This is really sad news for me. Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord has passed away.
I can't overstate how big a deal his music has been to me. The first working band I ever played in did a slew of Deep Purple songs. We tried to emulate their knack for mixing complex structures with sick improvs. They were awesome, and Jon Lord was most of the reason why. His organ playing just did it for all of us. We used to try and copy the way he bashed away on Hush, but also danced across the keys on things like Burn. Damn, he was awesome.
He retired for live performance about 10 or so years ago. Larry and I went to see Purple once with Don Airey in his place. Airey is pretty freakin' awesome himself, but without Jon Lord it was just wrong. I used to think that without Ritchie Blackmore the band couldn't exist, but both Tommy Bolin and Steve Morse proved me wrong. (more so Tommy Bolin, for me at least. I consider him a guitar god).
Without Jon Lord though... it was just sad.
Rest in Peace, Jon Lord.
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