Jon Lord – Sarabande
This is a true oddity. One might know Lord from his praised work as Deep Purple’s keyboardist with his snarling Hammond-solos. While Purple is pretty straightforward rock music (and actually nothing that I am really fond of – sorry, I find them terribly boring), Lord proves with this mid-70s extravaganza that his attempt to get his bandmates go play in an orchestral suite was not just pretentious mumbojumbo. Lord works with classical band including jazz drumming legend Pete York and adds an orchestra. But then… he takes the formalities of baroque dances and uses them to write tunes that simply rock and swing at the same time. This guy wrote a sarabande that you cannot withstand. It makes your tentacles wag until you dance away. Ever danced a Gigue? No? Now you will… I like these hybrid abominations: classical, baroque, rock, jazz. Jon Lord’s Sarabande is pure brilliance.