James Emery (musician)

James Emery (born December 21, 1951, Youngstown, Ohio) is an American jazz guitarist. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Emery played in the 1970s with Leroy Jenkins, Bobby Naughton and Anthony Braxton. He has been a member of the String Trio of New York, which he founded along with Billy Bang and John Lindberg, since 1977, and also played in the Human Art Ensemble at the end of the 1970s. In the 1980s he played with Thurman Barker and Wadada Leo Smith, and in the 1990s with Henry Threadgill, Marty Ehrlich, Chris Speed, Mark Feldman, Michael Formanek and Gerry Hemingway.

Discography

As leader

• Artlife (Lumina, 1983)
• Exo Eso (FMP, 1987)
• Turbulence (Knitting Factory, 1991)
• Standing on a Whale Fishing for Minnows (Enja, 1997)
• Spectral Domains (Enja, 1999)
• Luminous Cycles (Between the Lines, 2001)
• Fourth World (Between the Lines, 2001)
• Transformations (Between the Lines, 2003)

With the String Trio of New York

• First String (Black Saint, 1979)
• Area Code 212 (Black Saint, 1980)
• Common Goal (Black Saint, 1983)
• Rebirth of a Feeling (Black Saint, 1983)
• Natural Balance (Black Saint, 1986)
• Octagon (Black Saint, 1992)
• Blues...? (Black Saint, 1993)

As sideman

With Anthony Braxton

• Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978 (hatART, 1978 [1995])
• Composition No. 94 for Three Instrumentalists (1980) (Golden Years of Jazz, 1980 [1999])

References

• Ron Wynn, James Emery at Allmusic