I completely missed news of the passing of hard rock keyboardist Jon Lord, a couple of weeks ago. RIP to him, and thanks to his shade for all the great thrills! Here's a quote, from guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, about the Deep Purple song "Highway Star":
"Jon Lord worked his part out to mine. Initially, I was going to play my solo over the chords he had planned out. But I couldn't get off on them, so I made up my own chords and we left the spot for him to write a melody. The keyboard solo is quite a bit more difficult than mine because of all those 16th notes. Over the years, I've always played that solo note for note--again, one of the few where I've done that--but it just got faster and faster onstage because we would drink more and more whiskey. Jon would have to play his already difficult part faster and faster and he would get very annoyed about it."
-- Ritchie Blackmore
