hypersongs

Jon Lord

A Hammond organist from Leicester who co-founded Deep Purple, wrote the Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1969), played in Whitesnake, and made Sarabande (1976), a baroque dance suite recorded with the Philharmonia Hungarica.

From Leicester to Deep Purple

John Douglas Lord was born in Leicester on June 9, 1941 and attended Wyggeston Grammar School and then the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where he later helped found Drama Centre London. He began on keyboards in 1960 with the Bill Ashton Combo, then played in the Don Wilson Quartet, Red Bludd's Bluesicians and the Artwoods, whose "I Take What I Want" reached number 28 in the UK on May 8, 1966.

He met Ritchie Blackmore in December 1967, and Deep Purple formed in 1968 with Lord as a co-founder on Hammond organ played through a Marshall amplifier, a sound central to early heavy metal. On September 24, 1969 the band played his Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic conducted by Malcolm Arnold. Deep Purple split in 1976, and Lord formed Paice Ashton Lord, whose Malice in Wonderland appeared in 1977, before joining Whitesnake in August 1978 and staying until April 1984, when the Deep Purple line-up that made Perfect Strangers reunited. He left Deep Purple after a final concert at Ipswich on September 19, 2002.

Composer and legacy

His own recordings include Gemini Suite (1971 or 1972, as Wikipedia is inconsistent), First of the Big Bands (1974, with Tony Ashton), Windows (1974, with Eberhard Schoener, performed live on European television), Sarabande (1976), Before I Forget (1982), Pictured Within (1998), Durham Concerto (premiered at Durham Cathedral on October 20, 2007), Boom of the Tingling Strings (2008) and To Notice Such Things (2010). With Jimmy Barnes he made two albums as the Hoochie Coochie Men. His last live concert was the Sunflower Jam at the Royal Albert Hall in 2011, and he completed a studio recording of the Concerto in 2012. He died in London on July 16, 2012, aged 71.

Deep Purple entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 8, 2016, with Lord honored posthumously, and he received the Ivor Novello International Achievement award in May 2019. A tribute concert was held at the Royal Albert Hall on April 4, 2014. Lars Ulrich, Lemmy, Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson were among those who paid tribute to him.

Albums

  • Sarabande 1976 · Purple Records

    A baroque-style dance suite with eight movements, recorded live in a hall in Germany with the Philharmonia Hungarica.

Songs

  • Sarabande Sarabande · 1976

    The title movement of Lord's 1976 suite, 7:20 on the album.

Sources

  1. Jon Lord, Wikipedia
  2. Sarabande (Jon Lord album), Wikipedia
  3. Jon Lord: a biography, jonlord.org
  4. Eberhard Schoener, Wikipedia