“After I stopped touring with Ian Brown, people would ask him, ‘Where’s that Asian Jimi Hendrix that plays with you?’” From the Stone Roses to Paul Weller, poverty to ’59 Les Pauls, Aziz Ibraham shares his remarkable story

Aziz Ibrahim is photographed at home with some of his favourite guitars.

When it comes to merging the worlds of composition, technique and feel, Aziz Ibrahim is up there with the best of them. But despite playing with Simply Red, Asia, The Stone Roses, Ian Brown, Paul Weller and Steven Wilson, a hint of ‘what could have been’ remains in his career.

“I was prevented from reaching the US,” he tells Guitarist. “Life and politics always got in the way. But after I stopped touring with Ian Brown, people would ask him, ‘Hey, man, where’s that Asian Jimi Hendrix that plays with you? Why haven’t you brought him with you?’ So I missed out on the US, but putting current politics aside, the US was – and is – one of the places I always wanted to tour.”