famous as a heavy metal rock band, founded by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore
in 1968 ... original band members were
Ritchie Blackmore - guitar
Jon Lord - keyboards
Ian Gillan - vocals (also sang the role of "Jesus" in the
original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar)
Roger Glover - bass
Ian Paice - drums
Hush
(#4, 1968; first single)
1969 - Deep Purple joined with the royal Philharmonic Orchestra to perform
Lord's 3-movement "Concerto for Group and Orchestra"
typical series of tempos for the three movements: fast (1st movement) - slow (2nd movement) - fast (3rd movement)
Movement One: Moderato Allegro
Movement Two: Andante
Movement Three: Vivace Presto
1970 - Lord was commissioned by the BBC to write another work for rock group
& orchestra
he composed a 6-movement work entitled "Gemini Suite"
each movement centered around a different soloist ... 3 of whom were
from Deep Purple (Lord, Glover, & Paice), plus three soloists: Albert Lee (guitar),
and vocalists Tony Ashton & Yvonne Elliman (Elliman played the role of Mary Magdalene in the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar and had a hit single with "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from that rock opera)
exhibits a closer interaction between soloists & orchestra
writing is sophisticated and solo performances are excellent
they were set to record Machine Head in a studio that was part of the Casino ("gambling house" in the song)
members of Deep Purple were in the audience as Zappa & the Mothers were playing a concert in the casino theater the night before recording was to begin, when a patron ("some stupid with a flare gun") shot a flare into the ceiling and the resulting fire leveled the Casino ("burned the place to the ground")
