Tony met Deep Purple in the early 1970s, when the last recording of Ashton, Gardner and Dyke was a collaboration with keyboardist Jon Lord on the soundtrack for a b-movie called "The Last Rebel". In the meantime, Ashton had appeared on Jon Lord's first solo album "Gemini Suite" in 1971. In 1973, Ashton joined the group Family for their last album and tour. That same year, he and David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes were guest vocalists on Jon Lord's second album "Windows". Ashton and Lord became close friends. In the summer of 1974, during a break in Deep Purple's busy touring schedule, Tony Ashton and Jon Lord recorded their album "First of the Big Bands". This project was launched with a gig at the London Palladium the same year and the BBC taped a special live appearance at Golders Green Hippodrome in London. The album of this show combines rhythm and blues, boogie piano and Hammond organ with a big band. Ashton also contributed to Roger Glover's "Butterfly Ball" project. In these years, Ashton and Lord found a second home in Zermatt, an alpine resort in Switzerland, sometimes to ski, but more often to provide non-profit gigs in a unique complex (one hotel-two night-clubs-two restaurants and four pubs) called "Hotel Post" which was run by American-born Karl Ivarsson. Ashton managed to come to the place almost until his death, and Jon Lord was a regular visitor until his death even though the hotel did not exist anymore.