“Windows” is the second album of the new Jon Lord reissue series at earMUSIC – to be released on April 28th. This 2017 reissue was remastered by Rob Cass from the original stereo mixes at Abbey Road and comes in a high quality digipak with a reworked artwork. Gemini Suite, originally released in 1971 and Windows (1974) will be followed by the reissue of Sarabande (1976) later this year.
With his legendary organ blues-rock sound, Deep Purple’s founder and soul, Jon Lord has influenced decades of rock music. He is without a doubt the pioneer of fusing rock and classical/baroque forms and became one of the most important composers of the last decades while having a major impact on the music business.
His album “Windows”, composed by Jon Lord as well as the German composer and conductor Eberhard Schoener was recorded live on June 1st, 1974 at the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz with the Orchestra of the Munich Chamber Opera conducted by Eberhard Schoener.
The band for this special occasion was star-studded with musicians like Jon Lord’s former bandmates David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes as well as Tony Ashton, Ray Fenwick and Pete York.
The album consists of two parts. “Continuo on B.A.C.H” is a realisation of an unfinished fugue by J. S. Bach, which he based on a scale using the notes represented by his own name (B.A.C.H.). Lord and Schoener interpreted and finished it. “Window” is based on the idea of a form of chain poetry called Renga, developed during the 14th century in Far-East, where a group of poets co-writing would lock themselves away, writing each verse in turn and continue until the finished product emerged.
The reissue of Gemini Suite (December 9th, 2016) marks the start of a new Jon Lord reissue series at earMUSIC.
With his legendary organ blues-rock sound, Deep Purple’s founder and soul, Jon Lord has influenced decades of rock music. He is with no doubt the pioneer of fusing rock and classical/baroque forms and became one of the most important composers of the last decades while having a major impact on the music business. After creating the Concerto For Group And Orchestra in 1969 together with Deep Purple – a fusion masterpiece of a new kind that created a stir in music world – Jon Lord created an equally successful follow up with Gemini Suite.
The Gemini Suite was first performed in September 1970 at the Royal Festival Hall and was recorded the following year at the Abbey Road and De Lane Lea studios as the first solo project of Jon Lord. It is a six piece classic-rock fusion work inspired by the members of Deep Purple and was recorded with the London Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Oscar winner Malcolm Arnold and is featuring the guest musicians Albert Lee, Yvonne Elliman, Tony Ashton as well as the two other Deep Purple member Ian Paice and Roger
Glover.
This 2016 reissue was remastered by Rob Cass from the original stereo mixes at Abbey Road. The new artwork includes liner notes exclusively written by Roger Glover. Gemini Suite marks the start of a new Jon Lord reissue series with “Windows” (1974) and “Sarabande” (1976) following the next year.
Tracklist
1. Guitar: soloist Albert Lee
2. Piano: soloist Jon lord
3. Drums: soloist Ian Paice
4. Vocals: soloists Yvonne Elliman / Tony Ashton
5. Bass guitar: soloist Roger Glover
6. Organ: soloist Jon Lord
Today is the third anniversary of Jon Lord’s sad passing. Rather than mourn, he would have wanted us to celebrate with music.
This clip has never been shown before. A relaxed Jon Lord onstage in his local community near Henley on Thames in June 2009, celebrating Armed Forces Day with a band that included a few of his mates, posted on the official website jonlord.org.
It had been a sunny day until sometime during the band’s performance, and the clip opens with Jon quipping about the weather forcing the band to curtail their performance – “health and safety all that, innit?” – before he introduces John Lennon‘s ‘Instant Karma’ and featuring a short but sweet solo on the Hammond.
A contemporary report published on Steve Balsamo’s forum says:
“Armed Forces Day at Fawley Hill was brilliant. Almost everyone was smiling! There was a feeling of appreciation in the air – and a real sense of joy – the atmosphere was was warm, not only meterologically, but spiritually too.”
“Jon Lord – it was fantastic to hear a bit of banter on stage from him – a lovely chap with a great sense of humour. All of that plus talent to die for! Jon has these moments when you swear there must be sparks flying off the keys – the dude is one hot player. Hat’s off to you Jon!”
The event took place on Lady McAlpine‘s estate outside Henley on Thames, and the set also included classics from Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Free, Rolling Stones, Spencer Davies Group and Albert King.
The report continues: “And almost on cue, “and we all shine on”… The sun came out again!” You will see Jon noticing this as he rounds off the concert after the song.
The band: Steve Balsamo – vocals Jon Lord – Hammond Joe Brown and Micky Moody – guitar & vocals Nick Fyffe – bass Steve White – drums Sam Brown and Aitch McRobbie – backing vocals
On April 4, 2014, some of the best-loved musicians in the world assembled at the Royal Albert Hall to pay tribute to one of the most-missed musicians of them all: Jon Lord. “Celebrating Jon Lord” will be released as 1CD – The Composer, 2CD – The Rock Legend, 2DVD, Blu-ray, Box Set and Download on September 26th, 2014 on earMUSIC.
All product configurations feature individual cover artworks which are revealed for the first time today!
The Box Set features – besides the Blu-ray, 1CD The Composer and 2CD The Rock Legend – an exclusive T-shirt, a two-sided reproduction of an excerpt of Jon Lord’s original, handwritten music score for “Sarabande” – signed by Paul Mann as well as a 20 page reproduction of the evening’s original show program.
On top and as a real collector’s item, the box set also includes two very special 7-inch vinyls: the first featuring the hypnotic live version of Deep Purple’s classic “You Keep On Moving” with Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Micky Moody and on the B-side “Soldier Of Fortune”, both taken from the 2CD – The Rock Legend.
The second 7-inch vinyl stands in the tradition of Deep Purple as it includes the band’s touching live version of “Above And Beyond” originally from the no 1 album “NOW What?!” and here included in the magic Sunflower Jam 2014 live performance – a song dedicated to and inspired by Jon Lord. The B-side is dedicated to Lord‘s “Fantasia”.
Divided in two parts – the first focused on the classical music compositions, so dear to Jon Lord, and the second featuring a crescendo of emotions going through some of his highlights as a rock musician – the concert gave fans a chance to relive Jon Lord‘s remarkable and extensive musical career, remembering music from Paice, Ashton Lord, Deep Purple, his later classical compositions and everything in between – all in aid for the charity organization The Sunflower Jam.
The 83-piece Orion Orchestra performed, conducted by Paul Mann and accompanied by bands and artists such as Deep Purple, Paul Weller, Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Rick Wakeman, Joe Brown, Miller Anderson, Steve Balsamo and many, many more.
earMUSIC is revealing the first images from the show in a trailer video which includes excerpts from “Burn” (with Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickison, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Rick Wakeman), The Artwood’s “Things Get Better” performed by Paul Weller, “This Time Around” performed by Glenn Hughes and of course, snippets of the grand Deep Purple finale including the songs “Uncommon Man”, “Perfect Strangers” and “Hush” featuring Bruce Dickinson, Rick Wakeman, Phil Campbell, Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody.
TRACKLIST
1CD – The Composer
01. Fantasia from Sarabande
02. Durham Awakes from Durham Concerto
03. All Those Years Ago (with Steve Balsamo and Micky Moody)
04. Pictured Within (with Miller Anderson)
05. Sarabande from Sarabande (with Rick Wakeman)
06. One From The Meadow (with Margo Buchanan)
07. Bourrée from Sarabande
08. Afterwards (with Jeremy Irons and Paul Mann)
2CD – The Rock Legend
CD1
01. Things Get Better (feat. Paul Weller)
02. I Take What I Want (feat. Paul Weller and Micky Moody)
03. Silas and Jerome (feat. Phil Campbell from The Temperance Movement, Ian Paice and Bernie Marsden)
04. I’m Gonna Stop Drinking (feat. Phil Campbell from The Temperance Movement, Ian Paice and Bernie Marsden)
05. Soldier of Fortune (feat. Steve Balsamo, Sandi Thom and Micky Moody)
06. You Keep On Moving (feat. Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Micky Moody)
07. Burn (feat. Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Rick Wakeman)
08. This Time Around (feat. Glenn Hughes)
CD2 Deep Purple celebrating Jon Lord
1. Uncommon Man
2. Above And Beyond
3. Lazy
4. When A Blind Man Cries
5. Perfect Strangers
6. Black Night
7. Hush (feat. Bruce Dickinson, Rick Wakeman, Phil Campbell, Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody)
DVD and Blu-ray includes the above tracks as well as an over 60 minute documentary “Two Worlds”.
The official Jon Lordwebsite have announced that ‘Celebrating Jon Lord’ at Royal Albert Hall last April will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray and CD by earMUSIC on September 26, 2014. It marks the 45th anniversary of the world debut performance of Jon Lord‘s Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the same venue in 1969.
Featuring Deep Purple, Rick Wakeman, Bruce Dickinson, Glenn Hughes, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, Neil Murray, Paul Weller and many more, the release comprises the full two-set concert from April 4 2014.
‘Celebrating Jon Lord’ was the brain child of Jacky Paice, wife of Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice. She also runs the annual Sunflower Jam, which started in London in 2006 and has seen a string of high profile music alumni – including Jon – every year giving their efforts to the cause of cancer relief.
After Jon sadly passed away in 2012, plans soon evolved for a celebratory evening of his music. Considering the amount of respect and love expressed by anybody who had worked or played with or simply met Jon, it is not a surprise that the 2014 Sunflower Jam turned into an evening dedicated totally to his music.
The night turned out to be an historical moment in music. A full symphony orchestra conducted by Paul Mann, custodian of Jon’s compositional works, and as many of Jon Lord’s musical friends as could be possibly crammed into two sets of his music. The Royal Albert Hall was of course sold out for the event.
JonLord.org is preparing an in-depth exclusive interview series with Paul Mann, on his role in assisting the Sunflower Jam crew get the celebration concert on its feet. Watch this space.
Every musician who played at ‘Celebrating Jon Lord’ left a precious mark – including Deep Purple’s 55 minute finale, the DP Mk III songs played by Paice with Glenn Hughes and Bruce Dickinson including ‘Burn’ with Rick Wakeman of Yes and Don Airey battling time, a couple of Paice Ashton Lord tracks, ex-members Moody, Marsden and Murray of Whitesnake, Steve Balsamo (who sang in Jon’s touring band and on his studio recording of the Concerto), as well as members of The Temperance Movement and the “modfather” Paul Weller performing tracks from Jon’s first band The Artwoods.
The evening was a full on musical affair – with the first set focused on Jon’s (semi-)classical works and the second set celebrating Jon’s rockier side. Everybody attending the show left the venue with an expression that clearly said “one day I will be able to say I was there”… Now everybody will be able to see why.
‘Celebrating Jon Lord’ is to be released as 2DVD, Blu-Ray, 1CD “The Composer”, 2CD “The Rocker” and Boxset by earMUSIC on September 26 2014. Pre-release orders of ‘Celebrating Jon Lord’ to be taken shortly. Watch this space.
De Haske publishing house is releasing new editions of JON LORD’s Concerto For Group And Orchestra and Sarabande.
This premiere publication of Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra is a major event, and one that might never have happened.
Lord composed the work during early 1969, shortly after founding the band that made him famous,DEEP PURPLE. Always equally passionate about orchestral music, he was determined to create a vehicle by which the two worlds could be joined, and it was written quickly – often nocturnally – between gigs with the band.
Early in the process, Lord’s music attracted the attention of Malcolm Arnold, who conducted the fraught but ultimately highly successful premiere with Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1969. (Arnold’s involvement has led some to assume that he had a hand in the work’s composition and instrumentation, but this is not the case – every note is the work of the young Jon Lord, which makes the achievement all the more remarkable.)
Following a US premiere at the Hollywood Bowl in 1970, the original score and parts mysteriously disappeared and have never been recovered. The entire work was therefore thought to be lost until 1998, when a young Dutch composer by the name of Marco di Goeij transcribed the musical text from the 1969 live recording. This immense, not to mention entirely improbable labour of love finally opened the way for the music to be heard again.
Lord then spent several months working with the conductor Paul Mann, building on de Goeij’s transcription, painstakingly reconstructing the work in preparation for a weekend of performances on the 30th anniversary of its original premiere, again at the Albert Hall with Deep Purple, this time with Mann conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.
The Concerto was subsequently the centerpiece of a world tour with Deep Purple during 2000-1, and then became a standard feature of Lord’s live appearances with various groups and orchestras, independently of the band for which it was originally written.
The first-ever studio version of the Concerto, with Paul Mann conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and a hand-picked cast of rock luminaries, including the composer himself, was released in 2012. It was to be Jon Lord’s last performance on disc.
De Haske’s newly published full score sees this seminal work in print for the first time ever. It is painstakingly edited by Paul Mann, whose long-time musical association with Jon Lord and extensive experience of performing the music, ensures that the text reflects the composer’s intentions as faithfully as possible.
The Concerto appears together with another of Jon Lord’s highly successful blending of the rock and classical worlds, Sarabande. First released as a solo album in 1976, recorded with the Philharmonia Hungarica directed by Eberhard Schoener, and at that stage only partly orchestrated, Lord returned to the work in 2010 with the intention of creating a companion work to the Concerto for himself to perform live.
His new orchestration is a virtuoso workout for both band and orchestra. The new score again marks the music’s first appearance in print in any form, edited by Paul Mann in conjunction with every available source, including the manuscript material surviving from the original 1975 recordings. It also incorporates many changes made in collaboration with the composer following the work’s premiere in Budapest in 2010.
Jon Lord was a unique figure, as much at home in the ‘classical’ world as he was in his role as one of rock music’s great pioneering keyboard players. His intention in creating these works was ‘to make music in the place where the best of both worlds meet’, and it is hoped that in making these works available in print for the first time, performers and music-lovers everywhere will be able to do just that.
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