Steve Morse: Keep Dreg-ing my Heart Around

So, it was a Sunday night, DirecTV has HDNet, which features music and other things, and the info says "Deep Purple, They All Come Down to Montreux" 2009

Now Deep Purple is part of the triumvirate of hard rock bands, joining Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath.
DP has gone through many lineup changes, vocally and with lead guitar.  Those stories later...

It was Ritchie Blackmore who created the distinctive and most recognized riff of all time :Smoke on the Water on Machine Head...(which he said he stole from Beethoven's Fifth-who is the original heavy metal writer by the way, more on that another day)

The love/hate relationship with Blackmore and DP was on again, off again, and by the early '90's, it was permanently over, and that meant only one thing: STEVE MORSE would be in my living room.

"Click"   The surround sound is adjusted to rock concert & I have front row seats.

Ian Gillan's vocals and the heartbeat of Roger Glover & Ian Paice were there, (for a real treat check out Gillan/Glover's album "Accidentally on Purpose" 1988)

Be still my heart. Steve still remains one of the most versatile of all guitarists.  Rock, funk, jazz, fusion, classical, a hint of country: its all there.  From the days of the Dixie Dregs (now playing in the background FYI) Steve was an enigma.  The Dregs were jazz/fusion and purely Morse.

He is a virtuoso.  Clearly, there is no better word for it.

It was demonstrated once again as I watched him move to the center of the stage and play with pure abandon.  I think what makes my heart sing with him, is watching him smile throughout...its as though the music is effervescent: it fizzes up inside and he sparkles... there is this joy that connects man and instrument and he begins a medley of instrumentals from the Page/Hendrix/Howe/Blackmore notebooks.  Clearly Steve is now a step above even these (apologies to the aforementioned, but it is what it is) They opened the doors, Morse waltzed through and created something completely his own: and more.

The harmonics send shock waves down the spine and make the toes curl.

He is a man without pretense, and should rightfully be one of the most egotistical of them all...but he is not.
Having met him years ago, that was the one thing that stood out most in my mind as we talked.  (hey, I was in radio and I was fortunate enough to interview an array of artists in those days. I know now I was the luckiest woman on earth)

We talked about him as a musician, but he seemed to take great pleasure in talking about flying, being a pilot...and I remember thinking that that same ability to glide above the earth, through the expanse of space and clouds was where his music and his playing were born, and when I hear him, I soar along beside.

Steve Morse: gives music wings.