Roland and BOSS Present an Evening with Legendary Guitarist Andy Summers

New Album Debut and Solo Performance, Streamed Live from the GRAMMY Museum

On Thursday, March 23, 2017, Roland and BOSS will present a special evening with award-winning guitarist and composer Andy Summers at the GRAMMY Museum® in Los Angeles. The event celebrates his latest release, Triboluminescence, and will feature a conversation with the artist and an intimate solo music performance. Summers is a noted photographer as well, and the event will also include a multimedia presentation with never-before-seen original photography, backed by a live improvised guitar soundtrack.

The evening will be live-streamed on the Roland and BOSS Facebook pages as a Facebook Live event. Read on to find out more!

Andy Summers Live at the GRAMMY Museum—Event Information

The Andy Summers event at the GRAMMY Museum will begin at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, 2017.

Visit the BOSS Facebook page to find out details about the live stream.

The event will also be simulcast on the Roland Facebook page.

For further info, visit the event page at the GRAMMY Museum website.

About Triboluminescence, The New Album from Andy Summers

Triboluminescence, Andy Summers’ 14th solo album, presents a compelling musical vision that the guitarist has evocatively dubbed “New Exotic.” “Triboluminescence is actually a scientific word that means creating light from dark, which I believe is a great metaphor for any creative act and, especially, music,” stated Summers. The album’s nine tracks reflect his penchant for endless layers, rich tone, and sound loops, as well as his love of jazz. In addition to featuring Summers’ impressive guitar playing, the album also showcases his skills on drums and percussion.

Andy Summers.

Summers, who was recently presented with the Roland and BOSS Lifetime Achievement award, shared insights on the gear he used to record Triboluminescence. “Most of the drum tracks are on the Roland TD-20 drum kit,” he said. “The beauty of it is that you can try different snare drums, different kits, you can move around, you can sort of mix it up.”

For many of the guitar sounds, Summers employed a mix of past and present classics from Roland and BOSS. “On ‘Elephant Bird,’ we used the distortion in the Roland VG-99,” he related. “It’s just a superb lead guitar sound, and I’ve used it for quite a while now. We just never seem to be able to beat it; it’s a very nice, slight overdrive sustain. It’s got elegance to it. The first track, ‘If Anything,’ for instance, has got this soaring guitar like a soprano singer. Whenever I want to play that kind of liquid lead style, that’s the sound I almost always go for.” The guitarist is a longtime BOSS pedal user, and he used a few favorites on the album. “I used a classic one from the ‘80s called the VB-2 [Vibrato], a CS-1 Compressor Sustainer, and I have the new Waza Craft CE-2W Chorus.”

Triboluminescence will be released worldwide on March 24, 2017, the day following the Roland and BOSS event. 

More on Andy Summers’ Music and Gear

To learn more about the music and photography of Andy Summers, visit his website.

In 2003, Summers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Fame as a member of The Police.

A few years back, we spoke with Summers on Edition 30 of the BOSS Tone Radio podcast, where he talked about the Roland and BOSS gear he used on many classic tracks by The Police. You can get links to that interview and many other in-depth podcasts with Roland and BOSS guitar artists at the BOSS TONE Radio page on iTunes. You can also read an excerpt from the Andy Summers BTR podcast interview at BOSS Users Group.

Summers is a longtime fan of the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Amplifier, and he’s used it for numerous recordings and live performances. Check out his thoughts on the amp and its famous chorus effect at the JC-120 anniversary page.