While the name Andy Summers may not be as recognizable or roll off the tongue as easily of those of his former bandmates, it should elicit a hefty amount of praise and respect. The 80-year-old veteran artist whose musical resume had already boasted plenty of experience as a member of psych/progressing band Soft Machine and an incarnation of Eric Burdon’s Animals, but is better known for his innovative approach and his contributions to pop music as the mastermind guitarist for one of the most popular and successful rock bands of all time: The Police.

Bursting on the scene in 1977, the cusp of punk rock morphing into the easier-to-digest new wave tag, Summers, along with ace bassist and singer Sting and mesmerizing drummer Stewart Copeland, cornered the market on making smart, witty, catchy, memorable records that straddled the line between the afore-mentioned genres du jour with a good dose of reggae and world music thrown in for good measure.

Summers’ often elegant, but sometimes cryptic and experimental, guitarwork was the perfect vehicle to give color and texture to the incredible rhythm section he played alongside. Boasting five multi-million selling albums in their canon that only got better as they progressed, he and The Police were arguably the most popular band on the globe during their all-too-short tenure. The group decided to put the brakes on the ensemble, following their blockbuster 1983 album, Synchronicity and the record-breaking world tour of stadiums around the world that accompanied it. The band has since reunited for a few tours since their split—and Sting is set to play Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium next year—but its members have concentrated more on solo careers, side projects, and other ventures.

In one of the more interesting and appealing solo undertakings its members have pursued, Summers, who has quite the impressive discography as a soloist, has decided to go on the road to present an intriguing-sounding one-man show, which visits Clearwater’s Bilheimer Capitol Theatre this weekend. Besides his mastery of the guitar, Summers has had a longtime interest in photography and has published several books of his snapshots.

More recently, he’s taken to short story writing and published “Fretted and Moaning,” a collection of his works to great acclaim. For his current series of solo performances, his new series of shows, dubbed “The Cracked Lens + A Missing String” tour, Summers has developed a performance that culminates the mediums he’s worked in on his own. A combination of onstage photo displays, readings from his short stories, and, of course, plenty of music, Summers has received dazzling reviews for the show that was intended to make the rounds just before COVID hit but, in recent months, has finally gotten to play for audiences around the country.

On a short break between legs of his solo tour, Summers, who’ll see his 81st birthday on New Years Eve, took some time out to talk to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay from his home in California about his current jaunt and some of his inspirations.

Tickets to see Andy Summers play Clearwater’s Bilheimer Capitol Theatre on Sunday. Dec. 10 are still available and start at $44.50.

What can you tell us about this tour? How is it going so far?It’s on and off; I don’t play every night. I started back in July and I play a few shows at a time, like five or six at a time. I show photos on a big screen and it’s a mixed media show. I’m telling stories and playing guitar, sometimes with backing tracks. I did 11 of these shows in the pre-pandemic days. It’s a different thing onstage. It’s a visual presentation and it’s going well. It’s carefully worked out.

You’re a renowned, respected guitarist and I know you’ve been into photography for a long time. Now you have a book of your short stories to your credit. Nowadays, of those avenues, is there one medium that gives you more pleasure than the others?

I’m a musician first and foremost. It’s music over writing and taking photos. But with photography, in the early days of The Police, it became an all-consuming passion. When I was a teenager, I saw a lot of foreign films made by the directors [Ingmar] Bergman, [Francois] Truffaut, [Federico] Fellini. In 1979, I got a black and white Nikon camera and I had this substrata of films I’d seen in my head from when I was 12 years old. I didn’t think to myself, ‘I’m a very visual person; I need to make films,’ but these visuals seemed like the next plateau, even at an early age.

How are you liking playing more intimate venues as opposed to the large arenas or stadiums you’re used to playing with The Police?

It’s a different type of freedom, ego-wise. It’s just me; no band. To some extent, it’s a work in progress but with a live audience. These venues are ideal for a performer. And, in the USA, there are so many beautiful, deco-period theaters that are so nice inside. I mean the red velvet, the oil paintings. And they are all small to mid-size. When you’re playing to 1,000 people, you feel like you can really communicate with the audience. It’s different from the huge stadium. You can put forth your personality on the stage. It’s a perfect setting. There’s a big screen and you get to be close to the audience. It’s very satisfying. Have you been inside the theater where I’ll be playing in Clearwater?

Yes! And it is, like you mentioned, a very beautiful theater. You also, on The Police’s first visit to Tampa many years ago, played at another of the gorgeous theaters we’re lucky to have here in our area, the Tampa Theater.

Who knew all these great theaters existed?

For those coming to see the show, what can be expected in terms of a setlist? I have to imagine there will be plenty of solo material but The Police’s catalog will be represented too?

Yes. There will be solo material and Police stuff as well. But it will all be worked out in a special way and with plenty of visuals.

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