Great story bdp24. So sad to hear another of the great R&R drummers of that era passing on. Keith Moon, Charlie Watts, and John Bonham immediately come to mind. Like others, I’d no idea of his psych history and incarceration for killing his mother.
I’m sitting here thinking about that aspect, Back in the 1980’s I spent ten years working on and supervising Corrections psychiatric treatment and admissions units. Sadly his story would not sound unusual in that setting. I know nothing about the particulars of his case but wonder how much substance abuse contributed to his psychoses.
Typically schizophrenia manifests itself on it’s own in the late teenage, maybe early twenties years. Just a speculation, but Jim Gordon’s skill level as a drummer gets me to thinking he might have induced his psychosis later in life using drugs, well after his skill as a drummer had had a chance to fully develop. I understand from watching documentaries on Eric Clapton that substance abuse was rampant among the Derek and the Dominos group. Substance abuse and mental illness are a common mix and so often lead to the tragedy to his family, and himself, this gifted drummers life became.