RIP Jon Lord, Deep Purple organist

Co-wrote "Smoke on the Water." Dead from pulmonary embolism at 71. Also had been suffering from pancreatic cancer:

http://www.nme.com/news/deep-purple/64953

 

He was terrific on Made In Japan, particularly on the awesome 20 minutes that was "Space Truckin'".

RIP

 

WHAT!?! I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOU SAID!!! LIP CONCORD !?!

 

I first really got into Deep Purple when they reunited in the 1980s and released "Perfect Strangers." (Started listening to their earlier stuff immediately after). What was so great about them is that in a time when everybody was using synthesizers, the group really stood out with Lord's old-fashioned organ sound. RIP.

 

I wonder if he ever got seasick moving that keyboard back and forth.

 

My brother saw Deep Purple at California Jam in 1974, at the old Ontario Motor Speedway. They played at night, and Ritchie Blackmore blew up his amps during "Space Truckin." I was fortunate to see them at Cal Expo in Sacramento on the "Perfect Strangers" tour. Lord was phenomenal, and yes, mp, I agree, his old-fashioned organ stood out within Blackmore's neo-Classical compositions during a heavy keyboard era that included Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman, among others.