Prior to forming The Who, he and his school friend Entwistle played in the jazz band The Confederates. Over time, rock ‘n’ roll took centre stage, but Townshend’s passion for jazz never waned.
Speaking to the NME, Townshend discussed some of the albums that had been the biggest influence on his creativity over the previous six decades. During the conversation, he picked out one cult album that he believes everyone should hear at least once in their lives.
It turns out that one of the guitarist’s greatest musical heroes is the avant-garde jazz master Sun Ra. “I got really into that sort of way-out avant-garde jazz,” Townshend remembered. “But you couldn’t find his record anywhere. So, one day I was in a jazz shop in Chicago, which I think is where Sun Ra came from. I said, ‘Have you got any Sun Ra?’ The guy says, ‘Yeah! All his stuff.’ I said, ‘Give me everything.’ ‘Everything?’”
Presumably, Townshend expected a batch of ten to 20 albums as a consummate sample of the artist’s oeuvre. However, he didn’t quite comprehend just how prolific some of these jazz stalwarts can be. “He comes back with 250 albums,” Townshend continued. “Most of which I’ve still got in that room over there, still in the shrink-wrap.”
Of the 250 records, the album he picked out for essential listening was The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One. The seven-track LP arrived in 1965 when the American jazz composer was 50 years old.
Listen to ‘Heliocentric’ by Sun Ra on YouTube
"Modern guitarists need to learn the art of listening. Keith and John were untouchable"
The Who lead and rhythm guitarist admits the group's sticksman Keith was a "nutty drummer", but when he played with bassist John they were untouchable because they listened to each other.
Pete Townshend has hailed his late bandmates Keith Moon and John Entwistle as a "formidable" rhythm section.
"I think one of the things that all guitarists of today are intimidated by is these young guys on Instagram that shred to hell and back, or to heaven and back, I should say, who started when they were six. But we are just our fingers."
"So they were a very formidable rhythm section.
"And I knew I could play anything and they would follow.
John Entwistle would know the notes that I was playing sometimes before I did!
So the importance of listening is vital."
The 'Baba O'Riley says a lot of Instagram guitarists he follows, as good as they are at playing, they need to work with other people to learn the art of listening.
