Jon Lord has passed on

Legendary keyboard player Jon Lord, who founded Deep Purple and co-wrote many of their hits, including "Smoke on the Water", has died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

A great loss, but his music will live forever.

Ouch! Sorry to hear of his passing. I was a Purple fan from way back and Lord was the backbone of Deep Purple's music though Blackmore and Paice tended to get the most attention.
Made in Japan is still one of the greatest live albums ever.
His solos on that should convince anyone Jon Lord was a truly inspired keyboard player.

It killed our evening, i out with my girlfriend and weared my Deep Purple - In Rock shirt. In the restaurant later a guy next to us pointed at the shirt and asked if we heard about Lord. We didn't and it when he told us it killed all the mood.
Cancer is horrible, i know people who died because of it, have it at the moment (chemotherapy and all the crap including) and of course you have all those legendary musicians dieing because of it (Ronnie James Dios death was tragically, i met him two times, such a nice guy)
I never met Jon Lord in person, tragically, but he was such a legendary musician, such a great talent he gave us great music and i was looking forward to his Concerto for Group and Orchestra tour (with such great musicians like Bruce Dickinson, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Morse, Guy Pratt and others...)

[SNIP] C A N C E R ! ! !

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
His solos on that should convince anyone Jon Lord was a truly inspired keyboard player.

Really amazing is the intro he did on Lazy at that Total Abandon DVD from 1999. It is awesome:



Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

I know a professional keyboard player that not only knew and worked with Jon, but was trained by Don Airey, who took over from Jon in DP. I spoke to my friend tonight, and he is devastated, it is almost like losing a family member for him.
Jon Lord will be remembered as probably the greatest rock keyboard player of all time, not just for his work with DP, but his orchestral works, and the world is suddenly a colder place for his passing.

r.i.p jon, one of the greats.they must have needed a keyboard player in the heavens.

RIP Jon. You brought joy to many throughout the years.

reply to post by royspeed


Thanks for the thread. My day wasn't going great and now it's certainly gotten worse with this news. I was listening to the new DP Phoenix Rising today in the car, interestingly enough also listened to Black Country Communion with Glenn Hughes, but anyway that's no surprise for me as Purple has been my top band for years.



It's not the quasi-Bach craziness of Highway Star but the organ in this makes me weep. My favorite work from Mr. Lord.

I'm gonna pull out every damned DP album with Lord on
it and listen over the next few days. Probably drive everyone around me nuts but it's DP, they can piss off if they don't like it.

To boot I just found out a couple of weeks ago that Gary Moore died a while back. All the great ones are leaving us, sadly. Life moves on.

As a guitarist and an rock organist...he was a huge influence on my Hammond B3 playing. RIP Jon.

Explanation: S&F!

May He R.I.P.

Personal Disclosure: His music was DEEP! ... And he made my mood PURPLE!

reply to post by royspeed


What a sad surprise. His keyboard playing contributed so much to many Purple classics. Simply one of the greatest Rock keyboardists. R.I.P.

The day is gone when the angels come to stay
And all the silent whispers will be blown away
Lying in the corner a pair of high heel shoes
Hanging on the wall gold and silver for the blues

One to many wasted sunsets
One to many for the road
And after dark the door is always open
Hoping someone else will show

Someone is waiting behind an unlocked door
Grey circles overhead empties on the floor
The cracks in the walls have grown too long
The slow hand is dragging on afraid to meet the dawn

One to many wasted sunsets
One to many for the road
And after dark the door is always open
Hoping someone else will show

Nothing more to say really....