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As one-third of The Police, Andy Summers was a huge part of one of the biggest bands of all time. Summers’ success as a guitarist though, preceded his time with The Police, as the virtuoso player had already toured and/or recorded with the likes of The Soft Machine, Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, David Essex, Kevin Ayers, Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord, and Eric Burdon & The Animals.
Nowadays, Summers seems to record a new solo album every few years. His latest is Harmonics Of The Night, as released on October 15, 2021 via Flickering Shadow Records. The 12-track collection was recorded at Summers’ Venice, California studio, Hill Of Beans, and produced by Summers and longtime collaborator Dennis Martin Smith. The cover and packaging art for the album was shot by Summers.
Speaking of artwork, Summers is also a prolific photographer, having hosted dozens of exhibitions over the years. He is currently working on combining these 2 creative outlets with live performances that feature him playing in front of projections of his photographs. As if that was not enough, he has published several books — including 2006’s One Train Later and 2021’s Fretted & Moaning: Short Stories — and helmed the acclaimed 2012 documentary Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police.
On October 28, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Andy Summers again, this time via Zoom; the conversation, as embedded below, begins with some echoing that quickly goes away. More on Summers and Harmonics Of The Night can be found by clicking here, here, here and here.