Well, do you remember Deep Purple in Lyon? Follow me. Return to the past. It was the 25th October 1970. A Sunday, at three in the afternoon. at the Théâtre du 8e
The concert began not with the Deep, but with TRANSITION, a French group. Transition was Magma, minus a few of the band! We discovered with great pleasure, Teddy Lasry (flute), Francis Moze (bass), Claude Engel (lead guitar), François Cahen (piano) and Christian Vander (drums). And what they played was incredible. The sound was a little like Magma, for sure. That's to say that it was in jazz time signatures, with a pop element too, but not terrifically original material. They brought up all their influences, to offer a complex music, rich in colour, which was gradually more enthusiastically accepted by the heavy rock audience as a way to start the gig. Transition swam in their relaxation and allowed us to judge each ones musical abilities in a series of improvisations. Two pieces were executed in the course of which the jazz culture of the musicians was very apparent; notably that of Cahen and Lasry, the principal melodic force behind the group. And Vander, he is a remarkable drummer. Subtle and yet concise. Without flashy embellishments yet adept at sparkling drum rolls... The others were not bad either. Transition eventually got pretty good applause from a full hall.
Short of money and with urgent material needs: Christian formed a parallel group with Moze, Faton, Engel and Lasry, destined to play the support act at Deep Purple's Parisian concerts which they did not plan to listen to themselves. The group was baptised TRANSITION and interpreted the jazz standards of the sixties. But the public had turned up to listen to heavy English rock and not the Jazz that they were offered. At the end of one of Christian's drum solos a heckler shouted "Yeah, not bad" sniggeringly. Out of curiosity, the musicians stayed to listen to Deep Purple and were amused by it's simplicity. By contrast, in the hall the fans were delirious. Ritchie Blackmore drinking Coke with one hand while playing a solo with the other. Transition decided not to leave it at that. They prepared for the concert the next day with some special effects. Engel played his solos while drinking wine from the bottle; Moze presented Christian's solo by saying "And now he will play for you in 3/3, very fast, again very fast etc." At the end of their show, the group advanced to the front of the stage and threw carrots and turnips at the public. The folks in Deep Purple were outraged and decided they no longer wanted to be associated with these agitators who had ruined their lovely show. End of interlude.
Theoretically on Monday the 2nd of November 1970, we were supposed to see Deep Purple with Transition as support. But after the concerts in Lyon, Sochaux, Mulhouse and Paris, they cancelled their contract for Le Havre, Elbeuf and Brest. Their place as the main act was given to ZOO who included at that time: Michel Ripoche (trombone and violin), Daniel Carlet (violin and tenor sax), Michel Hervé (bass guitar) and André Hervé (organ, vibes, guitar and accordion). Both the Hervé brothers later joined Magma. The first part of the show was definitely as planned, Christian Vander's TRANSITION.
Eleven hundred people filled the hall for this show, many of them attending their first concert. In the dictionary of pop, Transition = an abbreviation for Magma. Bizarre, eh? I had been told that Transition were Magma less three of their main artists. We found therefore: François Cahen on piano, Teddy Lasry on flute, Christian Vander at the drums, Francis Moze on bass and Claude Engel on solo guitar. Because of the absence of Klaus Blasquiz the recital would be totally instrumental. They opened the act with three of their own compositions, which at first hearing seemed badly constructed, quite jazzy. Eventually however they gelled with a certain cohesion. The next three pieces were very personal adaptations of the work of Santana and Jimi Hendrix. For a quarter of an hour, Claude Engel demonstrated his vast talent for guitar solos. I think I can now say that he is indeed a guitarist of international calibre. Finally their show ended with the odd choice of Dave Brubeck's 'Blue Rondo á la Turc' and then the group stepped forward and threw vegetables at the audience!