Posted on March 8: McMaster presents former Triumph rock star Rik Emmett

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Rik-Emmett.jpg” caption=”Rik Emmett”]The 2003/2004 Smooth Jazz Series, co-sponsored by McMaster University School of the Arts and Wave 94.7 fm, continues with jazz guitarist Rik Emmett on March 12 at 8 p.m. at Royal Botanical Gardens.

Emmett is following the last Smooth Jazz concert at the Royal Botanical Gardens where jazz guitarist Robert Michaels played to a full house.

Emmett joined newly forming hard rock trio Triumph in 1975. By 1981, they were firmly established as one of the premier touring rock acts in North America. In the next seven years they released ten albums, four which went platinum in Canada, and two went gold Stateside. Emmett won “Best Lead Guitarist” nationally in 1981.

He left Triumph in 1988 to fly solo, but as one of the original band members, he was inducted into the Canadian Rock Hall of Fame in 1993. His solo career began in 1989 and spawned three releases. The first album of the three, Absolutely, went gold in 1990. In 1996, his career entered a new phase through Open House Records, his own label. Emmett released a trilogy which included a variety of music such as jazz, swing, blues and rock. In 2002 he released a 20th Century Masters Best of Rik Emmett Collection, and another instrumental album, Handiwork. In the late summer of 2003, the singer/songwriter of Good Faith emerged, and another new chapter began for Emmett.

Accompanying Emmett at RBG will be Marty Anderson on keyboard. The program will include jazz selections as well as some of Emmett's classics.

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased through the School of the Arts box office at 905-525-9140 ext. 23333