The music world is humbly paused today as the sad news about the passing of the legendary Jon Lord started being circulated around the Internet. It’s without question that his name is synonymous with the term “Classic Rock” and thanks to the musical contributions that he made with his band mates in Deep Purple during their earliest years, had offered up as much inspiration as the likes of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Isn’t it amazing that such a man was not yet inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame while he was still able to enjoy the “honor”. Mr. Lord was born Jonathan “Jon” Douglas Lord back in 1941 and in addition to numerous releases with Purple also worked with Whitesnake and was a respected composer of classical material. Even though Lord had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he was still working on music but that would all end today when at aged 71 he would leave us.

Writing this brief memorial notation finds me recalling only ever seeing Deep Purple in concert once and this was during their “Perfect Strangers” tour. Despite this, I still have a considerable amount of Deep Purple in my music library collection and will be spinning quite a few of their most amazing tracks in Lord’s honor. There are keyboardists and there are keyboardists, but there was only one Jon Lord. He was the prime reason that so many Rock fans held the sound of the Hammond organ so valuable. Sit back and think on their music for a moment and you can almost hear it playing in your head at maximum volume. I know that I can that is for sure. Thank you Jon for giving us that unique sound that you did, you are forever in our musical hearts and memory. May you Rest in Peace.

Learn more about Jon’s illustrious career and life via his Wikipedia entry HERE.