Editing Jon Lord (section)

===1968–1970===
It was in these three years that Lord's trademark keyboard sound emerged. Ignoring the emergence of the [[Moog synthesizer]], as pioneered in rock by such players as [[Keith Emerson]], Lord began experimenting with a keyboard sound produced by driving the Hammond organ through [[Marshall Amplification|Marshall amplifiers]] in an effort to match the attack and volume of Blackmore's guitar. Lord's version was heavier than a blues sound, and it often featured distortion and a far harder, industrial type sound that became the trademark Jon Lord organ sound. Both Emerson and [[Rick Wakeman]] publicly expressed admiration for Lord's mould-breaking work on the organ.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} This delivered a rhythmic foundation to complement Blackmore's speed and virtuosity on lead guitar. Lord also loved the sound of an [[RMI 368 Electra-Piano and Harpsichord]], which he used on such songs as "Demon's Eye" and "Space Truckin'".

In 1973, Lord's original Hammond C3 gave out and he bought another from [[Christine McVie]] of [[Fleetwood Mac]]. Also around this time, Lord and his keyboard technician, Mike Phillips, combined his Hammond C3 Organ with the RMI. Lord kept this particular Hammond C3 until his retirement from the band in 2002, when he passed it to successor [[Don Airey]]. That instrument was retired from stage use a few years later, as it had become "pretty knackered" according to Airey.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_interview.php?id=970 |title=CRR Interview – Don Airey: It's Deep Purple & There's a Hammond |publisher=Classicrockrevisited.com |access-date=2014-07-28}}</ref>

By pushing the Hammond-Leslie sound through Marshall amplification, Lord created a growling, heavy, mechanical sound which allowed him to compete with Blackmore as a soloist, with an organ that sounded as prominent as the lead guitar. Said one reviewer, "many have tried to imitate [Lord's] style, and all failed."<ref name="vanderlee1">{{cite web|url=http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=1952 |author=Van der Lee, Matthijs|title=''In Rock'' review|publisher=Sputnikmusic.com|access-date=13 September 2014}}</ref> Said Lord himself, "There's a way of playing a Hammond [that's] different. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that you can play a Hammond with a piano technique. Well, you can, but it ''sounds'' like you are playing a Hammond with a piano technique. Really, you have to learn how to play an organ. It's a [[legato]] technique; it's a technique to achieve legato on a non-legato instrument."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyrius.com.au/press/articles/audio-sound-recording/jon-lord-interview-complete-unedited-transcription|title=Jon Lord Interview - Complete Unedited transcription|date=10 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410031049/http://www.cyrius.com.au/press/articles/audio-sound-recording/jon-lord-interview-complete-unedited-transcription |access-date=9 June 2024|archive-date=10 April 2009 }}</ref>

In early Deep Purple recordings, Lord had appeared to be the leader of the band.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Highway Star: Deep Purple's Roger Glover Interviewed |work=The Quietus |date=20 January 2011 |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/05569-deep-purple-interview}}</ref> Despite the cover songs "[[Hush (Billy Joe Royal song)|Hush]]" and "[[Kentucky Woman]]" becoming hits in North America, Deep Purple never made chart success in the UK until the ''[[Concerto for Group and Orchestra]]'' album dented the UK charts in early 1970. Lord's willingness later to play many of the key rhythm parts gave Blackmore the freedom to let loose both live and on record.

On Deep Purple's second and third albums, Lord began indulging his ambition to fuse rock with classical music. An early example of this is the song "Anthem" from the album ''[[The Book of Taliesyn]]'' (1968), but a more prominent example is the song "April" from the band's [[Deep Purple (album)|self-titled third album]] (1969). The song is recorded in three parts: (1) Lord and Blackmore only, on keyboards and acoustic guitar, respectively; (2) an orchestral arrangement complete with strings; and (3) the full rock band with vocals. Lord's ambition enhanced his reputation among fellow musicians, but caused tension within the group. Simper later said, "The reason the music lacked direction was Jon Lord fucked everything up with his classical ideas."<ref>{{cite web |title=Nick Simper Interview from "Darker than Blue", July 1983 |url=http://www.thehighwaystar.com/interviews/simper/ns1983xxxx.html |website=Thehighwaystar.com |access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref> Blackmore agreed to go along with Lord's experimentation, provided he was given his head on the next band album.<ref name="vanderlee1"/>

The resulting Lord-composed ''Concerto For Group and Orchestra'' was one of rock's earliest attempts to fuse two distinct musical idioms. Performed live at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] on 24 September 1969 (with new band members [[Ian Gillan]] and [[Roger Glover]], Evans and Simper having been fired), it was recorded by the [[BBC]] and later released as an album in December 1969. ''Concerto'' gave Deep Purple their first highly publicised taste of mainstream fame and gave Lord the confidence to believe that his experiment and his compositional skill had a future, as well as giving Lord the opportunity to work with established classical figures, such as conductor Sir [[Malcolm Arnold]], who brought his skills to bear by helping Lord realise the work and to protect him from the inevitable disdain of the older members of the orchestra.{{Citation needed|date=July 2012}}