Deep Purple’s keyboard man Don Airey goes solo with a new LP that pays a powerful tribute to his beloved Hammond organ. TIM SLATER gets an earful…
Keyed Up…
among the genial Sunderland native’s jaw dropping CV, which also includes a highly successful collaboration with the late and much-missed guitar genius Gary Moore.
I A long time friend and collaborator with Moore, Don Airey played keys and
scored the horn parts on the guitarist’s most successful solo LP Still Got The Blues (1990), an album that was originally conceived over a pint in Airey’s local village pub!
Since 2002 Airey has been a permanent member of Deep Purple, after inheriting the gig from original ‘Purple keyboard player John Lord. With the Hammond organ playing such a central role in the Deep Purple sound, Airey explains that it took him back to his roots in the North East. “I started playing Hammond in the working men’s clubs in Sunderland when I was 15 years old. I remember in one club they had a C3 and two 122 Leslies and a Hammond PRT top cabinet, it was quite a setup. They used to let me go in there and practice every Tuesday evening!”
Airey’s new solo LP All Out (whose title bears witness to his love of cricket) is deliberately designed to feature the unmistakable Hammond growl as its centerpiece. Based around a trio comprising Airey, bassist Laurence Cottle and drummer Darrin Mooney and featuring guest spots from guitarists Bernie Marsden, Rob Harris, Don’s brother, keith and Joe Bonamassa, All Out throbs with a powerful classic rock vibe. Vocal contributions from Carl Sentence round out this fi ne set of original compositions, alongside an appropriately incendiary version of the Jimi Hendrix, Fire. “I just wanted everyone to relax and loosen up,” Airey smiles, “We came back from the pub, just plugged in and went for it!” One particularly outstanding track is the dramatic interpretation of Estancia, written by Argentine classical composer George Ginastera. This unabashed no-holds-barred rock organ wig-out batters the eardrums and shakes the rafters in the fi ne tradition of classic early 70s Deep Purple or Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
“What this album is really about is the sound of the Hammond organ’” Airey asserts, “I wanted to record it with Laurence and Darrin, all playing together.
I really wanted to use the same rhythm section and it devolved into the three-piece because Rob Harris is so busy. It was nice to get different people in; it’s always a great thing in the studio. Joe sent in his contribution and that was exciting. I sent the track over to him and he sent his version back with two takes and it was astonishing! He is a wonderful player, his technique and his feeling and his facility to play; he reminds me a lot of Gary…and that’s saying something!”
The use of guitar amps to harness the classic rock keyboard 46
www.playmusicpickup.co.uk ‘Purple’s pro: Don Airey at the keyboards
n-demand keyboard virtuoso Don Airey has worked alongside an incredible roster of famous and infamous musicians. The refi ned classicism of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the demented inner sanctum of self-styled ‘Prince of Darkness’ Ozzy Osbourne both feature prominently
Hammond sound was a very important factor, which led to a fair bit of research on Airey’s part. “We had two Leslies and a Hughes & Kettner Puretone amp with a 412 and a Marshall JCM900 with a 412 as well, so the Hammond was going through all of that. I’m very interested in how Jon Lord got those sounds back in those days. Jon was a real Leslie man and he used a Hammond PRT cabinet, which was just an amp and speakers. It was when Jon couldn’t get his Leslies down the stairs or when they kept blowing up that he started using one of Ritchie Blackmore’s Marshalls and that’s when he started to get that really weird sound. My brother Paul, who works for Hughes & Kettner, is also very interested in how Jon got those sounds and that led Hughes & Kettner to bring out an amp called the Puretone, which is a Class A amp, so in a way I am using exactly what Jon Lord used on Machine Head. We built the sound around that, rather than the Leslies.” Surely it would be easier to use modern digital keyboards and plug-ins to obtain those sounds, rather than the hassle of lugging all that heavy Hammond gear around? Airey offers a straightforward explanation. “I think that Stevie Winwood summed it up. Suzuki bought out this amazing copy of the Hammond B3, which I demoed in London. Steve Winwood also tried it and when I asked him what he thought he said, ‘It’s great…but there’s nothing like the real thing!’ With the Hammond you fi nd out something new every day, which you don’t with an emulation” Airey says, sagely. “The Hammond is the hardest keyboard to play, it’s murderous; it gives you no peace. Very few people actually start of as organists, everyone starts as a piano player but it’s different with the Hammond; it demands a different technique and it’s hard to adjust. It takes it out of you!” PM
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