String Trio of New York to premiere new work

Kingston — The String Trio of New York will perform the New York premiere of a new work, “The River of Orion” by guitarist and composer James Emery, at the Kingston Jazz Festival at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 23, at the City Hall Council Chambers in Kingston. The evening will begin with a performance by the Rufus Reid Quintet at 7:30 p.m. “The River of Orion” features five movements, which involve notated material composed using established methods, and four movements which utilize diverse improvisational concepts, arising from both standard and neoteric creative impulses. Emery will be joined by String Trio of New York colleagues Rob Thomas on violin, and John Lindberg on bass. The New York Times described the trio “as rhythmically alive, stylistically varied and consistently inventive as anything this listener has heard.” Emery has been hailed as “one of the world’s finest guitarists” on www.allaboutjazz.com, and chosen as one of “66 great six-stringers” by Down Beat. The resident of Warwick has received international acclaim for both improvisation and composition. The distinguished music critic Francis Davis observed, “Absolutely nobody sounds like Emery.” “The River of Orion” was created with support from Chamber Music America’s New Works’ Creation and Presentation Program, funded though the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Partial funding for the event is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.