Andy Summers, the English journeyman guitarist, performed solo in the Great Hall last night, for the final of three NZ shows, tagged an evening with.
Acknowledged by many an axe man and woman in music circles, Andy Summers no doubt is a guitar great.
From his days mingling with Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, to the lofty heights of iconic pop band The Police in the 70’s & 80’s, along with collaborations with Robert Fripp and others of that ilk, Summers has transcended musical boundaries. Exploring genres of Jazz, West and Eastern classical, Reggae, Prog and on. Name it, he can play it.
Tonight’s concert was a bit of a mash between a more conventional music performance, and conversations from Summers about his adventures around the world.
Interspersed with images of his own photography to embellish these stories, Summer’s quirky sense of humour and delivery was to lead to his own self-amusement at times.
My solitary guitar clinic attendance prior was a goodie. Yngwie Malmsteen, but that was eons ago.
I was fortunate to have local gat hero Paul O’Brien on board with me. With an expectation of focus and talk about guitars and tech speak, and maybe a Q&A, there was surprisingly none of that (see his interview with Rick Beato on YouTube for that stuff).
The Fender Stratocaster that has been Summers periodic guitar of choice, didn’t make an appearance tonight. Instead, Summers went the distance with his Powers Electric – a kind of Taylor offshoot designed by San Diego based Andy Powers.
An intimate setting and attentive audience set up Summer’s opening pieces, True Nature and Metal Dog.
Using a modulator, and adding his signature harmonics, Summers commenced in a sculpture-like manner. The soundscapes drew a resemblance to synthesisers at times.
Having explained that every night is a little different in his tour preamble, Summers adopted a Paul Kelly style evening (thinking his A-to-Z tour). Breaking up performances with personal ditties and images of evidence.
One such story was travelling to São Paulo for some virtuoso guitar level shit and over-doing sleeping pills on the flight. Pronounced 20 minutes from death at arrival, there was the black goo injection remedy from the airport doctor.
The Last Dance of Mr X was Summers retort, a Cuban/tango-esque ripper.
Then the first of which was to be a delightful handful of Police tunes. Tea In the Sahara (off Synchronicity). With the great hall’s pipe organ drenched in crimson/blue light, we blissfully chilled to the spatial and at times glacial renderings of Summers playing. Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space.
Being a solo performance, backing tracks were employed for the most part. But these didn’t get in the way, and at times were sparse, such as when Summers delivered his version of ‘Round Midnight, from his childhood influence and hero, Thelonious Monk.
Pics of New York jazz clubs Birdland and Village Vanguard got some screen-time, as well as New York’s street life.
From his Rhythm ’n’ Blues beginnings with Zoot Money (who incidentally passed away last month), to studying classical guitar, Summers is all about musical and guitar diversity.
He exhibited this again with The Police’s first hit, the classic Roxanne. A backing track bonus, The Police drummer Stuart Copeland’s uber-hip sampled drum tracks.
Summers went on to talk about his published books of photography, including his most recent Fretted and Moaning (2021), and the made into a film One Train Later.
He has an eye for capturing a moment. He interspersed this with footage of him walking into a karaoke bar in Tokyo to sing along to Every Breath You Take with the punters, much to their amazement.
Noting his early love of cinema, and the lens it gave him to explore photography and soundtrack work, Summer’s gave Manhā De Carnaval from the soundtrack of Black Orpheus a run through. Paul noted our own Arli Liberman as a parallel, with his comparable spacial guitar explorations.
On to Bali, travelling with John Belushi and downing magic mushroom omelettes. Triboluminescence again portrayed Summers ability and approach to adopt indigenous music, culture, people, places and experiences into his music.
We didn’t get Driven To Tears (love that gat solo), but a trifecta of Police classics followed.
Spirits In the Material World, and we were tapping to the offbeat verses and singing along with joy. Genius. And Bring on The Night, absolutely!
A solitary encore, and it was fittingly Message in A Bottle, Summers emphasising the melody throughout with improvisation, and his defining contribution to The Police’s catalogue.
81 and still playing exceptionally great, Andy Summers left us with good vibes and wanting more. Still so youthful, there’s a kid in there, and Summers made us feel like kids too. Keep it coming Andy!
Mike Beck
Setlist
1 True Nature
2 Metal Dog
3 The Bones of Twang Zu
4 The Last Dance of Mr X
5 Tea in The Sahara
6 ‘Round Midnight
7 Roxanne
8 Manhā De Carnaval
9 Samba De Uma Nota Só
10 Triboluminescence
11 Spirits in The Material World
12 Bring on The Night
13 Message in A Bottle