By Stuart Harris
LONDON (Reuters) - From humble jazz beginnings to superstardom with rock
trio The Police, English-born guitarist Andy Summers' career has come full
circle. Summers, whose arching guitar featured on classic Police tracks
"Every Breath You Take" and "Roxanne," is touring Europe with a new bass
player and drummer to promote his latest album "Peggy's Blue Skylight."
The disc features innovative interpretations of tunes by jazz great Charles
Mingus and includes guest vocal appearances by Blondie's Debbie Harry and
rapper Q-Tip. "I never thought I'd make a recording of Mingus' music,"
Summers told Reuters. "The creative challenge is to respect the composer and
make a nice homage but at the same time I want to make sure that my voice is
on there and make it sound contemporary." Mingus had a huge output of over
300 tracks, so deciding which to record was an arduous task. "You have to
saturate yourself in the music -- I got everything I could on Mingus, I read
his autobiography, played all the music, put it all into different
categories, did different recordings of the tunes and played it all on
guitar until I was immersed in it and I could make a selection."
Summers is playing small clubs in front of about 100 fans on his current
tour, a far cry from his time with The Police, who at the height of their
success played New York's massive Shea Stadium in front of 70,000 fans. But
Summers is happy, knowing the intimate venues suit his current musical
style.
"The history of jazz has always been in these basement rooms...dark little
rooms in New York -- that's where the music was formed."
