Posts Tagged ‘Tony Ashton’

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Tony Ashton’s book out now, foreword by Jon Lord

November 9, 2011

Zermattitis is the title of Tony Ashton‘s self-penned memoirs and short stories published now by Wymer UK.

Taking its name from the Swiss town of Zermatt, where Ashton and Jon used to spend many a holiday on skis – after skis and gazing at the Matterhorn – the book was painstakingly transcribed from Tony’s hand written manuscript. Written in his inimitable style, it promises to have your sides splitting with laughter over Ashton’s amazing sense of humour.

Possibly most well known for his role in Paice Ashton Lord, Tony was also the main man behind Ashton Gardner & Dyke, whose biggest hit Resurrection Shuffle put them on the charts in 1971.

Tony Ashton passed away in 2001.

Subtitled A Musicians’ Guide To Going Downhill Fast (a line from one of Ashton’s last recorded songs), the book’s foreword was written by Jon who still counts Tony Ashton as one of his very best friends.

Read more about the book – and order it here to support JonLord.org.

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First of the Big Bands, now even bigger

December 5, 2010

Purple Records have released the remastered edition of Tony Ashton and Jon Lord‘s First of the Big Bands album.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recommends the album and calls it ‘thoroughly enjoyable.’ Hitting the nail on the head, they say that you are ‘drawn into it’s warm, rootsy embrace.’

The remastered CD contains two bonus tracks – the single b-side Sloeback and an alternative version of Downside Upside Down – along with extensive liner notes by Simon Robinson.

The project was Ashton’s and Lord’s brainchild and continuation of their working relationship after Ashton Gardner & Dyke helped out on Jon Lord’s soundtrack album The Last Rebel.

Stylistically, First of the Big Bands was the precursor to Paice Ashton Lord‘s Malice in Wonderland. Lots of brass, piano and female backing vocalist. Lots of excellent musicianship.

First of the Big Bands resulted in just two live performances, one of which was for the BBC. This was later issued on a now unavailable live album, First of the Big Bands Live in Concert 1974.

Read the full review.

Buy the album.

If you don’t know the album, check out Downside Upside Down (from the original unremastered edition):

Posted in Album reviews, News, Recordings | Tagged | 1 Comment »

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Windows live on tv

August 9, 2009

The second movement of Jon Lord and Eberhard Schoener’s Windows suite has surfaced on Youtube.

It features vocals by Tony Ashton, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes with Pete York on drums, Fay Fenwick on guitar and – of course – Jon Lord on piano.

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First Of The Big Bands – remastered, reissued

August 7, 2009

An often overlooked gem from Jon Lord’s 1970’s catalogue is being remastered and re-released on CD.

First Of The Big Bands was one of several projects Jon Lord completed with his late dear friend Tony Ashton.

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New live DVDs featuring Jon Lord

May 28, 2009

Ashton DVD

Two brand new DVD / CD packages with historic recordings featuring Jon Lord, Deep Purple and Tony Ashton have just been added to the Jon Lord Music Shop.

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