Andy Summers

Although primarily recognized for his guitar work in the Police, Andy Summers later cultivated a prosperous and well-regarded solo path centered on contemporary instrumental music shaped by new age sensibilities, a direction that, much like his contributions alongside Sting and the group, reflects his deep jazz affinity and passion for sculpting intricate instrumental soundscapes. Andrew James Somers entered the world on December 31, 1942, in Poulton-Fylde, Lancashire, England; after relocating to Bournemouth during childhood, he adopted the guitar at 14 and became absorbed in the regional jazz milieu, later simplifying his surname to Summers for easier pronunciation. By 16 he performed regularly in neighborhood clubs and coffee houses, drawing the attention of Zoot Money, who invited him to participate in Money’s Big Roll Band for the live recording The All Happening Zoot Money's Big Roll Band at Klook's Kleek. Money eventually transformed the ensemble into the psychedelic unit Dantalian’s Chariot, and when that endeavor ended in early 1968, Somers briefly joined the Soft Machine before reuniting with Money in a reconstituted Animals configuration for the album Love Is. Following that band’s dissolution in 1969, Summers pursued classical guitar and composition studies at UCLA for four years, while also offering guitar instruction, performing with a local Latin rock outfit, and appearing in productions by several theater companies. Returning to England in 1973, he functioned as a versatile session musician, traveling with the support ensembles of Neil Sedaka, Kevin Coyne, Kevin Ayers, and David Essex.

Summers first encountered Sting and Stewart Copeland in 1977 during his tenure with Strontium 90, prompting the pair to recruit him for their permanent venture, the Police; the trio progressively shaped a sound rooted in jazz- and reggae-tinged pop/rock, with Sting’s prominent bass lines freeing Summers to contribute delicate sonic layers and hues on guitar while exploring an array of effects. He ventured independently for the first time in 1982, collaborating with King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp on the jazz- and Eastern-inflected I Advance Masked. This was succeeded in 1984 by Bewitched, a second Summers/Fripp partnership that coincided with the official breakup of the Police.

Eager to explore domains beyond rock & roll, Summers undertook select film soundtrack assignments (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, 2010, among others) before resuming studio work under his own name. His debut solo album, the harmonically complex yet pop-leaning XYZ from 1987, encountered unfavorable reviews. The follow-up, 1988’s Mysterious Barricades, achieved greater success by highlighting his textural approach across jazzy, new age-tinged pieces. A sequence of similarly oriented releases appeared throughout the 1990s, among them The Golden Wire (1989), Charming Snakes (1991), World Gone Strange (1991), Invisible Thread (1993), and The Last Dance of Mr. X (1997). For 1998’s Strings of Desire he partnered with South American guitar virtuoso Victor Biglione; 1999’s Green Chimneys: Music of Thelonious Monk featured Summers alongside a larger ensemble than usual and marked his initial post-Police collaboration with Sting on a rendering of “‘Round Midnight.” Building on the reception of that Monk project, the guitarist assembled an album of Charles Mingus interpretations titled Peggy’s Blue Skylight, issued in late 2000. Earth + Sky arrived four years afterward. Summers maintained his recording activity with the release of First You Build a Cloud in 2007 and joined the Police reunion tour that same year. After the reunion concluded, he established the band Circa Zero with Rob Giles of the Rescues; the group issued Circus Hero in 2014 prior to disbanding. Summers then resumed his solo output, delivering Metal Dog in 2015 and Triboluminescence in 2017.