Purple Reign

Jeff Crawford

17Mar08

Deep Purple's Jon Lord looks back on the risks of pairing a rock band with an orchestra and laughs at his own audacity. Jeff Crawford reports.

These days, keyboardist Jon Lord refers to his classical rock concerto as ``my old warhorse'', but in 1969 it was a daring musical bridge to cross.

The fact that his band, Deep Purple, was virtually unknown at the time and the ensemble in question was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra only accentuates the gamble.

``The more I look back on it, the more I realise what a giant leap of faith it was,'' Lord says.

``If I'd been older and wiser, I think I might not have done it. It just seems that when you're in your 20s  and it was the '60s  all things seemed possible.''

The performance of Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall made Purple's name, the band following it months later with a ground-shaking hard rock release, In Rock, and breakthrough single Black Night.

Lord, who left Deep Purple in 2002, is here this month to perform the concerto and other Purple classics with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Zep Boys stepping in for his old outfit.

Back in the day, the keyboardist had to convince his Purple cohorts an orchestral detour was a wise career move.

``It didn't seem that anyone was bothered or that they took it all that seriously. It was only when we got into rehearsal with the orchestra that they realised the challenge we were putting ourselves through.''

After one more classical outing, Gemini Suite, the band focused entirely on exploring what was soon dubbed heavy metal, and Lord pushed the boundaries of rock soloing with his old sparring partner, guitar wizard Ritchie Blackmore.

``It was competitive friendship. We were both technically proficient players, to put it modestly, and we liked to push our limits. We were soul brothers in the early days.''

He says he still misses Purple but believes he made the right decision to leave, at last finding the time to compose more.

``The last (Purple) concert I did was probably the most emotional I've ever been on stage. I still miss playing with the guys enormously ... but I have discovered something wonderful about myself as a composer.''

ASO Plays Deep Purple - Festival Theatre, Thursday to Saturday, March 27-29, 8pm. Bookings: BASS.