Andy Summers

From Jazz roots to worldwide fame with The Police, he developed a signature style that defined the post-punk era. “being a guitar player,” says Andy Summers, “is who I am.”

- By Grant Moon. Photographs by Andy White and Jay Strauss

By the time The Police hit big with their 1978 debut LP Outlandos D’Amour, Andy Summers was already in his thirties, and a seasoned guitar player. He’d got his break as a teenager in the 60s, playing with Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band on the circuit, rubbing shoulders with Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. He was once mooted as Mick Taylor’s replacement in The Rolling Stones, but instead rose to worldwide fame as a third of one of the all-time great rock bands.

The Police’s best-known songs bear the hallmarks of his guitar style – sophisticated chord voicings, clever lead salvos, percussive rhythm work and inventive use of tone. His much-imitated echo/chorus combo became an era-defining guitar flavour. Outside of that band, Summers has had a long and fruitful solo career, his catalogue rich with explorations of ambient, fusion, world music and more. He’s also a writer (his recent short story collection, Fretted And Moaning, is all about guitarists, and a great read), and an avid photographer too. This latter passion directly inspired his hypnotic current album, Harmonics Of The Night...

Musical inspiration comes in many forms.

I’ve got a photography show at the Mayfair Gallery in London, and Harmonics Of The Night came about because I wanted to create some music for it, instead of having some naffradio program going on in the background as people look at the work. I got this little pedal from TC Electronic [Brainwaves Pitch Shifter] and it’s amazing. It’s got this intervallic thing – you play a note and you get a second one with it. I was in my studio and came up with this 20-minute, one-take improvisation I called