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Credit: Alamy \/ Far Out \/ Bogaerts \/ Rob \/ Anefo<\/p>\n
Sun 9 August 2026 19:30, UK <\/p>\n
Strangely enough, one of the leading forces of the new wave had crossed paths with a titan of the 1960s<\/a> counterculture.<\/p>\n The fact was, The Police guitarist Andy Summers was already something of a rock veteran<\/a> when he first joined The Police in 1977. As punk had upended the whole music scene toward the decade\u2019s end, a fortuitous session gig on Gong captain Mike Howlett\u2019s Strontium 90 side-project saw London\u2019s Virtual Earth Studios host Summers, Stewart Copeland and one Gordon \u2018Sting\u2019 Sumner jamming together for the first time.<\/p>\n Later, after bumping into Copeland on the Underground and going for coffee, Summers possessed enough chutzpah to tell the American drummer, \u201cStewart, you and that bass player [Sting], you\u2019ve got something. But you need me in the band \u2013 and I accept.\u201d<\/p>\n Such brass was well earned. Before The Police would conquer UK charts and play stadiums all over the States during their 1980s peak, Summers\u2019 ten-odd years\u2019 seniority over Sting and Copeland had seen the guitarist at the centre of the swinging London scene while the other two were still at school. As early as the mid-1960s, Summers played a small part in the British R&B boom in Zoot Money\u2019s Big Roll Band before charting a course through to psychedelia with the group\u2019s Dantalian\u2019s Chariot successor, then later winning brief stints with Soft Machine and The Animals.<\/p>\n It was late 1966 when Summers met America\u2019s most iconic guitarist in the flesh. Jimi Hendrix had only just arrived in London from New York for a couple of years, having played the Greenwich Village clubs fronting Jimmy James and the Blue Flames before a chance encounter with producer and manager Chas Chandler brought Seattle hopeful across the Atlantic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Corraling his Experience trio with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, the shared music scene and managerial umbrella brought the young Summers to witness Hendrix\u2019s rise and rise across the ensuing years, socialising at Zoot Money\u2019s rock hangout on Gunterstone Road and catching an early set at the Cromwellian Club.<\/p>\n But it was in Los Angeles, well into Hendrix\u2019s rock whirlwind, that Summers managed to win an actual jam. In October 1968, the future Police guitarist caught wind that the Experience were scheduled to cut parts at TTG Studios, and through his friendship connection with Mitchell, saw to it to try and wangle an actual blast of guitar improv.<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI walked out into the studio, I see Mitch, and there was a Les Paul there,\u201d Summers recalled to Rick Beato in 2023. \u201cSo I picked up the Les Paul, probably outrageous that I actually dared to do that. I started jamming with Mitch, so we\u2019re jamming along together, and it\u2019s all going great; we\u2019re having a good jam, then Jimi walked out, picks up the bass. He starts playing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n About ten minutes passed before Hendrix approached the ever brash Summers for a go on the Les Paul. \u201cYeah, I think you can play,\u201d Summers joked in response when recalling the story. Supposedly, the room jammed for another half hour before winding down in the evening. It was the last time Summer would ever see Hendrix again.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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