John Paul Jones on all the keyboard instruments he plays (interview part 11 of 22)

This is the 11th part of the transcript of my interview with John Paul Jones, conducted Dec. 10, 2001.

SPS: You never toured with keyboards until ’70. Then it was Hammond organ until ’71. Rhodes piano. And then in ’71 you added the mellotron. Clavinet and Steinway grand in ’75. Then, finally, the Yamaha synthesizers after that. So you’re constantly expanding your role on the keyboards... Was that your idea?

JPJ: Well, yeah, I mean. As I said, the very first album was mainly and inherently Yardbirds.

SPS: That’s with "Your Time is Gonna Come." That’s my favorite -- I’m a keyboard player.

JPJ: That’s right. All right.

SPS: Whenever I sit down...

JPJ: Oh, yeah! You’re the chap that plays the organ. Did you write me on my site?

SPS: Yeah, pretty early on.

JPJ: I thought I recognized... Yeah, basically, you can’t do everything at once. I was doing some keyboards in the very early rehearsals. ... Were there keyboards on the first album?

SPS: Yeah, "Your Time is Gonna Come."

JPJ: Oh. That’s on the first album, right?

SPS: Yeah.

JPJ: Right, OK. You have to excuse me. ...

SPS: ...And "You Shook Me" is.

JPJ: All right, OK, so I was already playing Hammond organ. But taking it on tour, you’ve got the logistics of it: hiring the instrument and all that. ...

SPS: But sometimes if you were playing a city hall or something there would be something there for you to play.

JPJ: Well, no, we had to rent it in or we’d have to [inaudible]. And so, yeah, I mean, I played a lot of keyboards. And once you play one keyboard, you can play a lot. I don’t actually play a lot of instruments. I just play a lot of families. ...

SPS: People ask me what all I play, I’m like, "Oh, piano, organ, accordion..."

JPJ: "Harpsichord, clavichord..."

SPS: "...Synthesizers! Keyboards!"

JPJ: Yeah, exactly. It’s very impressive to people who don’t know.

SPS: "Wow, that’s like 12 different things!"

JPJ: There are subtle differences. I mean, I consider myself an organ player as well as pianist. ...

On to part 12: John Paul Jones on his Mellotron and Fairlight keyboards.