Prog-Watch 929
I hope you will join me on Prog-Watch this week when I will be exploring some of the vast Musical World of the late Jon Lord! We’ll hear great music from Deep Purple and his solo career, of course, as well as some of his other work with Tony Ashton, Whitesnake, and George Harrison!
John Douglas Lord was born on 9 June 1941. His father was an amateur saxophonist who encouraged Jon from an early age. Jon studied classical piano from the age of five, and this gave him the grounding and chops to absorb blues, jazz, rock, R&B, and just about anything else he encountered later in his career. After spending time in a series of formative bands such as the Art Wood Combo (later shortened to just the Artwoods), the Santa Barbara Machine Head, and The Flower Pot Men, the stars aligned for the formation of the Mark I line-up of Deep Purple. A line up shuffle a few years later saw the entrance of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, and the classic (but turbulent) Mark II line-up was born. Between stints with the Mark II Deep Purple line-up, Lord was a member of Whitesnake and did session work. Over the course of his career he also released a number of solo albums, and a few with Tony Ashton and his DP and Whitesnake bandmate Ian Paice. Lord officially retired from touring in 2002, but continued to compose and record until his death on 16 July 2012. In November 2010, he was inducted as an Honorary Fellow of Stevenson College in Edinburgh, Scotland, and a year later, in 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree at De Montfort Hall by the University of Leicester. Jon was also was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April of 2016 as a member of Deep Purple.
Music with some meat to it!
Prog-Watch is a weekly podcast and internet radio program dedicated to bringing the listener contemporary Progressive Rock music from around the world. Your big, hairy host, the “Prog-Squatch” wanders the woods of the world, beats the bushes, and digs in the dirt to bring the best Prog back for YOU! Sometimes solo and sometimes with a guest host, the Prog-Squatch will bring you new and interesting artists in each episode, and give you some background info and a taste of their music.