Jeb Wright at Classic Rock Revisited recently caught up with Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice to discuss the Jon Lord tribute concert, dedicated to the band's legendary keyboardist who passed away in July 2012. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Jeb: People in England tend to be better at controlling their emotions than Americans, but there must have been some emotional moments.

Ian: "Of course, it was an emotional night.  There is a magic moment on the DVD where I come on stage with Jon’s wife Vicky, who has never been on a big stage and has never spoken into a microphone before, and we just say thank you to everybody.  If that didn’t bring a tear to your eye then nothing else ever would.  There was all of that going on, but the primary emotion that came off the stage was one of joy and happiness and it showed how music can rise above.  That is the way that he would have wanted it to be.  If you believe in it, that the spirit was looking down, he would have thought it was a great night as there was joy in that room, admittedly tinged with a little sadness.  It was everything that we wanted it to be." 

Jeb: Jon made the keyboard a hard rock instrument when he played it through distortion.  It made that classic Deep Purple sound.  Do you remember when he did that? 

Ian: "When we started, he was playing pretty much standard through Leslie cabinets.  When the band went through its first change in late ’69, and the music developed itself to a much harder direction, then he found what he wanted to get across, and he had the sound that he wanted to achieve and that was not going to come out of a Leslie cabinet.  He wanted something with a much more initial bite and aggression.  What he found was that by putting the Hammond directly into a couple of Marshall stacks he was getting what he needed for the music that was being created at that time.  Eventually, he went back to Hammonds through Leslies because the music again changed.  For that moment, we are talking Deep Purple In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head, he wanted that direct in your face, smash your skull open keyboard sound and that was the way he got it."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

On April 4th, 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 is available now as 1CD – The Composer, 2CD – The Rock Legend, 2DVD, Blu-ray, Box Set and Download, via earMUSIC. All product configurations feature individual cover artworks.

Footage of Deep Purple performing "Uncommon Man" from the release can be seen below:

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” LPs: 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” vinyl stands in the tradition of Deep Purple as it includes the band’s touching live version of “Above And Beyond” originally from the #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, Rick Wakeman, 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.

Tracklisting

CD1 – The Composer

“Fantasia” from Sarabande

“Durham Awakes” from Durham Concerto

“All Those Years Ago” (with Steve Balsamo and Mick Moody)

“Pictured Within” (with Miller Anderson)

“Sarabande” from Sarabande

“One From The Meadow” (with Margo Buchanan)

“Bourree” from Sarabande

“Afterwards” (with Jeremy Irons and Paul Mann)

CD2 – The Rock Legend

“Things Get Better” (feat. Paul Weller)

“I Take What I Want” (feat. Paul Weller and Mick Moody)

“Silas And Jerome” (feat. Phil Campbell, Ian Paice, and Bernie Marsden)

“I’m Gonna Stop Drinking” (feat. Phil Campbell, Ian Paice, and Bernie Marsden)

“Soldier Of Fortune” (feat. Steve Balsamo, Sandi Thorn, and Mick Moody)

“You Keep On Moving” (feat. Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice, Don Airey, and Rick Wakeman)

“Burn” (feat. Glenn Hughes, Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice, Don Airey, and Rick Wakeman)

“This Time Around” (feat. Glenn Hughes)

CD3 – Deep Purple Celebrating Jon Lord

“Uncommon Man”
“Above And Beyond”
“Lazy”
“When A Blind Man Cries”
“Perfect Strangers”
“Black Night”

“Hush” (feat. Bruce Dickinson, Rick Wakeman, Phil Campbell, Bernie Marsden, and Mick Moody)

DVD and Blu-ray includes the above tracks as well as an over 60 minute documentary, Two Worlds.

"Burn":

"Above And Beyond" :

The Composer trailer:

The Rock Legend trailer:

Click here to order the CD The Composer. Click here to order the CD The Rocker.