't remember WS touring with the Police over here, although it is certainly possible - I saw them third on the bill to Spirit so it's entirely possible I just missed them... Only time I've seen Steve Morse was with Dixie Dregs...

For a few years Gillan and Whitesnake seemed to be constantly playing round London and the south of England... I think the first time I saw WS was at the Lyceum (Bernie Torme Band supporting, later with Gillan and replacing the simply wonderful Steve Byrd, and ATV, who were resoundly booed off stage) in London with Duck Dowle and Pete Solley, then later with Mr Lord at St Albans - I supplied the band with some pictures of that show and some backstage shots (a couple were used in the next tour prog in a central spread of shots - one of DC and one of a lady called Tina- they cut out Bernie Marsden! - who was an assistant to the band - Mick Moody asked me to bring them down after seeing them - he used to guest on a Sunday lunch time, sometimes Saturday night at a pub called the Red Lion, in a band called Fast Buck, whose singer wrote Night Games - Boz Burrell also used to play there in a band called Chuck Farley - the site is now a Maccy-D) - Mr Coverdale splashed out from his personal "wad" to take the set off me)  - when they played the Rainbow (with Paicey) - I could not get a ticket as it was a sellout but Jon Lord asked me to be back at the stage door for a specific time later that day and he'd do his best to get me in, which he did - he walked off from the entrance asking the autograph hunters to give him a minute and joked as he handed me over a pair of tickets saying, "They probably think we're doing a drugs deal... they're not the best but at least your in..." last time I saw him face-to face...
I was at both the Hammersmith shows they recorded and sung my lungs out right in front of the stage right audience mike during Ain't No Love... and somewhere in there I saw them over in Dusseldorf and there were several coach-loads of fans over being typically "English"...
Then DP reformed...
I had first seen Jon Lord during the last "original" lineup tour at Wembley and enjoyed the show greatly even though Tommy Bolin did get some stick from the "faithful" - saw them over in Paris when they reformed MkII (with a three-piece Mountain in support) on a very boozy weekend and have some alternate but vivid memories of the time - bars open early Sunday morning and slowly but steadily drinking all day and finishing off the evening when I wandered through a road called Rue St Denis which was an eye-opener - a prime "kerb-crawler" zone, of the coach getting clamped for parking illegally and us being stuck there the following morning with the driver asking for a whip-round to pay the fine as he had no cash nor any credit cards , and then barely seeing the last two numbers Mountain played - seeing them play the new material mixed in with the classics was just Perfect, Strangely enough...
Then seeing the nonsense of Gillan and Blackmore at Wembley taking a joke to the utter limit when singing/playing Jesus Christ Superstar - don't forget Mr Gillan got a gold Decca record for that LP singing the part of JC- that disc used to reside on the wall in Kingsway Recorders, which he once owned for those that didn't know - the rest of the gig was nothing short of stunning...
Never saw any of them play again...

[uwe]

I don't think the tour with Police opening was in the UK - Sting was conscious of New Wave street credibility (never mind his own prog muso background) and touring with the band of a former DP vocalist through the pubs in fashion- and trend-fickle merry ole England? Don't think so. That probably happened somewhere on the Continent where the savages live that wouldn't have known the dif and - like in Germany - booed and bottled a nascent Police off the stage at a rock festival because they wanted to see the headliner, eternally untrendy Barclay James Harvest.

There was at least one rock festival in Germany in 1979 where Whitesnake and Police played (together with an already Wilko-less Dr. Feelgood and Dire Straits among others):




As I wrote: Police got bottled off and had to cut their set short, Dr. Feelgood were watched largely bewildered, but tolerated. Dire Straits and Barclay James Harvest were major deities around that time in Deutschland. And most people had probably forgotten who David Coverdale was at that point, Germany was Gillan country.

PS: Don't ask me what made people think that the Talking Heads were Brits at the time, David Byrne must have feigned an accent, mustn't he, to crawl on the bill ... 

[Highlander]

Maybe it's the language, like saying your from Scotland whilst over in the US... "Gee... which part of England is that...?"

Mind you, the Police, and Spirit... just as Roxanne was due to be released, the first with A&M... not so cool for a London gig (Rainbow theatre)

[gearHed289]

By any chance was that the show at the UIC Pavilion?  That's the show I saw.  I was also told that I was backstage.

Yup. Giuffria was the opener.